The idea of make competition between the strong people probably existed all times. But legalized as fair competition between nations it was in ancient greece. And then happenned for over 700 years, till the emperor Theodosius I decided that all pagan cults and practices be stopped.
In the ancient Greece they were fair and no doping or other stimulators. Was very successful and joyful instead of not existing any audio and video record devices at that time, which can keep forever unsuccessful actions of athletes.
The competitions between countries later mainly was connectied with wars and trades. And only at the end of the 19 centure the baron Peir de cuberten after multiple defeats the french army from germans empire saw the restoration of ancient olimpic games as a opportunity to make France more strong.
He saw one of the reasons of defeat the bad phisical state of the french soldjiers and wanted to increase the popularity of the phisical exersises. With the revive of the ancient sport competitions, some of the evidens and facts of them, was already discovered the german archeologists in the Greece that period of time.
Quickly he found many like-minded people. They organized a committee and held the first games in Greece to help country remind her great history, withal she was still under the big Osman Empire influence that time.
They also declared that olympics should unite people and prevent wars. But instead of that they got two world wars and a lot of nationalistic and chauvinistic ideas.
After the WW2 the all talks about superiority one nation to another was strongly banned. But the olympic is place were we can clearly see the difference between nationalities.
In a lot of kind of sports historically dominating the one or a just two, three similar nations and no one talk about the nation differences or their superiority in some sport disciplines.
We can track this easily, with wide using digital technologies the olympic games get the widest broadcast all over the world.
The interesting thing that the functioners in the Olimpic commite, try to make sports not only more international, and not nationalist but also fight with gomofobia, allowed trangendr sportmens to take part in olimmpics and allow more woman to take part in historicle only men sports diciplines.
That all only increase the caustic comments from journalists and different people on forums. After all the all forms of sexism racism nationalism and homophobia strongly baned everywhere, during the olimpic games we can easily truck the differencies beetween nations, race, men and women.
S.S.