What are the similarities and differences between the modern Olympic Games and the ancient Olympic Games?

The Olympic Movement emerged in the era of capitalist industrialization in Europe, which is based on solid socio-political, economic and cultural foundations, and conforms to the trend of social and sports development, and it is a great social practice started after mankind entered the industrial civilization, and it is the product of the Renaissance, Reformation, and Enlightenment which have been burgeoning since the 14th century, and it is the need for the internationalization of sports, while a great figure, the French educator Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937), has been the main force behind it. It is also a product of the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Enlightenment, which have flourished since the 14th century, as well as a necessity for the internationalization of sports, and the efforts of a great figure, the French educator Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937,), which brought the Olympic Movement to the stage of history at the end of the 19th century.

Coubertin, who is widely recognized as the founder of the Olympic movement, formally put forward the specific idea of reviving the Olympic Games in 1892. The modern Olympic Games should be like the ancient Olympic Games, with unity, peace and friendship as the purpose, but should be developed and innovated than the ancient Olympic Games, the use of modern sports content and form should be based on the British athletic sports, but also should be open to all countries, all regions and all nationalities, and held in all parts of the world on a rotating basis. The initiative of Gu Baidan, so that the modern Olympic Games from the outset to become a classical tradition with the color, with modern thought connotation of the international sports event.

June 16 to 24, 1894, in the organization and active promotion of Coubertin, the "International Congress of Physical Education and Sport" was held in Paris. The 79 delegates from 49 sports organizations in 12 countries, including the United States, Britain, Russia, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Greece, unanimously agreed with Coubertin's idea to revive the Olympic Games, and on June 23, the Congress adopted a resolution to establish the International Olympic Committee.

April 6-15, 1896, the 1st modern Olympic Games were finally held in Athens as scheduled. 295 athletes from 13 countries competed in track and field, swimming, diving, weightlifting, wrestling, gymnastics, cycling, shooting and fencing. Although the organization was not yet very formal, it was an important symbol of the official birth of the Olympic movement.

The rise of the Olympic movement is the result of a long gestation in a broad era. The three major ideological and cultural movements and capitalist industrialized production laid the ideological and material foundation for the rise of the Olympic Movement. The influence of traditional sports in ancient Greece, the educational reform of the bourgeoisie, the internationalization trend of sports and people's desire for peace created the conditions for the emergence of the Olympic Movement. The contribution of the French educator Coubertin made the Olympic Movement a reality. The Olympic Movement, which emerged under the combined effect of many factors, conformed to the trend of the times and showed strong vitality, becoming a symbol of friendship and solidarity in human society and a progressive cause for maintaining world peace, and making significant contributions to the civilization and development of human society.

Comparison of the Main Features of the Modern Olympic Games and the Ancient Olympic Games

(1) The Modern Olympic Games have been profoundly influenced by the Ancient Olympic Games

The Modern Olympic Games, which came into being against the background of the capitalist industrial revolution, have inherited the valuable legacy of the Ancient Olympic Games, and therefore have many similarities with the Ancient Olympic Games.

1, followed the "Olympic Games" name

In order to arouse people's feelings for the ancient Greek sports civilization noble and sacred, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Coubertin that "this international sports event can only be used to 'Olympic Games'. Olympic Games' and it is impossible to find another more suitable name." The new bourgeoisie in the Renaissance movement propaganda and praise of the ancient Olympic Games, so that the "Olympic" has become a word beyond sports, Gubertin took advantage of the far-reaching influence of ancient Greek culture on Europe, as the name of the world's largest modern games, so as to make it even more appealing.

2. Inheriting the tradition of holding one session every four years

The cycle of the ancient Olympic Games has been institutionalized, starting from 776 B.C., once every four years, and in 1,169 years, it has been held 293 sessions without interruption, which is a miracle in the history of mankind. Thus, according to Coubertin, "The celebration of the Olympic Games, which must be held precisely in accordance with the rhythm of the celestial orbits, is an integral part of the celebration of the four-yearly human festival. Unforeseen circumstances may prevent it from being held, but the order of the sessions must never change."

3. Borrowed and Developed Certain Rituals

The ancient Olympic Games, as a religious ritualistic games, contained many solemn ceremonies with religious overtones, which played a great role in the long history of the ancient Olympic Games. The founders of the modern Olympic Games keenly recognized this, and therefore inherited and developed the lighting of the sacred flame, the torch relay, the oath of the athletes and referees and the awarding ceremony, and created the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony, the athletes' entry, the lifting and handing over of the flag and other ceremonies, in order to purify people's hearts. They constitute a scene of the most solemn, sacred and exciting, reflecting the power of truth, goodness and beauty, expanding the influence of the Olympic Games and promoting the noble Olympic spirit.

4. Absorption and development of the traditional thinking of the ancient Olympic Games

The ancient Olympic spirit, which is permeated with the ideas of fair competition, hard work and harmonious development, has been absorbed by the modern Olympic movement and carried forward.

(2) There is an essential difference between the ancient Olympic Games and the modern Olympic Games

The modern Olympic Games is a cultural phenomenon produced in order to adapt to the modern society, but it is realized by the founders in the name of "restoring the ancient Olympic Games", and since the two have only the difference between the two eras in their names, and are partly the same in form, it is easy to be misunderstood. Part of the same, easy to make people misunderstand that the modern Olympic Games is the continuation of the ancient Olympic Games and replica, confuse their different nature.

1, national and international

The ancient Olympic Games has a distinctive nationalistic color and xenophobic cultural characteristics, it is a national ritual games, always held in the same place, the Greek blood is to participate in the games of the necessary conditions, in order to maintain the purity of the games. The ancient Olympic Games played a role in the prosperity of Greek culture, integration of national feelings and promotion of exchanges between city-states, and symbolized the spirit of the Greek nation. However, its limitations made it unable to withstand the winds and waves of multi-ethnic integration, and could only be developed under the specific conditions of the prosperity of ancient Greek slavery, and it was difficult to survive once it encountered the invasion of foreigners.

The modern Olympic Games, on the other hand, is open to all countries, all regions and all ethnic groups, and is held in rotation around the world. It transcends the limitations of politics, religion, color, race and language and has become an event of peace and friendship for people all over the world.

2. Ancient and Modern Sports

The Ancient Olympic Games adopted the ancient sports content closely related to military skills, the competition was primitive, simple, no standardized venues and clear rules, only some customary methods to assess the winners and losers, is the human society in the childhood era of sports competitions, reflecting the characteristics of the slavery of sports.

While the modern Olympic Games adopt the content of modern sports mainly based on British outdoor athletics. According to Coubertin, the competition must be modern, and the content must be based on 19th-century sports, rather than simply imitating ancient programs. Therefore, the modern Olympic Games in the project set up to break through the ancient traditions, and based on modern science, there is a unified organization and clear rules, there is a standardized competition system and methodology, resulting in a record of achievements, reflecting the need for modern sports development,

3, the festival of Zeus and the celebration of sports

The ancient Olympic Games is the Greeks dedicated to the head of the gods of the rituals of the race meeting of Zeus, Zeus God's cohesion function, so that with *** with the same religious culture but independent of each other, and even hatred of the city states can gather *** with the Olympic ritual pageant. Therefore, the ancient Olympic Games is not an independent sports event, but a part of religious festivals, can not be separated from religious activities and independent existence.

The modern Olympic Games, on the other hand, is a secular, non-religious sports celebration, which is a truly international sports competition, not dependent on politics, economics and religion, but has its own independent ideological system, organizational system and activity system, is the world's athletes gathered together in a grand sports festival.

4, slave-owning aristocratic arbitration institutions and complete system of modern organizations

The leader and organizer of the ancient Olympic Games is the slave-owning aristocracy composed of arbitration institutions. It was staffed by full-time priests and local officials*** in the temple of Zeus, all from a single city-state, Elis.

The modern Olympic Games, on the other hand, have a well-established organizational structure, which consists of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Federations, the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and the Organizing Committees of the host cities, and is an unofficial organization that is independent of politics, and which does not have a monopoly on the personnel of one country, and has a wide range of internationality. There is a clear division of labor and collaboration between them, and they have developed detailed rules for competition.

5. Olympic Truce and World Peace

Ancient Greece was characterized by long mountain ranges and intertwined rivers, resulting in a continuous and irreparable state of fragmentation between city-states, and more than 200 city-states were never truly united, a strong and stubborn sense of strife that kept Greece in a state of war for a long time. However, the fact that they always shared a unifying tradition and ****same religion enabled the city-state alliances to ****together to keep the peace on special festivals and to make certain treaties to minimize wars among the allies, in order to protect the safety of the worshippers and to maintain the roads leading to the temples. At that time, an important bond that could unite the Greeks, who had a strong sense of separateness, was the Olympic Games, which were held every four years. In order to ensure the holding of this most sacred ritual, the Olympic League, in which all the Greek city-states participated, concluded the "Olympic Truce", which enabled the ancient Olympic Games to be held without interruption for more than 1,000 years, as a peaceful event in the service of the Greek nation, independent of the circumstances of war.

The modern Olympic Games, on the other hand, serve to build a peaceful and beautiful world. One of the purposes of its creation by Coubertin was "to call the young men of the world to compete on the playing field, not to fight on the battlefield." While the modern Olympic Games have not been able to stop ongoing wars (it has itself been a casualty of war on three occasions), its efforts to bring athletes from all over the world to understand and respect each other have bridged the gap between many nations, regions, peoples and races, and fostered genuine understanding, cooperation and friendship among people with the aim of building a new and better world.

The Ancient Olympic Games and the Modern Olympic Games are two essentially different social and cultural phenomena produced in different social contexts. The politically independent city-state system of slavery in ancient Greece, the unity of culture and religion, the humanization of primitive gods and goddesses, and the more complete sacrificial system are the social basis for the emergence and development of the ancient Olympic Games, so it is impossible for it to transcend the slavery system of ancient Greece and exist, and the fundamental reason for its decline and extinction is that the social background on which it relies for its survival has ceased to exist. The success of Coubertin lies in his very strategic use of the classical model of the ancient Olympic Games, which had great appeal, but also in his very conscious realization that "the Olympic Games must be modernized without clumsy, simple imitation and restoration." Therefore, he has always taken internationality and modern sports content as the basic principles, so that the newly generated Olympic Games become an international sports event with a classical tradition and a modern ideological connotation.