The names of the greatest athletes of all time are engraved in stone. Every year, a new star emerges from the shadows and becomes the center of global interest. Nations financially support their athletes to ensure they receive a medal. Winning gold at the Olympic Games is considered the highest honor an athlete can achieve due to their prestigious image. The Olympics haven't always been about the athletes. The competing nations have been victims of political scandals. When one country fights another country, some see it not only as a fight for gold, but also as a war between nations. Football fields have become battlefields and the players, soldiers. Swimming pools turn into bloodbaths, tennis nets turn into territorial partitions. Since the early 1900s, governments have used the Olympics to prove that their nation is superior by spending more on athletic ability, on Olympic stadiums, and to defeat their rivals. Sometimes athletes can be pushed so far that they collapse under the pressure of chasing gold. All of the above will be discussed from a financial, political and historical perspective. The modern Olympic Games were inspired by the ancient Olympic Games in Greece which took place from 776 BC to 393 AD. They were organized in honor of the god Zeus who was the leader of a very popular cult at that time in Greece. The Olympics were considered a religious practice and a form of entertainment. Athletes would compete in either wrestling, pentathlon (long jump, javelin throw, discus throw, stadion [short run] and wrestling), boxing, pankration (an art form martial) or in equestrian events (ancient Olympic Games). , 2013). All provinces of Greece were allowed to participate in the games with ...... middle of paper ......g during the 1908 and 1948 editions of the Games. (2012) Retrieved March 19, 2014 from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympics/article-2165896/London-2012-Olympics-1908-1948-London-Games.htmlNagorski A. (2012) Hitlerland : American eyewitnesses to the Nazi rise to power. (1st ed.) Simon & SchusterRESULTS OF PAST OLYMPIC HOST CITY ELECTIONS. (2014) Retrieved March 19, 2014 from http://www.gamesbids.com/eng/past.htmlRoche, M. (2000). Mega-events and modernity: Olympic Games and exhibitions in the growth of world culture. (1st ed.) Routledge. Swaddling, J. (1999). The ancient Olympic Games. (2nd ed.) British Museum Press. The Olympic Stadium (2014). Accessed March 19, 2014. On http://www.imtl.org/montreal/building/Stade-Olympique-Montreal.phpWalker A, (May 2, 2014). Gizmodo. Retrieved from http://gizmodo.com/how-las-1984-summer-olympics-became-the-most-success-1516228102