The Story of the Olympics 奥林匹克故事
[audio]http://www.24en.com/bbc/dl_mp3/bbc_olympic_takeaway_ancient_olympics.mp3[/audio][color=#3f3f3f][font=Verdana, 宋体, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=12px]To [b]trace the origins[/b] of the modern Olympic Games we must travel back nearly 3,000 years in time to Ancient Greece, when young men proved their[b]physical prowess[/b] and [b]fighting skills[/b]by competing in sporting activities.
[p=21, 2, left]But the ancient Olympic Games were not solely about [b]sporting endeavour[/b]; they were also used as an opportunity for the Greeks to [b]honour their gods[/b], particularly Zeus, the king of the Greek gods, whose massive statue stood in the Valley of Olympia.[/p][p=21, 2, left]Many of the sports practised by the Ancient Greeks still exist in an[b]adapted form[/b] today, including wrestling, boxing, running, jumping and throwing contests.[/p][p=21, 2, left]But there are important differences. Modern day spectators would be[b]astonished[/b] if the athletes competed [b]naked[/b] like the Ancient Greeks did.[/p][p=21, 2, left]Combat sports could be much tougher in those days: boxers fought wearing [b]leather gloves[/b] with pieces of metal attached to their[b] knuckles[/b]. The Greeks also fought in an event called the ‘pankration’ in which [b]no holds were barred[/b] and [b]eye-gouging[/b] was permitted.[/p][p=21, 2, left]Although the Olympic Games [b]fell into decline[/b] after Greece was[b]conquered[/b] by the Roman Empire in [b]146BC[/b], the spirit of the games did not die away altogether.[/p][p=21, 2, left]Interest in the games was [b]revived[/b] in the 19th Century after a wealthy Greek [b]philanthropist[/b] paid for the [b]renovation[/b] of an ancient stadium in Athens. The result was the 1859 Olympic Games staged between just two countries: Greece and the Ottoman Empire.[/p][p=21, 2, left]International interest grew, and in 1894 a French [b]aristocrat[/b] called Pierre de Coubertin [b]hosted a congress[/b] at the Sorbonne University in Paris in order to suggest a new modern Olympic Games.[/p][p=21, 2, left]De Coubertin’s ideas were met with international approval and the first Olympic Games of the modern age took place in Athens in 1896.[/p][p=21, 2, left]Since then the Olympics have gone from strength to strength, with competitors from all over the world taking part, and billions more watching on televisio[/p][/size][/font][/color]
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