The Olympic games of Ancient Greece are known as the Olympics.
Olimpiada is a word that can also be written and pronounced as olimpíada , with an accent on the second letter I. Derived from the Latin word Olympĭas , although with more distant antecedents in the Greek language, the term can refer to different things.
The notion arises from the games that, organized every 4 years, took place in Olympia , a town in Ancient Greece . Therefore, the Olympic games that take place each said period are also known as Olympics. For example: "The European country won five gold medals in the last Olympics" , "My dream is to represent Ecuador and compete in the 2020 Olympics" , "Fear in the authorities due to a possible terrorist attack during the Olympics." » .
The first Olympics
In the year 776 BC. C. was when the first Olympics were held, in which athletes from the different cities of Greece competed for their own personal satisfaction and also to achieve honors and recognition for their cities.
Between the months of June and August is when these games were developed through different competitions, which were also called agones . We cannot ignore either that among the usual events that were carried out were discus throwing, racing, wrestling, javelin throwing, long jump and chariot racing, for example.
All this without forgetting that the competition that managed to arouse the most interest and expectation was the pentathlon. And the athletes had to demonstrate their qualities in a total of five different events such as wrestling, discus throwing, sprinting, javelin and long jump.
The Olympics were so important that even when they were held, a time of peace was established. In this way, for example, participants could circulate through any territory without being in any danger.
Today, both the Olympic games and the years that pass between one competition and the next can be mentioned as Olympics.
A temporary period
Beyond this meaning, the concept is also used to name the four-year period between two consecutive Olympic games .
This means that the Olympics can be those transition years in which the Olympic event does not take place. The Greeks even used the idea of the Olympiad as a temporal unit that allowed them to refer to situations and events from the past .
It should be noted that the body in charge of organizing the Olympics is the International Olympic Committee , founded in 1894 in Switzerland to promote a competition similar to that developed within the framework of the Olympic Games in Greece .
The Olympics beyond sport
Outside the field of sport , the idea of an Olympics is used at a general level to name certain international competitions. In this way, we can talk about Science Olympiad , History Olympiad , etc.
We cannot ignore that in some countries this word has another meaning. Thus, for example, in Honduras it is common to use the term Olympics to refer to those recovery exams that a student has to take during a course.