Today, the Olympics is one of the biggest and most lucrative media events in the world. It was not always this way. In ancient Greece, the Olympics was a religious festival where athletes competed against one another to honor the god Zeus. These Games brought together not only the best athletes from all regions of Greece, but also sculptors, poets, writers, speakers, and politicians, who attended to make themselves known and to meet others. The Olympic Games were held every four years at Olympia and during the competition, a truce in any existing conflicts was observed. These Games eventually disappeared. The modern Olympics first took place in 1894 as a purely athletic competition.

• To learn more about the differences between the modern and ancient Olympics, visit the "Perseus" Web site, designed by The Classics Department at Tufts University. You can also read about ancient Olympic athletes who, like our athletes today, were celebrated as heroes.
• To promote the Olympic ideals "of peace, friendship and understanding in the world, and in particular, to promote the ancient Greek tradition of the Olympic Truce," the International Olympic Committee established an International Olympic Truce Foundation (IOTF) in July 2000. Read more about it on the IOTF Web site.

Some of the ideals of the Games of ancient Greece are still upheld in the modern Games. At the opening ceremony, an athlete takes the Olympic oath on behalf of all the other participating athletes while holding a corner of the Olympic flag. The athlete promises to respect and abide by the rules that govern the Olympics "in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams."

• The Olympic flag, which was first flown at the 1920 Games, represents another ideal. It is plain white with five interconnected rings; at least one color of the rings is found in the flag of every country. Why do you think this is important? What ideal is this trying to achieve?

The modern Olympics is one of the most-watched events in the world. Cities and nations compete to host the Games and show off their attractions to billions of television viewers. And broadcasting companies pay big bucks to buy the rights to televise the Olympics. NBC, an American broadcasting company, paid $3.5 billion for the rights to broadcast five Olympics between 2000 and 2008. Do you know when and where these Olympics will take place (or took place)? Fill in the following chart:

• 2000 Summer Olympics in ________, Australia
• 2002 Winter Olympics in ___________, USA
• ______ Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece
• 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, _________
• 2008 Summer Olympics in _______, _______

NBC hopes to make its $3.5 billion back — and much more — by selling advertising spots during these Games.

Televising the Games
It is not possible for every sporting event during the Olympics to be televised, so broadcasters choose certain sporting events based on their appeal to television audiences. For example, it is well known that the figure skating event attracts a large audience of television viewers. Companies know that if they advertise during the figure skating event, their products will be seen by a large number of people. The bigger an event, the more expensive its advertising spots — so, broadcasters can sell their advertising spots during the figure skating event for a premium. NBC won't disclose the price of its advertising spots, but some industry sources say prime-time 30-second spots could cost as much as $600,000. (Of course, this is nothing compared to the $2 million cost of the 30-second commercials during the 2002 Super Bowl.) The demand for advertising spots is high: by November 2001, NBC had sold 90% of its Olympics spots.

The Coca-Cola Company has used the Olympics to sell its product for many years. This year, it has purchased the rights to be the Games' "official soft drink" and it has also invested in many ad spots. Sports Business and Industry Online's history of advertising at the Olympics shows that at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Coca-Cola Co. was ranked as the second leading advertiser: the company spent $29,875,000 on ads. At the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta, Coca-Cola spent $73,645,900, making it the number one advertiser at the Games. In a recent online article in Yahoo News, Mart Martin, a spokesperson for Coca-Cola North America explained that this year, the company is going to rely on "pride, nationalism, and connecting people of different backgrounds through Coke and through the Olympics" to sell its product.

• Do you think Coca-Cola's strategy of selling its product will be successful or unsuccessful? Why or why not?

At the Salt Lake City Games, Birgit Heeb-Baltiner from Liechtenstein is sporting ski boots and skis by Nordica as she competes in the Alpine race. American figure skater Todd Eldredge wore Harlick skates and Daniel Franck from Norway advertised for Salomon Snowboards while displaying his snowboarding talent. Athletes get different kinds of deals: some get paid for endorsing a company's equipment, while others just receive equipment for free.

Skis, snowboards, and other equipment can be very expensive, and many athletes depend on getting sponsored by a company to cover the cost of their gear. The company benefits from the sponsorship because its product is then associated with a world-renowned athlete. In a recent article on ABC NEWS.com Rick Burton, director of the Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon explains, "What Nike wants you to know is that the best athletes in the world use Nike equipment and when you go out and buy equipment, you should think of Nike." Often, a company will modify the model of equipment used by a world-famous athlete so that the public can buy the same model at an affordable price. (So, you could buy the same snowboard that Daniel Franck uses.)

• Take a look at all the Olympic merchandise being sold at CNN Sports Illustrated.

The modern Olympics is a combination of ancient ideals and today's commercial reality. Marketing and advertising are needed to cover the expensive costs of this worldwide event. And, despite the enormous commercial influences at the Olympics, the actual competition still tries to maintain the traditions and ideals of ancient Greece. Strict rules attempt to enforce the "purity" of competition and athletes are celebrated for their hard work, dedication, and national pride.

--by Yael Sucher of the Harvard Graduate School in Education's "Technology in Education" program