Olímpica station

Neighbouring stations

• BLine BEcatepec ← Olímpica → Plaza Aragón

The story behind the icon

The station icon is the Olympic rings, a symbol first shown at the 1924 Games in Paris. Each ring stands for one of the continents of the globe, and together they are a symbol of peace, of unity and of human universality through sport. Olympic comes from the Greek terms Olympia, Olympus and Olympiad.

Olympia is the name of a sanctuary on the bank of the river Alpheus in Greece, where the temples dedicated to Hera, Zeus and Demeter (gods of Greek mythology) stood, along with a stadium and the workshops of Phidias.

Olympus is the name of the mountain that, according to mythology, was the dwelling of the gods, located in Thessaly; and the Olympiads were the games held every four years at the sanctuary of Olympia. According to history they have their origins around the year 776 BC; at first it was only a race in the stadium (192 metres), but as time passed they introduced the long-distance race, as well as the pentathlon, boxing, wrestling, chariot racing and other disciplines, lasting between 5 and 15 days.

158 games were held, but with the Roman conquest of 393 BC they were abolished. At the end of the nineteenth century Baron Pierre de Coubertin restored this celebration, founding in 1884 the International Olympic Committee, which would organise every four years a set of sporting games in which competitors would take part from every known sporting discipline and from every country on the planet, regardless of race, colour, ethnic origin, ideology or religion.

Thus, in 1896 the first games were held in the city of Athens, Greece, and from then on, every four years, athletes from all countries take part in sporting competitions. Mexico City had the chance to host the Olympics in 1968, and 24 of the 27 editions of the Olympic Games have been held, since in the years 1916, 1940 and 1944 they did not take place because of the conflicts of the First and Second World Wars.