Welcoming Rio 2016: A pledge to build a new world

Despite global spread of terrorism, the spirit of Olympic is still vibrant. Rio de Janeiro, the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's 3rd most populous state and the first Portuguese-speaking county, is scheduled to light the Olympic Flame of XXXI Olympiad on August 05, 2016 in the famous Maracana soccer stadium. Its motto is: "A new world." This Olympic is commonly and officially known as Rio 2016.
The Olympic games are held every four years, as computed by the Greeks from 776 B.C. The term Olympiad is applicable only for Summer Olympics, not for Winter Olympic Games. Each Olympiad is designated by Roman numerals.
The year of Olympic Games cannot be changed. Even if the Games are not held, the number of the Olympiad will remain unchanged. For example, in 1916, due to World War I, the Games of VI Olympiad were cancelled, but the year of VI remained unchanged. Similarly, in 1940 and 1944, due to World War II, the Games of the XII and XIII Olympiads were cancelled, but the years of XII and XIII remained unchanged. Thus, we get the XXXI Olympiad in Rio and modern Olympiad follows this chronology.
The ancient Olympic Games played an important role in the religious and cultural festivals of the ancient Greeks. The celebration of these festivals probably began before 1400 B.C.
In 776 B.C., the first Olympic contest on record took place in the stadium of Olympia, which stood in the valley of Olympia in western Greece. This ancient stadium could accommodate more than 40,000 spectators.
The ancient Olympic events consisted of footrace, wrestling, boxing, pentathlon (discus throw, javelin throw, long jump, sprint, and wrestling), pankration (deadly sport of combined wrestling and boxing) and equestrian (horse and chariot races).
In 394 A.D., the ancient Olympic Games ended. No Olympics were held for 1,502 years.
In 500 A.D., an earthquake destroyed the Olympia stadium, where the ancient Olympic Games used to take place.
In 1875, a group of German archaeologists discovered the Olympia in ruins. Since then, the idea of modern Olympic Games came to the mind of Pierre de Freddy, the Baron de Coubertin (1863-1937), the French educator, historian and founder of modern Olympic Games.
"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well," said Baron de Coubertin.
In 1896 Games of the first Olympiad of modern era was held in Athens, Greece. Fourteen nations, including the US, Australia, Chile and 11 European countries, competed while more than 70,000 spectators witnessed the Games of the Olympiad I.
Marathon race, one of the original modern Olympic events, remains the toughest event, requiring contestants to run 26 miles and 385 yards.
According to legend, Pheidippides, the Greek soldier, was sent from the Battle of Marathon to Athens to carry the news that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon. Pheidippides did accordingly and reached the city and gasped out, "Rejoice, we have won," and then fell on the ground dead. Marathon Race was introduced in the Modern Olympic Games to honour Pheidippides.
In the 1936 Games of the XI Olympiad, Berlin, Germany, Jesse Owens (1913-1980) of the United States of America stunned the world winning four gold medals in as many track and field events of 100 metre-sprint, 200-metre run, 4 X 100-metre relay and long jump.
The performance of Owens, a black athlete, embarrassed the racist German dictator Adolf Hitler (1889-1945). Hitler and his followers, who believed in Aryan German superiority, depicted ethnic Africans as inferior or even non-humans. But African-American Owens shattered Hitler's racist dreams.
In 1976, President Gerald Ford awarded Owens the highest US civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and in 1990, President George H. W. Bush (senior) posthumously awarded Owens the Congressional Gold Medal.
In the 1984 Games of the XXIII Olympiad, Los Angeles, USA, Carl Lewis of USA matched Owens' legendary feat of winning four gold medals in the same track and field events.
The United States is the apex figure in the all-time Olympiad medals table securing 2399 medals including 976 golds, 757 silvers and 666 bronzes.
Australia, France, Great Britain, Greece and Switzerland are the five countries represented at all Summer Olympiads.  
The XXVII Summer Olympiad which was held in 2000 in Sydney, Australia was known as the "Olympiads of New Millennium."  
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), the supreme Modern Olympic Games body, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, is a non-governmental and non-commercial organisation.
In the 2016 Summer Olympiad, more than 10,500 athletes from 207 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), including Bangladesh, are scheduled to participate. It will feature 28 sports and a total of 41 disciplines and 306 events.
The highest honour of intellectuals in the world is the Nobel Prize, and the best recognition of athletes is the Olympic Gold Medal. The most surprising matter in the Olympic Games is that disabled athletes are not only competing, many of them have also won Olympic Medals also, including gold medals. Perhaps it is one of the most amazing topics of the century. The Olympic Games are no longer the able-bodied sports only.
Bangladesh is the largest among nations that never won an Olympic medal. This time golfer Siddikur Rahman would be the first-ever Bangladeshi to qualify directly for the upcoming Olympiad.
The 2020 Summer Olympiad, the XXXII will be held in Tokyo, Japan.
Once Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary-General nicely said: "Sport is a universal language that brings people together, no matter what their origin, background, religious belief or economic status are." That is why sport binds us all with a universal feeling and can deter global spread of terrorism through the ancient Olympic oath, "May the world be diverted from crime and killing and freed from the clash of arms." This ancient Olympic oath should be revived for modern Olympics so that the world can have peace, brotherhood and prosperity.
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