Competition among the world's best athletes, get together among peoples and, above all, the greatest sports festival. The Olympic Games is one of the most important events in the planet, mobilizing populations from hundreds of countries and thrilling everyone with victories, records and stories of overcoming. Every four years, a city in the world has the privilege of hosting this festival. In it, competitors and cheerers mix and, for a little more than two weeks, help preserve and strengthen the Olympic spirit.

The first official records of the Olympic Games’ existence date back to 776 A.C.. They were held as a tribute to Zeus (greatest divinity according to Greek mythology), and had the power of suspending wars, battles and combats. Victory in the Olympic Games would make the athlete greatly acclaimed and also give glory to his city of origin. The celebration of the Olympic Games lasted up to 394 D.C., when, for religious reasons, it was banned by the Roman emperor Theodosius.

It was reborn only about 1,500 years later, thanks to the efforts of French pedagogue and sportsman, the Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who saw in sports and in the Greek Olympic ideals a strong source of inspiration for perfection of the human being. The first Olympic Games of the Modern Era occurred in Athens, in 1896. The modern concept of Olympism was also born, a philosophy that summarized the friendly relationship among peoples from different countries through sports.

In 1924, the Winter Olympic Games were also created, held every four years but alternately to the traditional Olympic Games. Another important innovation was the emergency of the Paralympic Games, in which physically, visually and mentally disabled athletes compete. The inspiration came in 1948, when Sir Ludwig Guttmann organized, in London, a competition involving World War II veterans. Twelve years later, the city of Rome received 400 athletes in history's first Paralympic Games. Since then, the event has been growing at a fast pace, the last edition, in Athens 2004 having united 3,806 athletes representing 136 countries.