Author's Note- Well, the Olympic flame, as well as it's back up, are on their way across the world. I am following it on twitter and will give notable highlights of its journey. Today's highlight is the fact that a Syrian Athlete and Refugee was selected to carry the Olympic flame in Athens. Ibrahim Al-Hussein is a swimmer who lost his leg in the Syrian Civil War. While he will not be competing Olympic Games this summer, but he will be competing in a regional Paralympic games and is expected to do very well. Now that we have gotten through the Olympic Flame update, time for the reviews update. Thank you to Rebecca Frost for being this stories first reviewers. Feedback is always appreciated.
Disclaimer-I do not own Hetalia, and I don't way enough to be particular good at Tug of War.
Summer Olympics Games II- Paris France
When France had suggested that the world should host an Olympic Games in the modern era, he had assumed that the first of the games would be held in Paris as part of the 1900 World Fair. Some countries (cough, America, cough) refused to exhibit enough patients to wait six years to host the first games. With international pressure mounting France had finally caved and allowed Greece to go first. After having a chance to host Greece he had made a fuss stating all future Olympics should be hosted in its historic home.
Screw its historic home. Athens was an interesting place in the textbooks, but it was 1900. Time to leave to leave the past behind and allow the Olympics to enter the present day. It was not like they were limiting themselves to just the events that the ancient Greeks competed in. Socrates did not participate in gymnastics, kite flying, or water polo. Alexander the Great was not known for his skills at ballooning, cricket, or motorcycle racing. Yet, the crowds loved the excitement of the pigeon race through the city and spectacle of teams trying to safe structures in the firefighting competition. As long as there where countries willing to compete and people interested in watching, France was determined to give the world a show that they would never forget. If that meant hosting an epic Tug of War competition or an underwater obstacle course then so be it.
He also had learned a few things from the Greeks, the biggest of which was that women should be allowed to compete. Yes, it went against the founding traditions of the Olympic Games, but so did the fact that the athletes were wearing clothing. While France would have been perfectly fine having everyone ditch their clothing, the public outcry that women were able to create over the fact that they were unable to participate in refined sports such as tennis wasn't worth fighting over.
While France been ready to nip the women problem in the bud, he hadn't been prepared to deal with the country that made the biggest fuss of the event. America had been incredibly upset about the fact that many events were held on Sundays. Several of the North American athletes were forced to withdraw instead of face the shame of competing on their religious day of rest. France decided that he wasn't going to change the schedule. Who wanted to give the American's an advantage in the games? Even with the handicap the United States still managed to come second in the medal count. A distance second, but with France holding to top position, anyone in second was a threat.
Historical Note-The fact that a Frenchman played a major part in the organization of the first Olympic Games is the reason that French is still one of the official languages of the Olympic Games. The other official language is English, which was later added to the list of official languages when people started to realize that while the French were good at lobbying for the Olympics, the British were the people who actually had the experience to help organize these types of events as they had been organizing national and commonwealth Olympics for a couple of decades before the French suggested it should be an international event.
End Note- Yes you heard it right, kit flying was an event at the second Olympics, though the IOC hasn't been willing to call it an official Olympic sport.