Mois : février 2024

The Olympic Games (OG) are major international sporting events, bringing together summer and winter sports. Thousands of athletes participate in different competitions every 4 years, for each modern Olympiad.

The Olympic Games prolong the tradition of the ancient Greek Olympic Games. Indeed, originally the Olympic Games took place in the religious center of Olympia in ancient Greece from the 8th century before J.C.to the 4th century after J.C. They took place every 4 years. The Olympic Games were then renovated by Pierre de Coubertin in 1894, when he founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC became the governing organization of the Olympic movement whose structure and decisions are defined by the Olympic Charter.

The first Summer Olympic Games took place in Athens in 1896. During this period, the Olympic Games were reserved for men only and it is only in 1900 that women took part in the Olympic Games for the first time in Paris. Later, the IOC adapted the Olympic Games to the social changes of the 20th century, with the establishment of the Winter Olympics (Chamonix, 1924), the Paralympics (Rome, 1960) and the Olympic Youth Games (2010). There are also the creation of many other mixed trials.

The celebration of the Olympic Games includes lots of rituals and symbols, like the Olympic flag and the Olympic flame, as well as the Olympic torch relay and the opening and closing ceremonies.

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA, was created on July 29, 1958.

NASA has put in place several missions, including Apollo 11, part of the American Apollo space program. It was thanks to this mission that men landed on the Moon for the first time on July 20, 1969. The U.S. space agency (NASA) fulfilled the objective set by President John Fitzgerald Kennedy : on May 25, 1961, during the Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs, the President announced to the U.S. Congress the launch of a program to bring American astronauts to lunar soil « before the end of the decade ». This mission also enabled the USA to demonstrate its superiority over the Soviet Union. Other missions in the American Apollo space program preceded Apollo 11, like Apollo 8 and Apollo 10.

The Apollo 11 astronauts were Neil Armstrong, mission commander, Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin, lunar module pilot, and Michael Collins, command module pilot. The spacecraft carrying this crew was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969. On July 20, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin landed the Lunar Module Eagle on the Moon’s Sea of Tranquility at 4 : 18 p.m. Approximately six and one-half hours later at 10 : 56 Eastern Daylight Savings Time, Neil Armstrong put his left foot down on the rocky plain while the largest television audience in history watched live. His first words were : « A small step for Man, a giant leap for Mankind ». Michael Collins remained in orbit in the command module conducting scientific experiments and taking photographs. Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin « moon walked » for three hours setting up scientific instruments and collecting soil and rock samples. The astronauts also planted an American flag in the lunar soil and left a plaque commemorating man’s landing on the Moon. The Lunar Module Eagle was on the Moon’s surface for 22 hours before it lifted off to rejoin the command module. After a flight of 8 days, 3 hours and 19 minutes, Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24 at 12 : 51 Eastern Daylinght Savings Time.

After this achievement, many artists decided to make parodies of the first man to walk on the Moon, like Andy Warhol, who painted Moonwalk I in 1987.

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Gymnastics is a generic term that today regroups a wide variety of sporting disciplines, practiced for leisure or competition : artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline, acrobatic gymnastics, aerobic gymnastics, tumbling.
During competitions, gymnasts are graded by judges who receive training specific according to the federation concerned, validated by an examination.
In the contemporary era, at the beginning of the 19th century, the German Friedrich Ludwig Jahn was the promoter of modern gymnastics.
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) recognizes 7 disciplines :
– Gymnastics for all
– Men’s artistic gymnastics (MAG), composed of 6 apparatus : parallel bars, pommel horse, rings, vault (vaulting table), floor and high bar
– Women’s Artistic Gymnastics (WAG), composed of 4 apparatus : floor, asymmetric bars, beam and vault
– Rhythmic gymnastics (RG)
– Trampoline
– Aerobics
– Acrobatic gymnastics
In addition, there are other different disciplines like tumbling and teamgym.
Finally, there are several national and international gymnastics federations. According to the federation, performances are not evaluated according to the same criteria or grading and competitions and training can be different. In France, for example, there is the French Gymnastics Federation (FFG) and the French Union of Secular Physical Education Organizations (UFOLEP).

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Simone Biles lors de son enchaînement de poutre, le 25 juillet à Tokyo (JO 2020)