PYQ Consider the following statements in respect to the 32nd Summer Olympics:
1. The official motto for this Olympics is ‘A New World’
2. Sport Climbing, Surfing Skateboarding, Karate and Baseball are included in the Olympics.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
A.1 only
B.2 only
C.both 1 and 2
D.Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: B
This question was asked in UPSC CSE PRELIMS 2022.
Keeping in the view of the recent advancement in the section of games and it’s importance for the various exams including UPSC CSE , SSC, STATE PCS .
Let’s understand the basics about the OLYMPICS which are being organised in Paris, France this year, 2024.
The 2024 Summer Olympics ,officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad and officially branded as Paris 2024, is an international multi-sport event taking place from 24 July to 11 August 2024 in France, with the opening ceremony having taken place on 26 July. Paris is the host city, with events held in 16 additional cities spread across Metropolitan France, and one subsite in Tahiti, French Polynesia.
PARIS 2024: THE MASCOT
Olympic Phryge
The name of the Paris 2024 mascot is Olympic Phryge, based on the traditional small Phrygian hats that the mascots are shaped after. The name and design were chosen as symbols of freedom and to represent allegorical figures of the French republic.
An Overview about the Olympics
OLYMPICS:
Olympic Games, athletic festival that originated in ancient Greece and was revived in the late 19th century. Before the 1970s the Games were officially limited to competitors with amateur status, but in the 1980s many events were opened to professional athletes. Currently, the Games are open to all, even the top professional athletes in basketball and football (soccer).
The Olympics include the Summer Games and the Winter Games.
Each is held in a different country once every four years.
Until the early 1990s the Summer and Winter Games were held in the same year.
Today they are separated by two years.
Organization
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) governs the modern Games. It was founded in 1894. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland. The IOC decides on the sports to include in the Olympics. It also chooses the cities that will host the Games.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is an important non-governmental organization that looks after the administration of the Olympic Games held all over the world.
International Olympic Committee :
1.The IOC is a permanent organisation that elects its own members.
2.Each member must speak French or English and be a citizen of or reside in a country that has a National Olympic Committee.
3.With very few exceptions, there is only one member from any one country.
4.The Olympic Charter is the codification of the fundamental principles, rules and bye-laws adopted by the IOC.
5.The IOC elects its president for a period of eight years, at the end of which the president is eligible for reelection for further periods of four years each.
Women and the Olympic Games:
Although there were no women’s events in the ancient Olympics, several women appear in the official lists of Olympic victors as the owners of the stables of some victorious chariot entries.
The awarding of the Olympic Games:
1.The honour of holding the Olympic Games is entrusted to a city, not to a country.
2.The choice of the city lies solely with the IOC.
3.Application to hold the Games is made by the chief authority of the city, with the support of the national government.
National Olympic committees, international federations, and organizing committees
National Olympic committees
1.Each country that desires to participate in the Olympic Games must have a national Olympic committee accepted by the IOC.
2.A national Olympic committee (NOC) must be composed of at least five national sporting federations, each affiliated with an appropriate international federation.
3.According to the rules of the NOCs, they must be not-for-profit organizations, must not associate themselves with affairs of a political or commercial nature, and must be completely independent and autonomous as well as in a position to resist all political, religious, or commercial pressure.
International federations
1.For each Olympic sport there must be an international federation (IF), to which a requisite number of applicable national governing bodies must belong.
2.The IFs promote and regulate their sport on an international level.
3.Since 1986 they have been responsible for determining all questions of Olympic eligibility and competition in their sport.
Programs and participation
1.The Olympic Games celebrate an Olympiad, or period of four years.
2. The first Olympiad of modern times was celebrated in 1896, and subsequent Olympiads are numbered consecutively, even when no Games take place (as was the case in 1916, 1940, and 1944).
3.Olympic Winter Games have been held separately from the Games of the Olympiad (Summer Games) since 1924 and were initially held in the same year.
4.In 1986 the IOC voted to alternate the Winter and Summer Games every two years, beginning in 1994.
5.The Winter Games were held in 1992 and again in 1994 and thereafter every four years; the Summer Games maintained their original four-year cycle.
Games included in Olympics
The Summer Olympic program includes the following sports: aquatics (including swimming, synchronized swimming, diving, and water polo), archery, athletics (track and field), badminton, basketball, boxing, canoeing and kayaking, cycling, equestrian sports, fencing, field hockey, football (soccer), golf, gymnastics (including artistic, rhythmic, and trampoline), team handball, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, rugby, sailing (formerly yachting), shooting, table tennis, tae kwon do, tennis, triathlon, volleyball (indoor and beach), weightlifting, and wrestling.
Women participate in all these sports, whereas men do not compete in synchronized swimming or rhythmic gymnastics.
The Winter Olympic program includes sports played on snow or ice: biathlon, bobsledding, curling, ice hockey, ice skating (figure skating and speed skating), luge, skeleton sledding, skiing, ski jumping, and snowboarding. Athletes of either gender may compete in all these sports.
An Olympic program must include national exhibitions and demonstrations of fine arts (architecture, literature, music, painting, sculpture, photography, and sports philately).
“Baseball and softball were added back to the program for the 2020 Games, and karate, skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing were also added.”
“In 2009 the IOC voted to add women’s boxing to the 2012 program, as well as golf and rugby”
The flag
The Olympic flag presented by Coubertin in 1914 is the prototype: it has a white background, and in the centre there are five interlaced rings—blue, yellow, black, green, and red. The blue ring is farthest left, nearest the pole. These rings represent the “five parts of the world” joined together in the Olympic movement.