Winter Olympic Games

Judo is one of many forms of martial arts and is an offshoot of a much older martial art Jiu-Jitsu. Jiu-Jitsu began in 1530, and by mid-1800 there were over seven hundred different jujitsu systems. In 1882, Dr. Jigoro Kano, President of the Pedagogical University in Tokyo, Japan and the best techniques and most effective of the numerous forms of jujitsu marital art form that is judo. Originally, judo was practiced in feudal Japan as a method of combat.

For years, judo students have enjoyed learning this martial art for reasons of fitness, conditioning, self-awareness and increase self confidence. However, judo was not in the Olympics as a competitive sport for the 1964 Games to Tokyo, Japan. At that time, only twenty-seven countries participated in the judo events. Only men were allowed to take part in judo competitions, and there were three weight categories. The popularity of judo as an Olympic sport has grown over the years. Women were first given the opportunity to compete in the judo events in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain Olympics. Seven weight categories for men and women in 1992 were available, the categories of men between 60 – 100 + kg category of women aged 48 to 78 + kg.

The manufacturer of popular sportswear, Adidas is the official partner of 2008 Olympic Games held in Beijing, China. Adidas provides the staff, volunteers and officials of the Olympics with sportswear. Members of the Chinese Olympic team will also be provided with Adidas sportswear. Known worldwide for the manufacture of sportswear and equipment for the most well-known sports such as basketball and running, Adidas also judo uniforms and supplies.

Judo, like other martial arts, requires specialized equipment, clothing, supplies, sparring equipment and protective gear. Judo uniforms are comfortable and more freedom of movement. It is important that the uniform of judo, do not speed or concentration of the judo student or competitors. During judo training, equipment and protective clothing used for sparring imitate judo moves the students without being able to cause damage. Although judo moves not outweigh other forms of martial arts to use, there is still a chance that the student has suffered an injury during training. Protective equipment includes mouthguards, padded headgear and chest and abdomen protectors. Sparring equipment for the judo practitioner includes padded shields for the sparring partners hold. This helps to prevent injury to the sparring partner. Judo Uniforms

Sports Car may be defined as a car with a sporty look, meaning an automobile which is short in height as compared to other cars to the extent that it almost touches the ground, having a powerful engine and light weight. A typical sports car has two seats, two doors, rear-wheel drive and with high speed. It is in fact a speedy car that needs to be handled quite efficiently and accurately. There are a number of popular companies that manufacture a perfect sports car like Ferrari, BMW?s mid-sized sports car, Porsche, Lotus etc. However a sports car consists of a light-weight powerful engine with ultra modern suspension and a firm chassis due to these features the sports car that is light weight performs more accurately as compared to heavy sports cars. Initially the cars were just considered an important mode of transport for carrying people and goods from one place to the other, and were manufactured to provide its core utility of transporting the people with comfort. Later on these cars soon became a craze amongst the people and a great fascination to drive it with speed and race, apart from its basic usefulness. This was the new era to welcome the sports cars. The trend of sports car started after the Second World War when a new class of sports car was introduced. Initially a very expensive luxury car meant only for the rich and the famous personalities was seen on race tracks are now available with road functionalities and with reasonable pricing structure. There were just a few cars in the historical phase but now these cars are easily obtainable to a normal individual. Enzo Ferrari was the first person design the sports car, in 1929. Then he was followed by many other car designers who started a new age of Sports Car. Ferrari?s entire unit used advanced technologies and modifications and emerged out in the whole world to create a history by manufacturing the Formula One Racing Car, which is an obsession now and will remain in future. The most eligible and fantastic drivers for formula one are Michael Schumacher and Alberto Ascari, who promoted the Ferrari Sports Car to success. Then came the F430 became quite popular due to its performance and affordable pricing structure, after which Superamerica became the most desired of all the Sports Cars. Any individual is first attracted by outer looks and then by its performance, same applies for cars too, so the designers and the manufacturers with a lot of hardwork and efforts introduced a car for racing against its competitors, this further triggered the development of cars for the next generation. It was a great risk to manufacture a speedy car with powerful engine with advanced technologies to improve its speed performance. Highly powerful engine with great speed was fixed into the light weight body of the car which was a great risk to the drivers as it needed to be handled most efficiently. Then came the thought for its safety where the designers worked hard and adopted certain modifications to set limitations on the speed and things like emergency brakes and suspension restrictions were added. However with the advanced technologies and great techniques a perfect sports car was ready on tracks. Day-by-day the possession for Sports Car has become a rising trend in the market. It may be due to one or all of the following reasons to drive a person to posses a Sports Car. – Its Fabulous Looks: The trendiest design of the Sports Car may e one of the reasons that more and more buyers are going crazy for it. – Functionality: Functionality and the car performance should be the most vital aspect to be considered while purchasing a Sports model. Sports Car is designed to give the best performance with regards to speed. Thus the experience a driver gets while driving a Sports Car is beyond words. – Pleasure and Thrill: Driving a Sports Car is an amazing feeling as it gives you immense pleasure and the thrill you are craving for. The fun while racing a Sports Car is just incomparable with racing any other car. – Status Symbol: Possessing a Sports Car often gives you an image of a high class status symbol, as it looks more of a luxury item than an automobile for transport. You seem to look like an adventurous personality who likes to explore new things. – Depreciation Value: Any car when purchased decreases in its value with increasing time period but surprisingly for Sports Car this is completely opposite, the value of the Sports Car increases with increasing time period! In simple words owning a sports car reflects the car owner?s personality and also shows how adventurous and trendy you are.

It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of modern-day Olympics. With so much drama, so much romance, so much pizzazz, it is hard to imagine this world-wide spectacle being anything less than perfect. But you don’t have to dig too deeply to discover a humble and oft-times peculiar origin. Truly, it has taken 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 his god like strength in front of the ladies. An alternative legend tells the story of Pelops, a Greek romantic, and father of the Olympics. In a desperate attempt to win the hand of his bride, Hippodamia, Pelops challenged her father, the King of Pisa, to a chariot race. To give himself the edge, Pelops replaced the king’s linchpin with one made of wax, which melted during the race, throwing the king from his chariot and killing him. Upon winning the race, the girl, and the entire empire, Pelops declared this the first Olympic Games – forever instilling the qualities of cheating and deception upon the games.
The ancient Olympics had their own version of celebrity appearances, including Homer, Socrates, Aristotle and Hippocrates. Even Plato got in on the games, winning not one but two gold medals in the pankration event. The original “games” really only entailed one game, a 192 meter dash known as “the stade” – which was run entirely in the nude (once again giving Heracles an excuse to strut his stuff). In fact, the word “gymnasium” comes from the Greek “gymnos”, which literally means “school for naked exercise”. Later additions to the Olympics included boxing, jumping, discus and javelin, which gladly did include clothing. The surprising exception to this events list is the marathon race. This famous run, including the torch, were never part of ancient Olympics, and were not added to the venue until over 1500 years later.
The ancient games lasted nearly 1200 years, from at least 776 BC to 393 AD, when the Roman emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, abolished the games because he felt 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 at a meeting of the Union des Sports Athletiques in Paris. His pitch failed miserably. But ever the optimist, Pierre tried again two years later, this time in front a meeting of 79 delegates representing 9 countries. The delegates voted unanimously in favor of the revitalization, and so, in 1896 in the city of Athens, the Olympics were reborn.
The 1896 games were a disaster. As the games were poorly publicized, they never received the international support needed. Contestants were not backed by their respective countries, and in fact were forced to travel to Greece at their own expense. Several of the contestants were tourists who just happened to be in Greece on holiday.
Due to poor planning, the 1896 games was held in very cold weather, though it consisted entirely of “summer” events. In her book First to the Wall, 100 Years of Olympic Swimming, Kelly Gonsalves describes the first swimming event: “Not only did they battle 12-foot waves, but the weather in Greece was unusually cold and the water was a frigid 55 degrees Fahrenheit. ” The book goes on to tell the story of Garner Williams, an American Swimmer, who despite spending a fortune to train and travel to the Olympics, jumped out of the water after only a few moments into the race yelling “I’m freezing”.
Other athletes also had difficult experiences at the Olympic games. After traveling on foot from Rome to Athens, a one month journey, the Italian athlete Carlo Airoldi was banned from the games because he was a professional. As the book The Olympic’s Strangest Moments describes, Dorando Pietri was denied his marathon gold because an over-anxious official helped him cross the finish line.
The Olympics are typically thought of as an event of world unity, though history would have something else to say. The official Olympic flag, designed in 1914 by Pierre de Coubertin, contains five interconnected rings, the symbolize the “five significant continents of the world”, leaving Africa completely off the map. 1936 brought the games to pre-war Germany, an opportunity to demonstrate the superiority of the “Aryan” race, or so thought Adolf Hitler, who campaigned heavily to secure the games. Of course, many will remember Jesse Owens, the African American runner who proudly taught the Germans a thing or two. The win of Luxembourg’s Josef Barthel in 1952 was met with an embarrassed silence. As no one expected a Luxembourg athlete to win, the orchestra at the medals ceremony was without the score to Luxenbourg’s national anthem.
Over the years, several attempts have been made to improve the Olympics. Both motor-boat racing, and bicycle polo were introduced, and later removed from the games. Hollywood was literally brought in to add some pizzazz in the 1960 Winter Games. Walt Disney was elected head of the organizing committee over opening ceremonies, which included special effects, ice statues, and the releasing of 2,000 white doves.
Scams, politics, wins and heartbreaks: these words apply equally as well to the modern day Olympics as to ancient. If the Olympic games have taught us anything, it’s that society never changes, even after thousands of years. If Pelops could visit our games today, while he might be impressed with our bright fireworks and Hollywood illusions, I think he would feel quite at home with the true game on display: human nature.

Olympics or The Olympic Games is a multi-sports event which takes place once in four years and comprises of winter and summer games. It is an international event and almost all the countries in the globe participate in the games.
The first Olympic game was held in the year 776 BC in Olympia, Greece. The games were held in Greece till 393 AD. Subsequently in 1896, Pierre Fredy, Baron de Coubertin, a French nobleman revived the games which heralded the beginning of the Modern Olympic Games.
Starting from 1896, Games of the Olympiad or The Summer Olympics were held once in four years except during the World War 1 and 2.
The Olympic Winter Games, a special edition of winter sports was first held in 1924. In the beginning, both summer and winter editions of The Olympic Games were held simultaneously. From 1944 onwards the summer and winter games have been held two years apart.
The origin of the ancient Olympic Games was surrounded by many legends. The ancient Greek concept of Olympic Truce is one such legend associated with The Olympic Games. The Olympic Games reached their zenith during fifth and sixth century BC.
The Olympic Games were held in honour of Pelops a mythical king and divine hero of the Greeks. Poems were written and statues were created immortalizing the winners of the events in the Olympic Games. Milo of Croton, a wrestler in the sixth century BC, was the only victorious athlete in six Olympic Games.
After the Romans captured power in Greece, there was a gradual decline in the importance of the Olympic Games. The Emperor Theodosius banned the Olympic Games in 393 CE citing the games as a Pagan Festival not suitable for the Christian Ethics.
Even though the Greek ceremonies included the bearing of a torch as its integral aspect, it was not included in the ancient Olympic Games. This was introduced later as a part of the modern Olympic Games.
In the 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens, nearly 11,100 contestants from 202 countries participated in various events whereas there were only 245 participants from 15 nations in the 1896 edition of the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games has become one of the biggest events for the media. In the Sydney Olympics held in 2000, more than 16,000 journalists presented the events in various media format while 3. 8 billion people watched the games on Television.
Munich Olympics held in 1972 saw the first act of terrorism in the . Olympic Games. Subsequently the Summer Olympics held in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996, and the Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2002 were also subjected to acts of terrorism.
For the Olympic Games scheduled to take place in London in 2012, 26 sports are included.

The Ancient Olympics, the main races of the Greeks, where celebrated in honor of Zeus at Olympia. While the origin of the Olympic Games is not known with precision, according to tradition, the first the celebration was in 776 BC. According to mythology, Idaios Herakles was the founder, who had be present to the birth of Zeus in the cave of Idis (Idaion Andron). The hero with the same name, Hercules, son of Alcmene had also performed matches in Olympia, when he ended with success the clearance of Augeias stables. However, main organisers of the Olympic Games in prehistoric and historical times (884 BC) were the King of Elis Ifitos, Lycurgus the legislature of Sparta and the king of Pisis Kleisthenes. From those initially established the Holy Truce? which imposed on all Greeks during the games. That order was written on a bronze disk which was hidden in Heroon and special preachers announced it all over Greece. Thus, the Olympic Games had taken a national celebration character. In another tradition, the Olympic Games were the result of funeral matches on the banks of Alpheos river which took place in honor of king Pelops. As the years passed, participation in the Games had been extended to all Greek states, inside and outside Greece, and visitors of celebration were not only individuals but also official representatives of various states. The Olympic Games were maintained until 393 AD when the the Roman Emperor Theodosius I canceled them, while Greece had lost its independence.
Initially the program was limited to one day and consisted of only one event – a race across the stage. Later added other olympia sports such as discus throw, javelin, long jump, boxing, wrestling, pentathlon, chariot race, etc. , and the duration – including religious ceremonies – was extended to seven days. The participation in the Games originally limited only to the Greeks, coming even from Greek colonies. Women could not take part in the Games and married could not attend even as spectators, except the priestess of the goddess Demeter.
Before opening the games all competitors and their families, pre-gymnasts and judges, took an official oath that will keep their games clean and fair and they would give a fair judgement. The games took so important position in the life of Greece, that the time measured with the four-year period between the Games and this was an Olympiad. The biggest price for each Greek then was to win the simple branch of wild olive which was given as a prize to the winner of the games. The kings were competing side-by-side with the simple people. Even the Roman Emperor Nero (37-68 AD) sought the Olympic values. The winners were national heroes.
Minimum Human ventures have lasted so long as the Ancient Olympic games did.