This post was written by Monica Smith, Chief of Informal Learning at the Library of Congress.
Once again people across the world are collectively tuning in to watch the Summer Olympic Games, held every four years. Well, mostly; the global COVID-19 pandemic delayed the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games by one year, but now they are back on track literally and figuratively.
This time all eyes are on Paris, France, where more than 10,000 athletes representing 206 national Olympic committees, plus a team of refugee athletes under the Olympic flag, are competing for individual and team glory in a wide variety of sports (including breaking for the first time!) through August 11, 2024. This year’s Olympics are officially called “the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad.” (Those Roman numerals XXXIII equal 33.)
“Merci” to Baron Pierre de Coubertin for inventing—or reinventing—what we know as the Olympic Games in 1896. He was inspired by ancient Greek culture and the original “Olympics” held in Olympia, Greece, every four years between 776 BCE and about 394 CE. Coubertin wanted to build on that historic example to promote the universal activity of sports as a bridge for global communication, collaboration and trust in the modern age.
