New Delhi, May 12 (PTI) A new book traces the journey of the modern Olympics since 1896 and also profiles the top performers of each of these games besides highlighting what is in store at this year’s edition in Paris.
In “Olympics: Modern Summer Games, Its Stars and Their Great Moments”, veteran sportswriter and commentator Vijayan Bala offers a detailed look at the events, athletes, and nations that have shaped the modern summer Olympics.
The book, published by Wonder House, an imprint of Prakash Books, features a special preview of the Paris Games, which are returning to the French capital after a century.
Bala says his book is a “celebration of the Olympic legacy and the unyielding pursuit of excellence by sports persons despite obstacles”.
According to Prashant Pathak, publisher at Wonder House Books, the arrival of “Olympics: Modern Summer Games” is perfectly synchronised with the anticipation for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The event is also reverting to the traditional four-year Olympiad cycle, following the delay of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Around 10,500 athletes are expected to participate across 329 events in 32 sports and 48 disciplines.
Bala writes that the emblem for this edition is inspired by Art Deco and depicts Marianne, the national symbol of France, with her hair forming a flame in negative space, resembling a gold medal.
Symbolising ‘the power and the magic of the Games’, and emphasising their accessibility to everyone, the emblem pays homage to the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, the first to include women athletes, the book says.
“Designed by Sylvain Boyer in collaboration with French design agencies Ecobranding & Royalties, the emblem captures the spirit of inclusivity and celebration.” The mascot for the 2024 Games is the ‘soft bright red cap’, also known as a liberty cap, which is an updated version of a conical hat worn in Persia, the Balkans, Thrace, Dacia and Phrygia, a place in modern Turkey where the name originates.
According to the Paris organising committee brand director Julie Matikhine, the Phrygian cap “embodies the ability we all have together when we collectively decide to rise to strive for better. This was the case during the French Revolution and it will be the case again with the Paris Olympic Games because this is a revolution through sport”.
This edition marks the first Summer Olympics since 1960 to have fewer events than the preceding edition.
Disciplines that experienced a reduction in events from the 2020 Games include karate (8) and baseball/softball (2), both of which were dropped from the programme. Weightlifting lost four events. In canoeing, two sprint events were replaced with two slalom events, maintaining the overall total at 16, the book says.
“On the flip side, sports that gained events include breaking (breakdancing) with an addition of two events – introduced as a new discipline. In sports climbing, the distinct events of speed climbing and ‘boulder and lead’ were disaggregated from the previous combined event, resulting in the creation of two new events,” it says.
Most of the events are scheduled to take place in the city of Paris and its metropolitan region, including the neighbouring cities of Saint-Denis, Le Bourget, Nanferre Versailles, and Vaires-sur-Marne. PTI ZMN RDS RDS
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