Important notes on sports for competitive exam

Notes on Sports

Olympics

• Olympics games were started in 776 BC on Mount Olympia in the honour of Greek God, “Zeus’. The modern Olympic Games were started in Athens, the capital of Greece on 6^th April, 1896 with great efforts made by Frence nobleman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
• The Olympic Games were organized after every 4 years.
• The Olympic Flag is made up of white silk and contains five interwined rings as the Olympic Emblem.
• The Five interlaced rings are arranged in 3-2 pattern on a white background, with the blue ring to the extreme left, followed by yellow, black, green and red, in the same order.
• Blue for Europe, Black for Africa, Red for  Americas (North and south America), Yellow for Asia and Green for Oceania (Australia and New Zealand).
• The official Olympic Motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius, a Latin Phrase meaning Swifter, Higher, Stronger. The Head office of international Olympic Committee (IOC) is at Lausanne (Switzerland)

Commonwealth Games

• The first Commonwealth Games were held in 1930 in Hamilton, Canada where 11 countries sent 400 athletes to take part in 6 sports and 59 events. Six sports made up the programme of the first Commonwealth Games: Athletics, Aquatics (Swimming & Diving), Boxing, Lawn Bowls, Rowing and Wrestling
• Since 1930, the games have been conducted every 4 years except for 1942 and 1946 due to World War II.
• The Commonwealth Games are also known as the British Empire Games from 1930 to 1950, the British Empire and Commonwealth Games from 1954 to 1966 and the British Commonwealth Games from 1970 to 1974.
• The commonwealth Games federation (CGF) is the organization which is responsible for the direction and control of the commonwealth Games.
• There are currently 54 members of the commonwealth of Nations, and 71 teams participated in the games.
• The Asian Games, also called the Asiad, are a multi – sport event held every 4 years among athletes from all over Asia.
• The games are regulated by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), under the supervision of the international Olympic Committee (IOC). The first Asian Games were held in 1951 in New Delhi (India). 18^th Asian Games of 2018 will be held at Jakarta (Indonesia).
• India has participated in fourteen of the eighteen previous Commonwealth Games. India hosted the Games in 2010, at Delhi. It was India's most successful Commonwealth Games to date with Indian athletes winning 38 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze medals.

Cricket World Cup

• The first World Cup was organised in England in June 1975.

Hockey World Cup

• The first Hockey World Cup was organized in Barcelona (Spain) in 1971.
• Women’s Hockey world cup has been held since 1974.
• The 13^th Hockey world cup held in the Netherlands (Hague) in 2014.
• The 14^th Hockey world cup will be held in Bhubaneswar India in  2018.

Football World Cup

• The football world cup is organized by FIFA (Federation  of International Football Association).
• The world cup is called ‘Jules Rimet Cup’ named after the  name of FIFA President Jules Rimet.
• The first Football World cup was oranised in Uruguay in 1930.
• In 1942 and 1946, the football world cup was not played due to World War II.
• The 20^th FIFA world cup held in Brazil in which Germany become the champion by defeating Argentina 1-0 in the final.
• Brazil is the only nation to have participated in every World Cup so far.
• The 2018 and 2022 Football world cup scheduled to be held at Russia and Qatar respectively.