Today, along the Seine River and under the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, the official opening of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games will bring the world’s best athletes together. Competitors in a wide range of sports—from archery to wrestling—will set their sights on a gold medal and celebrate their nation on a global level.
While athletics are at the heart of the games, the influence they have on the world are immense. We spoke with faculty and staff members at Case Western Reserve University to find out how their fields factor into the Olympics. Read on to learn about this cherished tradition from political science, nutrition, strength/conditioning, and classics perspectives.
1. Personalized nutrition plans help athletes reach new heights.
In order to compete at the highest level of sport, each athlete competing in the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France, has undoubtedly had a unique nutritional plan designed specifically for them based on the physical as well as physiological requirements of their respective event.
The diets of endurance athletes, like American marathon hopeful Clayton Young, rely heavily on carbohydrates found in foods such as bread, pasta, and potatoes, to provide long lasting, easily accessible energy. The diets of power athletes, such as decorated gymnast Simone Biles, emphasize protein from foods such as lean meats, beans and dairy to not only build but also repair muscles that get damaged during intense training.
Even though fats sometimes get a bad rap in the health and wellness space, “healthy fats” like Omega-3s, which are abundant in foods like salmon or almonds, can help reduce inflammation and enhance muscle recovery for athletes competing in multi-day events like Akron native LeBron James and the rest of Team USA basketball.
With nutrition often focusing on whole food options, it’s easy to overlook the importance of proper hydration. Making sure athletes focus on taking in plenty of fluids and electrolytes, such as sodium, will not only help replenish water loss from sweat but also help avoid bouts of cramping. This is especially important for those athletes, like tennis star Coco Gauff, who compete in primarily outdoor venues. And while a balanced whole-food-focused diet forms the cornerstone of any athlete’s nutritional plan, popular ergogenic aids (“performance enhancing”—the legal kind) like protein powders, creatine, beetroot juice, and caffeine may also be used to help give athletes a slight edge over their opposition.
— Kristyen A. Tomcik, assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition at the School of Medicine
2. The 1896 revival of the Olympics was intended to promote multilateralism.
The modern Olympic movement came about at a time when activists made a series of efforts to promote multilateralism—or the coordination of efforts among countries working according to common principles. They sought to lessen the effects of war through the Red Cross, Geneva Conventions, and Hague Conventions.
A French aristocrat, Pierre de Coubertin, proposed reviving the Olympic games as one way to challenge ideas about race and class by having groups compete against each other who had not done so in 18th century Europe. Although everyone did not agree, de Coubertin saw the games as a way to promote nationalism without excessive prejudice.
The first modern games were held in Athens in 1896 and embodied these different agendas. In the opening ceremony, athletes came into the stadium according to their country. At the same time, they embodied the “Olympic spirit.” The contradictions are apparent to the present day. Athletes share a common ethos of competition, yet hear their national anthem played when they win. Therefore, the movement reflects the problems of many multilateral efforts to solve global problems where countries are the participants in solving the problems, and part of the problem too.
— Kathryn C. Lavelle, the Ellen and Dixon Long Professor of World Affairs in the Department of Political Science at the College of Arts and Sciences
3. The Olympic Games of Ancient Greece looked very different from what we see today.
The Olympic Games of Ancient Greece, known to the Greeks as the Olympia (a plural noun), are the earliest known regularly occurring athletic games and they are traditionally thought to have begun in 776 BCE (based on the chronology of Hippias of Elis, writing around 400 BCE, and Aristotle who lived 384-322 BCE). The games were actually part of a religious festival spread out over five days held in honor of Zeus Olympios and they took place at his sanctuary, which was located in the territory of Elis on the western edge of the central Peloponnese. The sanctuary was lavishly decorated, including with the enormous statue of Zeus made by the sculptor Pheidias that was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
They were celebrated—probably around the full moon of the eighth lunar month after the winter solstice (thus early August to early September)—every four years without interruption until 393 CE when it appears they were curtailed or outlawed by the Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius I. So regular were the Olympia, that the Greeks began chronicling their history via the four years between Olympia, known as an Olympiad.
— Paul A. Iversen, associate professor and chair of the Department of Classics at the College of Arts and Sciences
4. Over time, more events were added to the games to get to where we are today.
Our ancient sources tell us that the only event for the first 13 Olympia was a footrace that was the length of one stadion, a distance of about 212 meters (the race took its name from this, and of course our own stadium comes from this via Latin). Over time more events were added: the diaulos (2 stadia), the dolichos (about 12.5 stadia), wrestling, the pentathlon (consisting of five events, including the stadion, javelin throw, discus throw, the long jump, and wrestling), boxing, the pankration (which was a combination of boxing, wrestling and martial arts like kicking), and my favorite the hoplitodromos, a race of 2 stadia like the diaulos, but in full hoplite armor. Boys events were added starting in 632 BCE.
Women were never allowed to compete and some sources even say they were not even allowed to attend, as all these competitions were conducted in the nude, except for the last (our word gymnasium comes from the Greek word for nude, gymnos). There was only a prize for the first-place winner, which was an olive-wreath, although many city-states promised their victorious athletes free room and board for life if they were an Olympic victor.
The Olympia were truly pan-Hellenic in nature, and thus became the locus of much political activity and intrigue. Many important treaties or other events of political importance were announced at the games, or individuals read their political tracts there for reaching the greatest audience. The atmosphere was that of a carnival.
— Iversen
5. Olympic athletes have incredible work ethic and dedication to their training regimen.
Their training sessions go well beyond the sport skills we witness during the Olympics. They have spent years in training sessions that include strength training, development of sport-specific cardiovascular conditioning and mobility work to help prevent injury. The attention to detail related to sleep, hydration and nutrition further supports their recovery and performance during intense training sessions. Years of consistent training combined with their natural talent have positioned them for the opportunity of a lifetime, an opportunity to take home a gold medal.
— Josie Henry, head softball coach