Madrid, Jul 16 (EFE).- Paris, which is hosting the Games for the third time, made its debut as an Olympic venue more than a century ago, in 1900, in a clandestine competition mixed with the Universal Exposition, very different from this year’s, which boasts of being the first with parity among its more than ten thousand athletes and of complying with the principles of sustainability.
Despite not holding an opening or closing ceremony, and with an official name of “Physical Exercises and Sports Competition of the Exposition”, Paris 1900 goes down in the history of the Olympics as the second edition of the Games of the modern age, following their reestablishment in 1896 in Athens, promoted by Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
According to surviving documents, many participants were not aware that they had competed in the Games, which ran from May to October, and did not receive medals for their performances. The awards were presented two years later and the IOC did not officially recognise the event as a Games until 2004.
The competition attracted 58,731 participants, but according to the IOC, there were only 997 athletes from 24 countries. Among them, 22 women for the first time. British tennis player Charlotte Cooper was the first Olympic champion in an individual competition.
Of the 477 events held, the IOC has only recognised 95, including pelota, cricket and croquet, plus events such as long jump on horseback and swimming with obstacles, which did not return to the Olympic programme.
Unrecognised competitions include hot air ballooning, angling and cannon shooting.
France dominated the medal table, which was then set at 101 medals (26 gold), ahead of the United States (47, 19 gold) and the United Kingdom (30, 15 gold), but the star of Paris 1900 was the American athlete Alvin Kraenzlein, champion in the 60 metres flat, 110 metres hurdles, 200 metres hurdles and long jump. To date, he is the only winner of four individual Olympic gold medals in athletics.
According to the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), Spain won two medals, one gold and one silver. The gold medal was in Basque pelota doubles with José de Amezola and Francisco Villota, who did not even play because the French pair they were up once morest withdrew before the match because they did not accept the rules. The silver medal was in pigeon shooting, through Pedro José Pidal.
This year Paris will host the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, which according to the IOC will mark the beginning of a new era, divided into three zones: the capital, the Île-de-France and the external zones in cities such as Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Lille and Thailand for surfing.
In addition to breaking as a new feature on the programme, following maintaining climbing, surfing and skateboarding, which were introduced in Tokyo, and excluding karate and baseball/softball, Paris 2024 will be the Games of equality, with 5,250 men and 5,250 women to reach the quota set at 10,500 – a reduction of 592 compared to Tokyo 2020.
In its 32 sports, Paris will increase the number of mixed events to 20 – there were 18 in Tokyo – with the addition of the relay race and one more sailing class.
The Paris Olympic Games and Paralympics, which will take place from 28 August to 8 September, will have an economic impact of 9 billion euros for their preparations, their celebration and the following ten years, according to the organisers, who have set a budget of 4.4 billion euros – almost 200 million of public money is allocated to the Paralympics. They expect between 2.3 and 3.1 million foreign visitors.
An interesting fact regarding Paris 1900 is that the rugby match between France and Great Britain was the most successful of the Games, with a take of 3,126 French francs. Tickets were sold at 0.50 and 2 francs, according to World Rugby data.
Olga Martin
#Paris #clandestine #Games #parity
2024-07-17 17:08:42
