why were the olympics held?
152138
so all the countries could come together and be more united. that equals peace
158299
Short Answer every Two years - Summer every four, Winter every four. \n\nLong Answer - The Summer Olympics have been held every fourth year starting in 1896, with the exception of the years during the World Wars. A special edition for winter sports, the Olympic Winter Games, were established in 1924. Originally these were held in the same year as the Summer Olympics, but from 1994 the Winter Games and the Summer Games are held two years apart.
59002
first olympic sport? that was the foot race. (sprinting) in athens i think
159772
Moscow hosted the Summer Olympics in 1980.  It is the only time Russia has hosted it.  They are not among cities chosen for future games.
1026210
I can answer part of this for you. When the Olympics were going to be held in Los Angeles California in 1932, they said that soccer wouldn't be an Olympic sport because it wasn't popular in the United States. Prior to this, soccer had been in every Olympics since 1908! Once the world was told of this in 1928, they organized the World cup with the first one in 1930 and kept it at every 4 years but it would alternate with the summer Olympics. That is still true today.\nI hope this helps at least a little.
1075
Because the MLB didn't want to suspend its season to let the professional players go to the olympics, in a manner similar to what the NHL does for the winter olympics.\n\nThis plus other problems like a poorly designed qualifying scheme meant that piss-poor teams from Europe and Africa went to Athens, but several very good teams from N & S America were left out led to almost no ticket sales. It was all about the Money.
335949
In terms of a football competition, the FIFA World Cup.\n\n      However, as an overall athletic event, the Olympics, due to their history, and the amount of countries and people they bring together, is by far the better one.
149826
The site listed below states:\n'According to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles (the Roman Hercules), a son of Zeus. Yet the first Olympic Games for which we still have written records were held in 776 BCE (though it is generally believed that the Games had been going on for many years already). At this Olympic Games, a naked runner, Coroebus (a cook from Elis), won the sole event at the Olympics, the stade - a run of approximately 192 meters (210 yards). This made Coroebus the very first Olympic champion in history. \n\nThe ancient Olympic Games grew and continued to be played every four years for nearly 1200 years. In 393 CE, the Roman emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, abolished the Games because of their pagan influences.\nApproximately 1500 years later, a young Frenchmen named Pierre de Coubertin began their revival. Coubertin is now known as le Rénovateur. Coubertin was a French aristocrat born on January 1, 1863.'
1129264
Sorry, those game are over.  They were in Torino, Italy.  For a list of finalists, try going to the official Olympics website and looking for news on finalists before Torino.
80660
At the time the major difficulty is the fact that the Olympics were overshadowed by the 1904 World's Fair. Currently I believe that it gave St. Louisans a sense of pride. Particuarly in 2004 when St. Louis was able to particapate in the global torch relay. I know that St. Louis had a huge celebration in 2004 for the 100th anniversary of the World's Fair, the Olympics and the 200th anniversary of Lewis and Clark. If you are interested in learning more about any of the afore mentioned events check out the following website.
467341
I believe in theory, both summer and winter are supposed to be equal. However, in reality, I believe that summer is more important. Not every country has ice/snow (where are people supposed to find snow in the Sahara desert, except if you're lucky to be living on a mountain that contains some type of ice/snow?). Therefore, not very many peole are able to compete in a lot of the competitions in the Winter Olympics. However, there's always something that somebody can find to do in the Summer Olympics (like running, or swimming, or gymnastics). That is why I think that the Summer Olympics is more important than the Winter Olmpics.
137111
the reason why they call it winter olympics is because of the figure skating, snowboarding, skiing, curling, and luge. They have to have it in the winter so the snowboarders and skiers have snow. And those are sports in the winter and for example, they take the best winter athlete's out of the X Games and put them in the winter olmpics and put them in the country they were born in,that shound explain why they call it the winter olympics.
155760
Because most of the sports are similar(except curling)in winter olympic, and it has less sports than summer olympic.\nAlso snowbording(the half-pipe)is cool
22376
1936\n\nThe 1936 Berlin Olympic Games had been handed to Berlin before the Nazis came to power but now it was the perfect opportunity for Hitler to demonstrate to the world, how efficient the Nazi Germany was. It was also the perfect opportunity for the Nazis to prove to the world the reality of the Master Race. \n\nThe Berlin Olympic Games gave the Nazis an opportunity to show off to the world as 49 countries were competing bringing with them their assorted media. For Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, it was the perfect scenario.\n\nThe vast Olympic stadium was completed on time and held 100,000 spectators. 150 other new Olympic buildings were completed on time for the event. The  anti-Semitic posters that had littered Germany before the games had disappeared. Signs that stated "Jews not welcome here" were not longer visible - anything was done to ensure that the Games went smoothly and caused no upset.\n\nIn fact, the upset was caused in the stadium itself. The 'racially inferior' Owens won four gold medals; in the 100m, 200m, long jump and 4 x 100m relay. During the Games he broke 11 Olympic records and defeated Lutz Lang in a very close long jump final. The German was the first to congratulate Owens when the long jump final was over. There were 10 African American members of the American athletics team. Between them they won 7 gold medals, 3 silvers and 3 bronze - more than any national team won in track and field at the Games, except America itself. Hitler refused to place the gold medal around Owen's neck.
211508
A History of the Olympics\n\nAccording to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles (the Roman Hercules), a son of Zeus. Yet the first Olympic Games for which we still have written records were held in 776 BCE (though it is generally believed that the Games had been going on for many years already). At this Olympic Games, a naked runner, Coroebus (a cook from Elis), won the sole event at the Olympics, the stade - a run of approximately 192 meters (210 yards). This made Coroebus the very first Olympic champion in history.\n\nThe ancient Olympic Games grew and continued to be played every four years for nearly 1200 years. In 393 CE, the Roman emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, abolished the Games because of their pagan influences.\n\nApproximately 1500 years later, a young Frenchmen named Pierre de Coubertin began their revival. Coubertin is now known as le Rénovateur. Coubertin was a French aristocrat born on January 1, 1863. He was only seven years old when France was overrun by the Germans during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Some believe that Coubertin attributed the defeat of France not to its military skills but rather to the French soldiers' lack of vigor.* After examining the education of the German, British, and American children, Coubertin decided that it was exercise, more specifically sports, that made a well-rounded and vigorous person. ....
123861
see  \nhttp://www.olympic-usa.org/12181_19096.htm
748587
The first Olympics took place in 776 BC at Olympia in the Greek district of Elis, on the banks of the Pinios River on the Greek penninsula.  It was some distance from the urban center of Athens and from other city-states, and most of the time was a sleepy backwater where nothing much happened.  This shows the location.  http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=4347\n\nThe ancient Olympic games were a sacred festival, and all enmities between city-states were suspended for the duration of the games.  A sacred truce held sway during the games.\n\nInitially the Games consisted of nothing more than a footrace, but gradually over time other events were added.  The events were built around the kinds of things that men might have to do in war:  javelin throws, discus, footrace, and the wrestling/fighting matches.  At first the games were deemed to be the test of a warrior and there were no specialist athletes, but over time that changed.  Athletes began to specialize in events, to the point where the all-around athlete of the type haled as the ideal when the games first started was essentially pushed out of competition by the specialists.  \n\nAthletic games were a part of Greek culture even before the Olympics began.  Homer cites the funeral games held during the Trojan war, and even then the tradition of having games as part of a religious celebration wasn't new.  Games of various sorts were held all over the greater Greek territories by all men of Greek heritage.  The Olympics were conceived as a pan-Greek religious festival where people came together to worship and compete.