Olympic Games to formally kick off on August 6

Agency
Imphal, Aug 4: Less than forty hours remain for the 31st Summer Olympic Games which are set to begin in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janiero. Although the Group stage of Women’s Football got underway last evening, the Games will formally kick off with an opening ceremony at 4:30 AM Indian Time on Saturday.
Known as the world’s biggest sporting event, the creation of Olympics was inspired from the ancient Olympic Games which were held in Olympia, Greece from 8th century BC to 4th century AD.
The Games, then, were religious and athletic festivals held every four years at the sanctuary of Zeus, an ancient Greek God.
The evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries resulted in several changes to the Games such as Winter Games for ice and winter sports, Paralympic Games for differently-abled, and Youth Games for teenage athletes.
In the modern era, the first Games were held in 1896 at Athens, two years after Pierre de Coubertin, a French educator and historian, founded the International Olympic Committee.
The Games had 241 athletes from 14 nations in 43 events. Now, Rio will see the participation of nearly 11,000 athletes from 205 countries in 306 events. India will field its biggest contingent with almost 120 athletes.