Anglický jazyk

THE OLYMPIC GAMES              
                            
             
The first recorded Olympic games took place in Olympia, Greece in the year 776 B.C. There exist many legends about the origin of the games. They were probably part of the ceremony honouring the Greek God Zeus. They were so important to the Greeks that even wars were stopped while they took place. The winners were respected throughout the western world. They were awarded the olive wreath. The stadium where the contests were held was almost 200 m long and 32 m wide. Only judges and competitors were allowed inside the stadium. There was only one event – a 200-yard run. By 708 B.C., the Olympic Games included jumping, javelin throwing and wrestling. They continued every four years.In 394 A.D. the Roman Emperor Theodosius abolished them as a pagan ritual.
The French pedagogue and historian Baron Pierre de Coubertin revived the tradition in 1896. He is considered to be the father of the modern Olympic Games. Coubertin was an idealistic dreamer who saw athletics as a way of improving the educational system in France and the Olympic Games as a means of harmonizing the world. He gave the Olympic Games an international character. He established the principles of the Olympics: They would be held every four years, always at the different location, they will consist of modern sports and be open only to amateurs. There was established the International Olympic Committee. The first modern Olympic Games took place in Olympia in 1896. Twelve nations, besides Greece, participated. The modern games, like their ancient models, are supposed to be competitions between individuals, not nations. 

        However, politics often cast a shadow over the playing fields. This was in Berlin in 1936 when the Nazis misused them. This happened during the long Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The United States boycotted the Games in Moscow in 1980 to protest the Soviet invasion of Afganistan. Then the Soviet Union refused to send its athletes to Los Angeles in 1984. And, of course, the Czechoslovak sportsmen also could not participate.  
The modern technology has made the Olympics a worldwide event which aims attention of    millions onlookers from all over the world.