[00:00.00]The most prominent symbols
[00:02.18]of the Olympic Games today
[00:03.72]did not originate in classical times.
[00:06.67]The Olympic torch was
[00:08.89]an innovation in 1916.
[00:12.28]The five rings were originally
[00:14.69]introduced to represent the first
[00:16.99]five Olympics of the modern
[00:19.39]era from 1896 to 1912.
[00:23.55]In 1920 the rings were revived
[00:26.83]to represent the five continents
[00:28.58]with North and South America
[00:30.99]being represented by one ring.
[00:33.72]The 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany,
[00:37.66]was the site of
[00:39.08]the first lighting
[00:40.07]of the Olympic flame.
[00:41.93]The spirit of intense competition
[00:44.56]in association with heroism
[00:46.75]and national pride, remain
[00:49.48]major themes of the Olympics today,
[00:52.76]much as they were
[00:54.07]over 2000 years ago.
[00:56.04]Today, countries send their best,
[00:58.89]amateur and professional alike,
[01:01.18]to compete for the highest honours.
[01:04.80]Athletes also still try to
[01:06.98]find an advantage to
[01:08.63]give a better performance
[01:10.38]than all other competitors,
[01:12.24]sometimes, unfortunately,
[01:14.31]not always following the rules.
[01:17.92]Every four years, or
[01:21.43]every two years when
[01:23.39]one includes the winter Olympics,
[01:25.37]which began in 1924,
[01:27.11]the world focuses on
[01:29.08]a human event that represents
[01:31.49]the good of humanity.
[01:33.89]Motivated for a couple of weeks,
[01:36.31]in those years, people
[01:38.49]and nations try to forget
[01:42.21]their troubles, put aside
[01:43.96]their differences and conflicts,
[01:45.16]and become part of
[01:47.24]a vast promotion of
[01:46.57]good global relations and cooperation.
[01:50.40]One sometimes wonders if the Olympics
[01:53.79]serve as a safety valve
[01:55.54]in international human relations,
[01:57.73]attributing to a collective sanity
[02:00.47]in a world that,
[02:02.21]not unlike that of ancient times,
[02:04.73]is perpetually the scene
[02:06.81]of conflict, strife, and human misery.
[02:11.07]Certainly one would like to
[02:13.48]think that that is the case.
[02:15.89]If not, one can always hope |