by David Timmins
Did you know that Switzerland is not only headquarters for the International Red Cross and many of the United Nations specialized agencies, but also of the International Olympic Committee. When we have visitors, we always take them to see the Red Cross Museum and the Palais des Nations. But how many times have you driven through Lausanne without stopping to see the Olympic Committee Headquarters and Museum? It's well worth a couple of hours time. The Museum is located in a beautiful statuary-filled garden just East of town on the lakeshore drive. It is well marked and can be identified by the lovely cascade fountain easily visible from the street.
As everyone knows, the Games originated in ancient Greece, according to tradition at Olympia in 776 BC. At first the games were held every five years. This was later modified to every four years. Olympia's example was soon followed in other locations -- Delphi, Pythia, and Corinth. There was only one winner. And the only rewards were a crown of leaves (laurel at Pythia, pine needles at the Isthmian Games, celery (believe it or not) at the Nemean Games, and olive leaves at Olympia. Athletes who won all four crowns were commemorated with a bronze statue and lionized the rest of their lives in all corners of the Greek world.
The ancient games started with a single short sprint (the earliest version perhaps reflected in the myth of the king who gave his daughter to the winner of a race). Other events were soon added: discus, a middle distance race, a long distance race, the javelin, a jump (with weights), and wrestling. A form of boxing with hands wrapped in rough leather thongs was added later. Equestrian events like chariot and horseback racing eventually rounded out the original Olympic competition..
Young Greeks trained for the Olympics in gymnasia -- a mixture of sporting club and lycee. Physical training was done by a professional trainer. Intellectual subjects were taught by lesser copies of Socrates or Aristotle.
There were other games of local importance in addition to the quadriad. Among the more important of these was the Panathenaic Games put on by Athens every four years.
In the mid-Nineteenth Century -- an age during which the glory of ancient Greece was rediscovered by the likes of Heinrich Schliemann, who succeeded in rediscovering and excavating ancient Troy, a young Frenchman by the name of Pierre Coubertin -- the son of a painter who had studied under the great French artist David, began to promote interest in restarting the Olympic Games as a means of promoting peace and internationalism. Coubertin organized a meeting in Paris in 1894 with delegates from 12 countries which approved holding the first modern Olympics in 1896 in Athens. Coubertin was later created a Baron for his services in starting the Olympic movement. With time out for two world wars, an international Olympics competition has been held every four years, with the addition of a Winter Olympics alternating every two years since the mid-60s.
The Lausanne Olympics Museum is housed in an ultra-modern structure with beautiful, art-filled gardens, and a magnificent view over Lake Geneva. The museum contains several types of exhibits on two floors. Among the items on display are medals from each of the Olympics, the torches used at every Olympic opening, a display of postage stamps commemorating each Olympiad, and a variety of batons, luges, kayaks, rowing shells, bows, rifles, javelins, discus', vaulting poles, and curling stones, showing the evolution of Olympic equipment over the years. Fascinating! The Museum has over the years also come into possession of some famous items used by Olympic winners, including Sonia Heinje's ice skates, Jesse Owen's track shoes, a Swiss gold medal winning bobsled; the Norwegian folk costumes worn during the opening ceremonies at Lillehammer, and a few non-Olympic items of considerable interest: a bat used by Ty Cobb, the American baseball Hall of Famer, and a racing bicycle used by Miguel Indurain in one of his five Tour de France victories.
In the auditorium there are perriodic showings of the highlights of preceding Olympics..
This being Switzerland, the home of watchmaking, there is an exhibit of the vzrious types of clocks and watches used to time Olympic events over the years. There is an attractive downstairs museum shop and a pleasant restaurant on the top floor.
Lausanne is only forty mjinutes easy drive from Geneva. This would be a fascinating outing for both parents and kids.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |