Olympiad is a word which can also be written and pronounced as olympiad , with tilde in the second letter I . Derived from the Latin word Olympĭas, although with a more distant background in the Greek language, the term may refer to different things. Specifically, it comes from the Greek "Olympia" which was the name of one of the most important cities of Ancient Greece.
The notion arises from games which, organized every 4 years, were developed in Olympia , a locality of the Ancient Greece . Therefore, the Olympic Games That take place every such period are also known as Olympics. For example: "The European country won five gold medals in the last Olympics", “My dream is to represent Ecuador and compete in the 2020 Olympics”, "Fear in the authorities for a possible terrorist attack during the realization of the Olympics".
In 776 BC it seems that it was when the first Olympics were held, in which athletes from the different cities of Greece competed for their own personal satisfaction and also to be able to get honors and recognition for their cities.
Between the months of June and August is when those games were developed through different competitions, which also received the name of agons. We can not overlook either that among the usual tests that were carried out were the disc throwing, the races, the fight, the javelin throw, the long jump or the car races, for example.
All this without forgetting that the competition that aroused more interest and expectation was that of Pentalón. And it is that the athletes had to demonstrate their qualities in a total of five different tests such as the fight, the throwing of the disc, the speed race, the javelin and the long jump.
The Olympics were so important that even when they were held, a time of peace was established. In this way, for example, participants could circulate through any territory without running any danger.
Beyond this meaning, the concept is also used to name the Four-year span between two consecutive Olympic games . This means that the Olympics may be those years of transition in which the Olympic event is not held. The Greeks even used the idea of Olympiad as temporary unit which allowed them to refer to situations and events of past .
The organization responsible for the organization of the Olympics is the International Olympic Committee , founded in 1894 in Switzerland to encourage a competition similar to that developed in the framework of the Olympic games of Greece .
Outside the scope of sport , the idea of olympiad is used at a general level to name certain international competitions. In this way, we can talk about Science Olympiad , History Olympiad , etc.
We cannot ignore that in some countries this word has another meaning. Thus, for example, in Honduras it is common to use the term Olympics to refer to those recovery exams that a student has to carry out during a course.
