the second session: an overview of the 19 Olympic Games in Paris, France

At the Paris International Sports Conference in 1894, Coubertin suggested that the first Olympic Games should be held in Paris at the same time as the World Expo in 19, so as to expand the influence of the Olympic Games. But Coubertin's opinion was rejected. However, considering Coubertin's contribution to reviving the Olympic Movement and respecting his idea of holding the Olympic Games and the World Expo at the same time in 19, the delegates agreed to hold the second Olympic Games in Paris.

However, after the victory of the Athens Olympic Games, the Greeks showed great enthusiasm for the Olympic Games and wanted to overturn the resolution that the second Olympic Games should be held in Paris. Some influential people in Greece believe that the Olympic Games is a part of Greek national culture, which can only be held in Greece, and Athens should be the fixed address of the Olympic Games. If it is held in another country, it will be an open plunder of the great and brilliant Greek culture. At the closing of the first Olympic Games, King George I personally came forward and asked Athens to be the permanent venue of the Olympic Games. Coubertin, who had succeeded Xavi Kailas as the president of the International Olympic Committee, insisted on this issue. He said that the Olympic movement is borrowed from Greece and belongs to the whole world. He believes that the Olympic Games must be held in different countries in order to make it international and full of vitality. Greece was finally persuaded and Paris won the right to host the games.

Paris, a world-famous city, is the capital of France. It is located in the center of the Paris Basin and across the banks of the Seine River. It has convenient land and water transportation and is an ideal place to hold international competitions. Paris is known as the flower of the world. When people think of it, they naturally think of the Paris Commune, the first proletarian regime in the world, Notre Dame de Paris, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and other places of interest. However, a beautiful city has not warmly welcomed this Olympic Games with an open mind.

Coubertin's plan to use the World Expo to expand the influence of the Olympic Movement failed. The French government is far more interested in the Expo than in the Olympic Games, and Alfred piccard, the main person in charge of the two conferences, is a person who is not enthusiastic about sports. He is indifferent to Coubertin's plan for preparing for the Olympic Games, even dismissive of it. He focused on the Expo, but made no careful arrangements for the Olympic events, schedules, venues, etc., not to mention spending huge sums of money to build sports facilities. Coubertin tried his best to lobby in many ways, but achieved nothing. Later, he was even actually squeezed out of the leadership. Coubertin expressed his inner indignation and distress in his diary? quot; There is a place in the world that is very indifferent to the Olympic Games, and this is Paris. "

The sports meeting will be held from May 2th to October 28th, and the competition schedule is not compact. For example, the fencing competition will be held in June, the track and field gymnastics competition will be held in July, the swimming and rowing competition will be held in August, and the cycling competition will be held in September. The whole sports meeting will last for more than five months, which can be called a" marathon "sports meeting. The competition venues are also scattered, and the organizers of the conference are ingenious, and the competition items are divided into 16 regions according to the industrial categories of the Expo. For example, fencing is arranged in the sword manufacturing industrial zone, boating is arranged in the life-saving system exhibition zone, etc. In fact, the sports meeting has become a part of the Expo and a sports performance to attract audiences. Some events are over, and individual athletes don't even know that they are participating in the Olympic Games.

Although Paris is indifferent to the Olympic Games, it still attracts many participants with its prosperous and world-famous scenery. Twenty-one countries participated in the competition, with 1,33 athletes, which was much more than the last one. In particular, there are 11 women among the athletes, breaking through the ban that women are not allowed to participate in the ancient Olympic Games and the first modern Olympic Games. Although the women's participation has not been officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee, it has set a precedent for women to go to the world sports arena. France, Britain, the United States, and Bohemia are not the first to send women to participate in this competition. The host sent a group of 884 athletes, ranking first; Followed by Britain, ***13 people; The United States ranked third, with 74 people. Belgium, Haiti, Spain, Italy, Canada, Cuba, Netherlands, Norway and India participated in the competition for the first time. The Indian athlete, a British student named Noro Pritchard, came to Paris with the British delegation to attend the grand event and won two silver medals in the track and field competition. He is the first athlete in Asia to participate in the Olympic Games and win a medal.

In the official materials of the International Olympic Committee, it is recorded that Tsarist Russia sent three athletes to participate in equestrian and shooting competitions, but the Soviet Union denied the authenticity of this material. The basis of the Soviet Union is that from the documents left by Russia, Russia did not send a team to attend. Great changes have taken place in the events of this year's competition. The previous weightlifting and wrestling were cancelled, and archery, equestrian, water polo, rowing, sailing, football, rugby and golf were added. Because the second Olympic Games did not leave a formal summary, some events, such as cricket, baseball, polo, and even archery mentioned above, are still controversial and inconclusive.

The inclusion of team events in this competition is a great and gratifying breakthrough. The ancient Olympic Games was only about competitions between individuals. At the first Olympic Games, although some team events were widely popular in Europe and America, they were still not included in the competition in order to follow the tradition of the ancient Olympic Games. Football is like this. In 1863, the Football Federation was established in England, and in 1873, the first official match was held between England and Scotland. Although only Britain, France and Belgium participated in the football match of this Olympic Games, it was the first world competition, which played a certain role in promoting the establishment of the International Football Federation and the development of world football.

The venues for the Paris Olympic Games are scattered and the facilities are poor. Track and field is a clear example. The competition was arranged in a forest farm in downtown Paris. It used to be the racetrack of the French horse racing club. Although the environment is beautiful and the air is fresh, it is not suitable for holding track and field events. It has a small space, trees, soft soil, uneven runway and almost no facilities in the stadium. In jumping competition, players need to dig bunkers by themselves; Individual hurdles in hurdle race are temporarily supported by branches to make do; The athletes who take part in the throwing competition are even more miserable. The equipment often collides with the branches of trees, and sometimes the hammer thrown is wrapped around them, and they have to be removed from the trees before the competition. However, despite the poor conditions, this track and field competition still achieved good results, creating 14 Olympic records, six of which were higher than the highest level in the world at that time, and some records were maintained for many years, such as the 1.8-second Olympic record set by Christopher Jarvis of the United States in the 1-meter preliminaries. It was not until the Olympic Games were held in Paris again in 1924 that it was broken by British Abraham. The track and field events increased from 12 in the last session to 24. For the first time, steeplechase, standing jump, team running and tug-of-war were included.

However, most of the newly added projects were gradually cancelled. There have been some disputes about the schedule of track and field competitions. July 14th is the French National Day, and there will be a grand celebration in Paris. Therefore, the host wants to postpone the match for one day, but it is opposed by Britain, the United States and other countries. Because July 15th falls on Sunday, the Christians in the contestants can't take part in the competition because they have to go to church. Although the French later gave in, matches were still arranged for these two days. American track and field team players come from different universities and sports groups, and there is no unified command system, and they are fragmented. Some units take an indifferent attitude towards Sunday's competition. Others are very strict and are not allowed to play. Therefore, there was a dispute within the American track and field team. For example, in the long jump, the main competitors at that time were two American athletes, A Kraenzlein and Mai Princeton. They both come from different universities. In the competition, Princeton jumped 7.175 meters, ahead of other players. But the next day, Princeton's university stipulated that it was not allowed to play, while krenz Lai's university was at your disposal. As a result, Kraenzlein won the championship with a distance of 7.185 meters. Princeton refused to accept it and proposed a showdown. Kraenzlein rejected this challenge.

The United States, which led the track and field team in the last Olympic Games, won 17 of 24 titles this time, setting up the image of a strong track and field country. Kraenzlein, the first among the outstanding athletes, won not only the long jump champion, but also the first place in 6-meter running, 11-meter hurdles and 2-meter hurdles, becoming the first athlete to win four gold medals in an individual Olympic Games, and also the athlete who won the most gold medals this year. Kraenzlein, who was less than 24 years old at that time, was a medical college student. He wanted to be a dentist after graduation, but he gave up his major because of his sports achievements. After finishing his career as an athlete, he worked as a coach. In 1928, this athlete who was once famous in Paris died when he was just over 5 years old. At this Olympic Games, there was another athlete who won less gold medals than Kraenzlein, but later became much more famous. He was Ray Yuri, who was known as the Rubber Man in the United States. It is quite surprising that Yuri can become an excellent athlete in the world. He was very weak when he was a child. After he got polio, he lived in a wheelchair. Later, he followed the doctor's advice, engaged in physical exercise, recovered his health with tenacious will, and became an outstanding player in the field. He was 27 years old at the Paris Olympic Games. On July 16th, he won the standing high jump, standing long jump and standing triple jump in one fell swoop. Four years later, he repeated this achievement at the St. Louis Olympic Games. In 196 and 198, he won two gold medals in the standing high jump and the standing long jump at the Athens and London Olympic Games. From 19 to 198, he participated in the Olympic Games four times and won 1 gold medals, which is the player who won the most gold medals in the Olympic Games so far.