Olympiad Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
An Olympiad is a period of four years between two celebrations of the Olympic Games.
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2 Modern Olympics 3 Other uses |
Ancient Olympics
For the ancient Olympics, the Olympiad was a period of four years starting with the games at Olympia. By modern reckoning, the first recorded Olympiad started in the year 776 BC.
Historians
As from 776 BC Olympic Games were presumably held without fail, Greek historians used the Olympiads as a way of reckoning time that did not depend on the time reckonings of one of the city-states. (See Attic calendar.) The first to do so consistently was Timaeus of Eratothenes. Nevertheless, since for events in the early history of the games the reckoning was used in retrospect, even though Greek historians gave them daters, it is not clear which events occurred during which Olympiad.
Start of the Olympiad
An Olympiad started with the games, which were held at the beginning of the Olympic new year, which fell on the full moon closest to the summer solstice. (After the introduction of the Metonic Cycle in 330 BC, the start of the Olympic year was determined slightly differently.)
Era
Though Olympic games were held before Coroebus, his is the first Olympiad recorded. Therefore the reckoning in Olympiads starts in 776 BC. In the third century AD the games had dwindled to the point where historians are not certain whether after 261 they were still held every four years. Some winners are recorded though, until the last olympiad in 393. In 394, Roman Emperor Theodosius I outlawed the games at Olympia as pagan. Though it would have been possible to continue the reckoning by just counting four-year periods, by the middle of the fifth century AD reckoning in Olympiads had fallen into disuse.
An Olympiad normally ends with the opening of the games of the next Olympiad, which may be slightly less or slightly more than four years. If for some reason the next Olympiad is not celebrated, the olympiad expires exactly four years after its beginning, after which the new Olympiad commences.
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By extrapolation:
Anolympiad
Though the games were held without interruption, on more than one occasion they were celebrated by others than the Eleiäns. The Eleiäns declared such games Anolympiads (non-Olympics), but it is assumed the winners nevertheless where recorded.Modern Olympics
For the modern Olympics the term was long used to indicate the games themselves, but the IOC now uses them to indicate a period of four years.Start and End
The modern Olympiad starts with the celebration of the Olympiad. This are the Summer Olympics, more correctly indicated as the Games of the Olympiad. The first poster to announce the games using this term was the one for the 1932 Summer Olympics, in Los Angeles, which included the text: Call to the Games of the Xth Olympiad.Quadrennium
The United States Olympic Committee often uses the term quadrennium, which it claims refers to the same four-year period. However, it indicates these quadrenniums in calendar years, starting with the first year after the Summer Olympics end ending with the year the next Olympics are held. This would suggest a more precise period of four years, but the 2001-2004 Quadrennium would then not be the exact same period as the XXVIIth Olympiad.Cultural Olympiad
In Athens, a Cultural Olympiad was established, to include all cultural events of the Olympic Movement. This Olympiad is the four year period 2001-2004.Other uses
Outside the IOC the term is still often used to indicate the games themselves. It is also used to indicate international competitions in fields other than physical sports. This includes scientific competitions, such as the International Mathematical Olympiad and the International Olympiad in Informatics, but also events in mindsports, such as the Mindsport Olympiad and the Chess Olympiad. In these cases Olympiad is used to indicate a regular event of international competition; it does not necesarily indicate a four-year period.