(Prepared by the Maltese Olympic Committee – information courtesy of the Beijing Olympic Games Organising Committee as available from www.beijing2008.org)

The Olympic Games of the XXIX Olympiad and the XIII Paralympic Games were awarded to Beijing, People’s Republic of China by the International Olympic Committee on 13 July, 2001.

The Chinese government sees the games as a chance for China to highlight its economic rise and emergence as a world power. Former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch has boasted that the Beijing games will be “the best in Olympic history”.

Ancient Olympic Games

The first recorded Ancient Olympic Games were in 776BC. Originally organised as a religious, sporting and cultural festival, the Ancient Games were held in honour of Zeus, father of the gods. The games were held in Olympia, a village in a sacred valley, 300miles south west of Mount Olympus.

They were held every four years, a time span which has become known as an Olympiad.

Up to 50,000 spectators came to watch the athletes in the stadium. Only Greek citizens were allowed to compete in the Ancient Games, and women were not allowed to compete at all. Married women were forbidden entrance, even as spectators.

For centuries, Greece was divided into independent states, which were often at war with one another. However, during the Olympic festival, there was an official truce, called the Ekecheiria, allowing athletes to travel safely across the Greek Empire to take part in the Games. Violation of this truce was punishable by death.

Coreobus of Elis won the only event of the Games in 776BC, the stade (stadium) race, where competitors had to sprint the length of the stadium which was about 200m.

Other events were gradually added to the programme such as boxing, the pentathlon (a knock-out competition of broad jump, spear-throwing, sprint and discus throwing, after which two men met in the final event – wrestling) chariot races and a combination of wrestling and boxing, know as pancratium.

The winners of the event would receive an olive wreath, the ultimate prize. It was believed that the vitality of the sacred olive tree was transmitted to the recipient through the branch from which it was cut by a gold handled knife. Only the winners received a prize, there were no rewards for second or third place.

Modern Olympic Games

In 1896, the revival of the Olympic tradition was the idea of a Frenchman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin. On 5 April 1896 the first Olympic Games of the modern era were officially opened by King George of Greece, in Athens.

Coubertin believed that the Games were more than an athletic event, in that they would help promote friendly relationships between people from different countries.

Coubertin aligned the staging of the Games with a set of ideals, which have become known as Olympism’.

These ideals may be summarised by the following six goals: personal excellence, sport as education, fair play, cultural exchange, international understanding and mass participation.

In 1984, Coubertin held an international conference to discuss the idea of modern Olympic Games. At the conference the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was formed and an Olympic Charter was written. The Charter set out the rules of the Olympic Movement and guidelines for the organisation of the Games.

The goal of the Olympic Movement is:

“To contribute to building a peaceful and better world, by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.” (‘Fundamental principles’, Olympic Charter, IOC)

The Olympic symbol was designed by Coubertin in 1913 and consists of 5 interconnected rings. The colours of the rings are blue, black, red, yellow and green. At least one of the colours (including the white background) appears in the flags of all the competing countries.

The Olympic Flame

History

The Olympic flame is lit by the rays of the sun in a traditional ceremony held in Ancient Olympia. Once the flame is lit and blessed, it is handed over to the first torchbearer, and so begins its long journey. It is carried by a series of runners, finally reaching the stadium for the Opening Ceremony of the Games, and eventually the Olympic flame is extinguished during the Closing Ceremony.

The Olympic torch is an emblem of the Olympic ideal, symbolising the endeavour for perfection, the struggle for victory, peace and friendship. The first torch relay for the summer games was held in 1936, and for the Olympic Winter Games in 1964.

Beijing Torch Relay

The Olympic Flame will be lit in Olympia, Greece according to tradition on March 25th, 2008. The torch will travel across Greece ending at the Panathinaiko Stadium. After the handover ceremony, the Olympic Flame will arrive in Beijing on March 31st, 2008. In Beijing, a ceremony will be held for the arrival of the flame into China, and the Beijing 2008 Olympic torch relay will commence. It is estimated that 21,880 torchbearers will be selected from around the world by various organisations and entities to carry the Olympic torch.

(to be continued next week)

MIA Olympic Special – What’s On

Friday, 25 January on E22 at 9pm , Sunday, 27 January on E22 at 10am (RPT) and on TVM at 525pm, and Monday, 28 January on E22 at 2.30pm (RPT) will feature the following:

Featured Event – Pool

The Malta Pool Association is once again organizing the National League. The Premier League in now well under way with interest between the participating clubs growing up. The cameras of MIA Olympic Magazine this week went to the Cottonera area where they filmed two important matches, namely Senglea Bocci Club vs Espadon and Cospicua Rangers vs Taste Good Bar

Highlighted Event – Swimming/Table Tennis

The Aquatic Sports Association over the past weekend held time trials as preparation for the coming events. Amongst the participants during this time trials was Ryan Gambin an Australian who has just come over to Malta in order to potentially participate in the Beijing Olympics.

Another association which had the Junior Championships was the Malta Table Tennis Association. With matches being played at the University Sports Complex two categories were held, the Under 18 and Under 21.

MOC Section

Since this year is an Olympic year this programme will start featuring interviews with athletes that will probably be in Beijing for this summer’s games. The second athlete to be interviewed by our cameras is Charlene Attard.

Olympic Archive

A trip down memory lane will make us recall past editions of the Olympic Games.

Schedule available every week on www.nocmalta.org and on the Malta Independent newspaper every Tuesday. Produced in collaboration with E22.