1)History of the Olympics

Although the ancient Games were staged in Olympia, Greece, from 776 BC through 393 AD, it took
1503 years for the Olympics to return. The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece, in
1896. The man responsible for its rebirth was a Frenchman named Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who
presented the idea in 1894.

The ancient Olympic Games were primarily a part of a religious festival in honour of Zeus, the
father of the Greek gods and goddesses. The festival and the games were held in Olympia a rural
sanctuary site in the western Peloponnesos.

The idea of Introducing the Winter Olympics

The first modern Winter Olympic games were held in 1924 in Chamonix, France. There was no
winter Olympic festival in ancient times. Separate Winter Games were first authorized in 1911 to
be held in 1916, but due to World War I they didn't occur until 1924, in Chamonix

Starting with Lillehammer in 1994, it was decided that every other year will be an Olympic year
(with Summer and Winter Games alternating), rather than holding Summer and Winter Games
every 4th year. This was done to accommodate TV networks and audiences .

Modern Olympic flag

The flag consists of five linked rings, each with a primary colour used in the flags of the
nations competing in the games, which was introduced in 1908. There is no ancient basis
for this modern symbol.

A very powerful symbol, the five rings are a visual representation of Olympism. It was Pierre de
Coubertin himself who designed the symbol. The five rings represent the five continents. They are
interlinked to show the universality of Olympism and how athletes from all over the world come
together for the Olympic Games. On the Olympic flag, the rings appear against a white background.
Combined in this way, the flag’s six colours (blue, yellow, black, green, red, and white) represent all
the nations. It is therefore not the case that each of the colours is associated with a particular
continent. Today, the symbol is one of the most widely recognized in the world.

Olympic torch and Olympic oath

The idea of the Olympic torch or Olympic Flame was first inaugurated at the 1928
Olympic Games in Amsterdam. The Olympic Oath was introduced in 1920.

Ancient prizes in Olympics

A series of bronze tripods have been found at Olympia, some of which may date
to the 9th century BC, and it has been suggested that these tripods may be
prizes for some of the early events at Olympia.
2)Newly introduced sports and games in Tokyo Olympics
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) added five sports and 34 new events in total to
the Olympics programme for Tokyo 2020; Skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing and karate
are introduced as new sports, while baseball and softball return after a 13-year absence.
Ahead of Tokyo 2020, the IOC added five new sports and 34 new events in total to make the
edition more appealing to younger generations and reflect the ever-changing sporting
landscape.

So, what's new in Tokyo and who are the big names you should look out for?

skateboarding

Tokyo will have two skateboarding disciplines - park and street, which will both have men's and
women's competitions.

Surfing

20 men and 20 women from 17 different nations will compete at Tsurigasaki beach - 40 miles east of
Tokyo - between July 25 and 28. Both the men's and women's events will use
a heated structure, with each one usually lasting around 30 minutes during which athletes
will try to catch as many waves as they can.

Sport climbing
All athletes in Tokyo will compete in three different disciplines - bouldering, lead
climbing and speed climbing, in what could be described as a climbers' triathlon.
Speed climbing is comparable to a 100m sprint. Two athletes go head-to-head by climbing a
route on a 15m wall - the first to reach the top wins.

karate

Karate - "empty hand" in Japanese - is a martial art originating in Japan that seeks the
development of defensive and counterattacking dynamic body movements. In Tokyo, the
sport will be divided into two disciplines. Kata, which means "shape" or "model", is
performed by a solo karateka who targets a virtual opponent with a series of choreographed
movements chosen off a list of 102 recognised by the World Karate Federation.
3)Olympic agenda 2020
Adopted by the IOC Session at its meeting in Monaco in December 2014, Olympic Agenda 2020
is a set of 40 detailed recommendations whose overarching goal was to safeguard the Olympic
values and strengthen the role of sport in society.
The roadmap for the IOC and the Olympic Movement, Olympic Agenda 2020 was built on
the three pillars of Credibility, Sustainability and Youth. The 40 separate yet interrelated
recommendations were identified and collated through a collaborative and consultative
process involving Olympic Movement stakeholders and outside experts. They were driven
by a recognition that the world was evolving rapidly and that the Olympic Movement had the
opportunity to be an agent of change.

Since Olympic Agenda 2020 was adopted in December 2014, it has had a profound impact
in all spheres. It has:

 strengthened the IOC and the Olympic Movement by introducing changes intended

to make the Olympic Games fit for the future;

 safeguarded the Olympic values; and

 strengthened the role of sport in society.

These achievements, which will continue to evolve, have laid solid foundations for the future.

The Olympic Agenda 2020 Closing Report has now been published ahead of the 137th IOC
Session, which will be held from 10 to 12 March 2021. The Session will vote on it. The report
describes in detail each of the 40 recommendations, the different activities are undertaken to
implement them and the impacts that all the recommendations, individually and together,
have had on the IOC and the Olympic Movement since December 2014.

4) Impact of covid on Tokyo Olympics

The Olympic Games are considered to be the world’s most prestigious sports competition, with more
than 200 nations participating. However, this year’s Olympic Games, which are being hosted by
Japan, are facing complications due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. In late July, approximately
11,000 athletes and 4,000 athletic support staff will gather for more than two weeks of competition at
various hosting cities. Another 5,000 athletes will attend the Paralympics, which follow shortly after.
According to the Tokyo 2020 Playbooks, which were developed by the International Olympic
Committee (IOC), the International Paralympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising
Committee to ensure that all participants and spectators remain safe and healthy during the ongoing
Covid-19 pandemic, both spectators and athletes should take responsibilities to supply their face
coverings and are advised to be vaccinated against Covid-19 before the Games begin.

Some of Japan’s most senior advisers on the Covid-19 pandemic have warned that allowing millions
of spectators at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will facilitate the spread of the virus both
domestically and internationally. The Olympics were originally scheduled to take place in 2020 but
were postponed for a year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, Japan’s Government has
extended a state of emergency covering major cities until late June, which has led to further calls to
postpone or cancel the Olympic Games.

GlobalData’s latest Coronavirus Disease 2019 dashboard highlights a downward trend in new Covid-
19 case numbers for Japan as it’s coming off its fourth wave of infection since the beginning of the
pandemic. The number of daily new cases has sharply declined from a peak of more than 7,000 cases
on May 12 to just under 2,000 cases on June 16. The total number of confirmed cases in Japan is
currently at 779,500 cases, placing the country 34th in several cases globally. GlobalData’s analysis
shows that Japan was initially considered to have had one of the most successful responses to the
pandemic due to using a cluster-based approach, compared to South Korea’s large-scale testing
initiatives. However, Japan has been criticised for reopening its economy too soon after its first wave
and has paid a heavy price for it, as seen in the multiple waves that followed.

5) Introducing mixed gender events-a sign of greater gender

diversity
To promote greater gender diversity at the Olympic Games, the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) has introduced multiple new mixed-gender events at the Olympic Games
in Tokyo 2020. They are providing an exciting new competition format and are often
unpredictable and thrilling to the end for both competitors and fans.
Tokyo 2020 is hosting 18 mixed-gender events in archery, athletics, badminton, equestrian, judo,
sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, tennis and triathlon.

Additionally, four International Federations (IFs) have moved to gender-balanced events for the first
time (canoe, rowing, shooting and weightlifting).

Five of these mixed events featured on “Super Saturday” (31 July): athletics 4x400m mixed relay, judo
mixed team, shooting trap mixed team, swimming 4x100m mixed medley relay and triathlon mixed
relay. With these events, Tokyo 2020 is demonstrating its commitment to innovation and to being the
most gender-balanced Olympic Games in history.
“The mixed events are truly important because they embody the equality of male and female
athletes on the field of play,” said Kit McConnell, the IOC Sports Director. “There is nothing
more equal than a male and female competing as one team on the same field of play
towards the same sports performance.”

6)Mental health at top-notch: helping athletes to stay mentally fit

With the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 well underway, the International Olympic Committee
(IOC) is emphasising the need to support athletes’ well-being and highlighting the
importance of protecting their mental health.

IOC Mentally Fit Helpline

The latest service developed for athletes attending the Olympic and Paralympic Games
Tokyo 2020 and the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 is the Mentally Fit
Helpline.

Athlete365: leading the way on athletes’ mental health

In a survey launched by the IOC AC in 2020, 32 per cent of the 4,000 athletes and
entourage members who responded said that mental health was the biggest challenge they
were currently facing. The IOC has taken this feedback on board and subsequently
developed several extra resources to support athletes.

Support from the Olympic Partners

In June 2020, a new athlete support programme with Intel was launched, including well-
being services and opportunities to learn how to better deal with stress and anxiety with
Headspace.

Headspace is a meditation and sleep app used by 66 million people around the world and is
proven to reduce stress and improve happiness. As part of the offer, athletes get six months’
free access to the highest level Headspace subscription, including a full library with themed
courses, a new meditation every day, and sleep exercises.

A joint effort to protect athletes’ mental health and well-being

The IOC has been leading the conversation on mental health for several years. In 2018, the
IOC Medical and Scientific Commission established a Consensus Group of 20 experts,
consisting of leading psychiatrists, psychologists, athlete representatives and sports
medicine professionals.

A strong reference to mental health is also included in Olympic Agenda 2020+5, the
strategic roadmap of the IOC and the Olympic Movement through to 2025.

Recommendation 5 (“Further strengthen safe sport and the protection of clean athletes”)
reinforces the importance of increasing mental health support programmes for elite athletes
and their entourages and promotes the physical and mental health benefits of sport,
leveraging the partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO).

7) India at Paralympics

India competed in the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, from 24 August to 5 September
2021. Indian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Paralympics since 1984, though
they made their official debut at the 1968 Summer Paralympics. This is India's most successful
Paralympic season with 5 golds 8 silvers and 6 bronzes (total of 19). Before this edition, India had
won 12 medals (4 medals of each colour) in all previous Paralympics appearances combined.

Table tennis player Bhavana won India's first Olympics (Paralympic) medal in Table Tennis.
[2]
Shooter Avani Lekhara scripted history as she became the first Indian to win a medal in Shooting in
the Paralympics. She also became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal and become a multiple
medalists in the Paralympics.[3] Another shooter Singhraj Adhana won two medals - Silver in the
Mixed 50m pistol SH1 category and Bronze in Men's 10m air rifle SH1 category.[4]
Archer Harvinder Singh became the first Indian to win a medal in Archery at the Olympics
(Paralympic). He won a bronze medal in Men's Recurve Individual.[5] In badminton Indian shuttler
won a record number of medals including two golds (Pramod Bhagat - Men's singles SL3,
Krishna Nagar - Men's singles SH6) and one silver (Suhas Yathiraj - Men's Singles Badminton
SL4) and one bronze (Manoj Sarkar - Men's Singles Badminton SL3). Mariyappan Thangavelu
and Devendra Jhajharia won silver medals.

Harvinder Singh-Harvinder Singh is an Indian paralympic archer. He won bronze medal in the
men's singles recurve archery at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. It is the first ever Paralympic
medal in archery for India. Before making a mark on the international stage, Harvinder has fared well and won medals in archery
at the national level. His achievements at the national level archery competitions gave hope to his coach that he could be the next star in
Indian archery. In 2017, Harvinder made his debut in Para Archery World Championship, Beijing and finished 7th. In 2018 he won a Gold
medal at the Jakarta Asian Para Games, 2018.

Avani Lekhara-Avani Lekhara is an Indian Paralympian and rifle shooter. She won a Gold Medal in 10m air rifle
standing and a Bronze Medal in 50m rifle 3 positions at Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Avani Lekhara wins gold medal
in shooting event] Hindustan Times. Retrieved 30 August 2021 Lekhara is currently World No 1[1] in Women's
10m Air Rifle standing SH1 (World Shooting Para Sport Rankings) and has competed in the 2018 Asian Para
Games.[2][3][4][5] She has been supported by GoSports Foundation through the Para Champions Programme.[6] She
is also the first Indian woman to win multiple medals in a single Paralympic Games. [7] She has been given out of
turn appointment as Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) by the Government of Rajasthan.

Singhraj Adhana -Singhraj Adhana (born 26 January 1982 in Faridabad, Haryana),

[2]
known mononymously as Singhraj, is an Indian paralympian and shooter. He won a silver
medal in the Mixed 50m pistol SH1 and a bronze medal in the Men's P1 10 metre air pistol SH1
at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. But in 2020, it all came to a standstill due to the
lockdown and that’s when he decided to build his own range, for both 10m and
50m.

8)Unforgettable moments of Tokyo Olympics

1. A gold rush - Neeraj Chopra won independent India's first-ever athletics medal after capturing
gold in the javelin throw final with his second throw of 87.58m. This is India's best-ever medal haul at
the Olympics (seven), surpassing the six-medal haul at the London Games in 2012. This is also India's
second-ever individual Olympic gold medal. Abhinav Bindra bagged the country's first individual
gold at the Beijing Games in 2008.
2. Off to blazing start - Mirabai Chanu won silver in the Women's weightlifting 49kg category to
become the first Indian to win an Olympic medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games. The Manipuri lifted a
total of 202 kg with 87 kg in the Snatch and 115 kg in the Clean & Jerk. China's Zhihui Hou lifted
210kg to create a new Olympic Record and clinch the gold medal.

3. Raising the bar- P.V. Sindhu became the first Indian woman to win two Olympic medals after
beating China’s He Bingjiao 21-13, 21-15 in the bronze medal match. Earlier, the top-ranked Indian
shuttler lost to Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei 18-21, 12-21 in the semifinals of the women’s
badminton singles.
4. Memorable debut - Indian wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya won the silver medal after losing 4-7 to
World champion Zaur Uguev of Russia in the men’s 57kg freestyle title clash. The Indian won his
semifinal bout against Kazakh Nurislam Sanayev ‘by fall’ to reach the finals.
5. In august company- Lovlina Borgohain won bronze after losing 0-5 to the world champion
Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey in the women’s 69kg semifinal. She became only the second Indian
woman pugilist and third overall, after Vijender Singh (bronze in 2008) and Mary Kom (bronze in
2012) to climb the podium.
6. Contrasting emotions- The Indian men’s hockey team created history after defeating Germany 5-
4 to win the bronze medal, the country’s first podium finish in the sport after 41 years. On the other
hand, the Indian women’s hockey team lost 3-4 to Great Britain in a closely contested bronze medal
match.
7. So near, yet so far- Aditi Ashok missed a podium finish by the narrowest of margins to finish
fourth. The Indian golfer, who came into the Olympic Games ranked 200, missed bronze by one
stroke. Nelly Korda of the USA won gold, Japan's Inami Mone bagged silver and Lydia Ko of New
Zealand took the bronze medal.

8. Beating the odds - Bajrang Punia overcame injury concerns to beat Kazakhstan's Daulet
Niyazbekov 8-0 to win the bronze medal in the wrestling 65kg freestyle category. With Bajrang's
bronze, India equalled London's (2012 Olympics) haul of six medals. After Sushil Kumar, Bajrang is
the first Indian wrestler to win medals in both Olympics and the World championships.
9. A trendsetter - India’s first-ever Olympic fencer C. A. Bhavani Devi did well to reach the
women’s sabre second round, where she lost to the fourth-seeded Manon Brunet of France. Though
the Indian showed her tricks in the second period, she was no match for the 25-year-old
Frenchwoman. Bhavani had defeated Tunisia’s Ben Azizi Nadia in the first round.

9) Tokyo 2020 and gender equality

At the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020:

- Almost 49 per cent of the athletes participating will be women, according to the IOC quota allocation.
These will be the first gender-balanced Games in history.

- There will be a ground-breaking competition schedule. ensuring equal visibility between women’s
and men’s events and featuring nine more mixed events than at Rio 2016, raising the overall number
to 18.

- For the first time ever, all 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) should have at least one female
and one male athlete in their respective Olympic teams.

- All 206 NOCs and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team will be encouraged to have their flag carried by
one female and one male athlete at the Opening Ceremony.

At the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020:

- At least 40.5 per cent of all the athletes will be women, according to the IPC Qualification Criteria.
This equates to 1,782 athletes, an increase on the 1,671 women who competed at Rio 2016 (38.6 per
cent).

“The IOC is committed to gender equality in all areas, from the athletes competing on and off the field
of play to leadership roles in sports organisations”. Tokyo 2020 upholds ‘Unity in Diversity’ as an
important concept of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It has been making various
efforts for this purpose together with the IOC, IPC, TMG and the Government of Japan.

Participation of both women and men in all fields, and the active participation of women will lead to the
creation of a prosperous, vibrant and sustainable society and the realisation of a society in which
everyone can live comfortably.

10) positive impact of Tokyo Olympics 2020

The positive impact of Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is being celebrated this week, with the first anniversary of the event on
July 23.

Tokyo 2020 faced unprecedented challenges as the first postponed Games, but managed to be safe, successful, pioneering
and ground breaking, with a legacy being demonstrated in Japan to mark the anniversary.

Special measures for the Games included staging events without supporters for the safety of the public and athletes.
International Olympic Committee Member and Coordination Commission Chair John Coates paid tribute to the organisers
and a co-operation that enabled the Games to take place and flourish:

Encouraging healthier lifestyles and sports participation was one of Tokyo 2020’s core aims, and this includes sports that
made their Olympic debut in Tokyo. The Ariake Urban Sports Park has re-opened ahead of the anniversary to host a
skateboarding experience for Tokyo residents, part of the Ariake legacy area that includes the Tokyo stadium.

The Tokyo Games legacy includes the minimising of the environmental impact. There were eight new permanent venues,
but temporary venues have already been recycled or repurposed. 4.38 million tonnes of CO2 were offset going beyond
carbon neutrality.