Olympia, Greece

I am a warm, sunny place in a country called Greece. I have green trees and old, sleepy stones that love to soak up the sunshine. Flowers grow all around me. Long, long ago, I was not so quiet. I was filled with happy shouts and the pitter-patter of running feet. So many friends came to visit me and play. I loved to hear them laugh. Do you know who I am. I am Olympia, and I was the home of the very first Olympic Games. I was a special place for playing and making friends.

A very, very long time ago, starting in the year 776 BCE, people would travel from far away to visit me. They came to play special games to honor a great god named Zeus. The athletes, the people who played the games, would promise to be friends and play fair. It was a very important promise. They ran races in my big field, called a stadium. Their feet would go so fast. Thump, thump, thump. They tried to be the fastest of all. I loved watching them run. Every four years, they would come back for more fun and games and friendship. It made me feel so happy to see everyone playing together.

For a while, the games stopped, and I became a quiet, sleepy place again. The happy shouts went away. But people never forgot the fun we had. They remembered the friendship and the games. Many years later, in the year 1896 CE, they started the games again. Today, something very special happens here. A little flame for the new Olympic Games begins its journey right here with me. It travels all around the world to remind everyone to play together, try their best, and be good friends. It's like a whisper from long ago, saying "Let's all be friends."