The important thing in the Games is not to win but to take part. The important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well…. These great words of Pierre de Coubertin surmise the Olympics spirit while IRINEU GONSALVES traces the history of the Games.

AT THE 2000 Olympics Sydney set the standard. Cathy Freeman ignited the Olympic Flame and then delighted the whole continent of Australia with her 400 metres gold medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney which set a new standard.

Outgoing International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch simply had to name the Millennium Games ‘the best ever’ at the October 1, 2000 closing ceremony.

There was world-class sport galore, the Aussies provided perfect organization and a party atmosphere at every event and not even the nine doping cases could taint the 16-day spectacle.

The Games proved outstanding. New records were reached again with 10,651 athletes (10,308 in Atlanta 1996) from 199 countries (197) competing for 300 (271) gold medals in 28 (26) sports.

Athletes from East Timor competed Down Under even before the new nation’s official recognition, while North and South Korean athletes marched together at the opening ceremony.

The United States led the final medal table with 40 gold, 24 silver and 33 bronze medals ahead of Russia (32, 28, 28), rising China (28, 16,15) and Australia (16, 25, 17).

The most successful athletes came from the sports of swimming and athletics, traditionally the top Olympic summer sports.

The biggest ever Olympic athletics crowds of more than 110,000 in the Olympic stadium also witnessed German veteran Heike Drechsler winning another long jump title and Michael Johnson ending his illustrious career with another 400m and 4x400m double.

Hicham el Guerrouj missed out on a 1,500m gold again while Haile Gebrselassie got another 10,000m gold.

But the biggest roar came when Cathy Freeman, clad in a futuristic cat suit, stormed to the medal the Aussies wanted most - the 400m gold.

British rower Sir Steven Redgrave got gold at the fifth straight Games and American Jenny Thompson became the most successful swimmer in Olympic history with eight gold medals.

Russian wrestling star Alexander Karelin was denied a fourth straight gold by American Rulon Gardner.

Wrestling also provided one of the doping cases when German Alexander Leipold had to hand back his 76-kilo event gold medal.

Weightlifters were also caught and Romanian Andrea Raducan was stripped of her gymnastics all-round gold.

The Sydney Games also provided the regular share of exotic names, most notably Eric Moussambani from Equatorial Guinea; who was the slowest ever swimmer over 100m in his first race over the distance and became a legend under the nick-name ‘Eric the eel’.

On a blazing summer’s day, a Greek girl dressed in an ancient classical costume kindles a flame in a historic stadium in Greece. She lights a lamp from the flame and a young Greek soldier comes running over the grass towards her. He lays down his arms, strips off his uniform to reveal running shorts and a singlet. Then he lights a torch from the lamp and begins the first stage of the long relay to the arena at Athens where the Olympic Games are to be held.

Days later another runner, holding that same torch, will enter a massed stadium, run around the track, halt, salute, and ignite the bowl where the sacred flame of the Olympics will burn until the Games have once more been concluded. The great flag, with its five linked rings of blue, yellow, black, green and red (at least one of these colours is present in the national flags of all the countries) to signify the linking of five continents will be raised aloft and thousands of doves will be released into the air to take their messages of goodwill winging over the countryside….

This is the traditional way in which all modern Olympic Games start. It is a sight that the vast crowds in the stadium will never forget as long as they live, and one that stirs every athlete who waits on the turf ready to try his strength and his courage against representatives of many rival nations.

The Olympic Games are different from all other sporting events. There are no money prizes, and no heed is paid to race or colour or creed. Whilst there burns in every competitor a fierce desire to win his event but remembers the words of the great Pierre de Coubertin, who founded the Modern Games:

‘The important thing in the Games is not to win but to take part. The important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well….’

HISTORY
THE OLYMPICS in their modern form began in 1896. The 1960 Games in Rome were called the XVIIth Olympiad, although there have in fact been only fourteen of these great assemblies. The Games that were due to take place in 1914, 1940 and 1944 were postponed because of war. An Olympiad is a period of four years and the Games are scheduled to take place at the beginning of each Olympiad – and there have been twenty seven of these four-year period since the revival of the Olympics.

On August 13 th , 2004, the Olympiad will be declared open in Athens. Track and field events have always been the core of the Olympics, perhaps because they were included in the ancient Games, and certainly because they are truly international sports in which a fit and trained body is the criterion. This is not, however, to lessen the importance of other events such as swimming, rowing, yachting and various sports. Each event is considered to be of equal significance.

MEMORABLE MARATHONS
PROBABLY THE greatest event of the Games, the event most typifying the endeavour, the grinding, exhausting effort that a competitor must put into his sport is the Marathon, the race which commemorates the epic run of ancient days when the news of a Greek victory was carried overland by Pheidippides, a soldier who killed himself in a supreme effort to bring the tidings to his people. The distance of the modern marathon has been standardized at 26 miles 385 yards.The first Modern Games produced the first Marathon drama. A little Greek shepherd decided to enter the grueling race against the pick of the world’s athletes. He trained in the obscurity of his native hills and when he lined up with the other starters no-one gave him a second thought.Great was the surprise and delight of the crowd at the stadium when a horseman galloped into the arena with the news that with some five miles to go, the unknown Greek was in the lead. As he entered the stadium a little later to run the last lap, two Greek princes lin ed up on the track and escorted him round to the tape. The crowds roared their approval. For a Greek to win the first modern Marathon set the seal of success of the 1896 Olympics and carved for ever a niche of fame for Spiridon Loues, the shepherd from the hills of Greece.

It was, by the way, the only Greek victory in 1896.Another Marathon that stands out in the story of the Games, this time for its near-tragedy, took place at London in 1908. Pietri Dorando’s name can be found him in most lists of Marathon winners today, but usually with an asterisk by it. The note at the bottom of the page will say ‘Pietri Dorando (Italy) 1 st , but disqualified’ and behind that statement lies one of the most heart-breaking moments in sport.The start lined up at Windsor Castle on a still and oppressive afternoon, and the runners – over seventy of them – were sent on their way by the Prince of Wales. Through the streets of Windsor and Eton they trotted, stringing out in an ever-lengthening line as the miles slipped past. Before the famous school was behind them the wiry Italian was in the lead – although this was not considered significant at so early a stage in the long race to the White City Stadium. Behind him, last in the field, was the American J.J. Hayes. Ten miles further on Dorando was still in front but Hayes was straining up through the pack one by one, whilst other runners – including the English contingent – were falling out. Hayes put on extra speed when he caught sight of the small Italian figure, and passed him at about the half-way mark.

This was not a part of Dorando’s plan, so within two miles of the finish Dorando broke out into a steadily increasing canter and began to inch up on the American. In the sullen heat he loped past into the lead again, breathing in great gasps and obviously well beyond his tried strength.As the stadium came into sight he could be seen to stagger from side to side of the road almost in a delirium, but the gallant Italian kept just enough consciousness to totter through the gates and on to the track. The stadium was packed with over 100,000 spectators who watched in awe and distress as he turned to the right instead of the left – he was almost unconscious by this time – and then collapsed to the ground. Officials rushed to him, picked him up, set him on his feet, pointed him in the correct direction, and he floundered around the track to break the tape ahead of his nearest rival, Hayes.But the assistance rendered by the well-meaning officials had disqualified him. The fact that they had touched him – they could have spoken to him with impunity – lost Dorando a race which he could probably have won, and which he so richly deserved to win.Dorando was rushed to hospital, where for two days he lay near death due to a strained heart. But when he was told that Queen Alexandra was to present him with a special Gold Cup for his tremendous effort his great courage reasserted itself and he actually went to the stadium to receive it.

PENTATHLON AND DECATHLON
THIS IS the story behind the Modern Pentathlon. Imagine yourself to be an army courier, carrying a message to a commander in the front line. You start out on horseback, but your horse is shot from under you and you are attacked by the enemy. First beat them back with your sword, then you shoot it out with your pistol. Ahead of you a river, three hundred metres wide, is cutting off your escape. You plunge in and swim it. A couple of miles ahead is your destination and you run like a hare for cover on the last stage of the dangerous trip. Translate all that into healthy competition and you have the exciting Modern Pentathlon. Usually dominated by military teams, the event consists of riding, fencing, pistol shooting, swimming and running competitions held on succeeding days without pause. Similar in principle to the Pentathlon is the ten-part Track and Field event, the Decathlon. This multi-sport is nearer to the ancient concept of physical trial, as the following list shows:100 metres, 400 metres, 1500 metres, 110 hurdles, High Jump, Pole Vault, Long Jump, Weight, Discus and Javelin throw. Ten events, any one of which would tax the most accomplished athlete. But, believe it or not, the Olympic Decathlon was once won by a seventeen year schoolboy. He was an American named Bob Mathias. Bob was chosen for the 1948 Olympics after a terrific performance in the U.S.A. trails, and he sailed to England, the youngest American ever to win the Olympic badge on his blazer.

The next day the weather was even worse. Bob and the others sat about the arena in the pelting rain, waiting to be called for their event. They used blankets as makeshift tents to keep as dry as they could. Bob pole-vaulted in a sea of mud and when he threw the javelin the line had to be illuminated by an official’s torch!Despite conditions, young Bob Mathias did even better. He was well up amongst the leaders in all the events, and actually won the discus throw.When all the points were added up it was discovered that the boy from California had a commanding lead. Bob stepped on to the top perch of the rostrum to receive his Gold Medal, the proudest schoolboy in the world.

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