Dear Just Be: My kids and I were wondering how did the Olympics come to be?

It is believed the Olympics have been going on for many years before this, but the first written records of the Olympic Games were held in 773 BC. The games grew and continued until in 393 CE, they were cancelled because of pagan influences. 1500 years later a Frenchman, Pierre de Coubertin, began the revival of the Olympic games. In 1890, he organized and founded a sports organization, Union des Sociétés Francaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA) and two years later, he first pitched the idea to revive the Olympic Games. Two years after that, Coubertin organized a meeting with 79 delegates who represented nine countries. At this meeting, Coubertin spoke of the revival of the Olympic Games and the delegates voted unanimously for the games. Athens was chosen as the location for the revival of the Olympic Games.

For more information on the history of the Olympics check out:
http://history1900s.about.com/od/fadsfashion/a/olympicshistory.htm

Other fun facts about the Olympics and the winter games:

•The five Olympic rings represent the five major regions of the world – Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceana, and every national flag in the world includes one of the five colors, which are (from left to right) blue, yellow, black, green, and red.

•The Winter Olympic sports are alpine skiing, biathlon (cross-country skiing and target shooting), bobsled, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hocky, luge, Nordic combined (ski jumping and cross-country skiing), skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, and speed skating.

•The first Winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix, France in 1924.

•Norway has won the most medals (263) at the Winter Games.

•Three continents – Africa, South America, and Antarctica – have never hosted an Olympics.