The first ever Olympic Games took place in 776 BC. At this time they were dedicated to ZeusThe king of the gods, known to the Romans as Jupiter., king of the gods. The main events were running, wrestling, boxing, and horse-riding. The athletes were all male and did almost all of it naked.¹

When the modern Olympics were inaugurated in 1896, they did not preserve all of these traditions. The athletics and wrestling were kept, but alongside them were several events the Greeks could never have dreamed of, including fencing, shooting and tennis.²

Zeus-worship and nudity went out the window. The organisers felt these would not appeal to modern audiences.

They were right. The games, held in Athens, attracted the biggest crowd ever to watch a sporting event. With the right mix of the old and the new, the Olympics had hit a perfect formula.

Today, the games again need some of that magic it seems. At the last Olympics, in Tokyo, viewing figures dropped by 50% compared with the 2016 Rio Games.³

In part that may have been because of the vast time zone difference between Japan and the biggest Olympic Games audiences, in Europe and the USA. Viewing figures were up in Japan and Australia.⁴

In addition, because of Covid-19, there were no spectators at Tokyo 2020. Athletes performed to empty arenas. Some said this made for an "eerie" atmosphere and there is evidence that the athletes' performances were affected by the lack of live audiences.⁵

Nevertheless, the Olympic Committee is worried. They fear people are just too saturated with sporting events, and this makes them less inclined to tune in for the same old Olympic events.

Most of all they fear losing younger viewers. The medianThe median is the middle point in a group of numbers: half of the numbers are smaller than the median and half are larger. age of an Olympics viewer is now is 58.⁶ Gen Z simply is not tuning in.

This is why the Olympic Committee is trying to shake up the running order. Paris 2024 will include the Olympic debut of breakdancing, which organisers hope will bring in a younger audience.

Other sports that fire up younger people are also in the running for future Olympic Games, including teqballA ball sport played on a curved table without arms or hands., ultimate (ultimate frisbee), and dodgeball.

Defenders of this approach say that modern viewers expect something more stimulating than just running, jumping and diving. The Olympics, they say, have always adapted to modern trends.

But others argue that chasing younger viewers with new sports will only alienate the established spectators, who like the sense that the Olympics represents an unbroken tradition going back a century, or even millennia.

They warn that suggesting young people can only get into more visually stimulating sports is patronising and will only put them off.

Others think that changing the events can only do so much; that younger people are less interested in the Olympics for different reasons.

The games are criticised by some for being environmentally wasteful: that they do enormous damage to the city in which they are held, while the need for thousands of people - athletes, their teams, and spectators - to fly there puts great stress on the planet.

These people argue that if the Olympic Games is to appeal to the young, it has to clean up its act.

Is tradition sacred?

Yes: People like the Olympics because it feels so timeless and established. Olympics organisers are not dependent on advertising, so they can afford to lose some viewers in order to maintain tradition.

No: The Olympics have always adapted to their times, adding new events and shedding the old. It was one of the first sporting events to include women: today it should again be at the cutting edge in sporting terms.

Or... The problem with the Olympics is not that it is fustyHaving an stale smell; or old-fashioned or out-of-date. and old-fashioned. There are just too many other sporting choices on TV. And its values are not aligned with those of younger people.

Zeus - The king of the gods, known to the Romans as Jupiter.

Median - The median is the middle point in a group of numbers: half of the numbers are smaller than the median and half are larger.

Teqball - A ball sport played on a curved table without arms or hands.

Fusty - Having an stale smell; or old-fashioned or out-of-date.