It is easy to get caught up in the excitement of the modern Olympics. With so much drama, a lot of romance, much pizzazz, it is difficult to show the world nothing less than excellent. But you need not dig too deeply to discover a humble and OFT typical rise times. Yes, it took several decades of Hollywood magic to produce the polished sports event we take for granted today.

According to Roman legend, the original Olympic Games were founded by none other than Heracles, the super-human son of Zeus, no doubt, as an opportunity to demonstrate its power as a God in front of ladies. Another legend tells the story of Pelops, a Greek father and a romantic at the Olympic Games. In desperate attempt to win the hand of his bride, Hippodamia, Pelops challenged her father, king of Pisa, in a car race. On the edge, Pelops replaced the king with a denominator of wax, which melted during the race, playing the king of your car and kill him. After the victory in the race, a girl, and the entire empire, Pelops declared this the first Olympic Games – always give quality cheating and fraud in the game.

The ancient Olympics had their own version of celebrity appearances, including Homer, Socrates, Aristotle and Hippocrates. Even Plato got in the game, not one but two winning gold in pankration event.

The original “games” really only a game, a 192-meter dash known as “Stage” – which is entirely held in naked (again giving Heracles an excuse to strut his stuff). Indeed, the word “gymnasium” comes from the Greek “gymnos” which literally means “school for naked exercise”. Later additions to the Olympics included boxing, jumping, disc and javelin, which was pleased to include clothing. It is surprising that this exception the list of events is a marathon. This famous run, including a torch, which were never part of the ancient Olympic Games, and are not added to the scene of more than 1500 years later.

Old game lasted about 1,200 years, at least from 776 BC to 393 AD, when Roman emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, abolished the Games because it is considered that they were pagan and evil. And so the Olympic Games slept for over a thousand years, until 1892, when a young Frenchman named Pierre de Coubertin proposed the idea of a meeting of the Union des Sports in Paris Athletiques. Your time is canceled. But always an optimist, Pierre tried again two years later, this time before the meeting of 79 delegates representing 9 countries. The delegates voted unanimously in favor of revitalization, and then in 1896 in the city of Athens in the Olympics were reborn.

The Games were a disaster in 1896. Since the games are poorly advertised and never received the international support needed. Competitors were not supported by their countries, and indeed they were obliged to travel to Greece at their own expense. More runners are tourists who happened to be in Greece on holiday.

Due to poor planning, in 1896 the game took place in very cold, although composed entirely of “summer” events. In his first book on the wall, 100 years of Olympic swimming, Kelly Gonsalves describes the first swimming event: “Not only fight waves of 12 feet, but the climate in Greece was unusually cold and the water was frigid 55 degrees Fahrenheit.” The book will tell the story of Garner Williams, an American swimmer who, despite the fortune spent on the train and travel to the Olympics, he jumped out of the water just moments after the race yelling “I’m freezing.”

Other athletes also had difficult experiences in the Olympics. When traveling on foot from Rome to Athens, is a month of travel, the Italian athlete Carlo Airoldi was banned the game because he was a professional. Since the book describes in Olympic strange moment Dorando Pietro was denied his marathon gold because it is too eager official helped him cross the finishing line.

Olympic Games are usually thought of as an event of world unity, though the story would have something to say. The official Olympic flag, designed in 1914 by Pierre de Coubertin, contains five interconnected rings represent the five major continents of the world “, leaving Africa completely out of the card. 1936 brought the game before the war in Germany, the opportunity to show the superiority “Aryan” race, or so thought Adolf Hitler, which is a major campaign to ensure the game. Of course, many will remember Jesse Owens, the African American runner who proudly taught the Germans a thing or two. The winner was Josef Barthel of Luxembourg 1952 was met with embarrassed silence. Luxembourg waiting Since no athlete to win medals ceremony in the orchestra has been without result Luxe Bourg to the national anthem.

In recent years, several attempts are made to improve the Olympics. Both racing boat, and manufacturers of bicycle polo was introduced and subsequently removed from the game. Hollywood was literally brought to add some pizzazz in the 1960 Winter Games. Walt Disney was elected leader of the organizing committee of the ceremony, which included special effects, sculptures of ice, and the release of white doves in 2000.

Scams, politics, victories and heart breaks: these words also apply to the modern day Olympic Games as an antique. If the Olympics have taught us anything it is that society never changes, even after several thousand years. If Pelops could visit our games today and may be impressed with our bright fireworks and Hollywood illusions, I think I feel very at home with the game on the screen: human nature.