The ancient Olympics of Greece led to the modern Olympic Games, first held in Athens in 1896. The founders of the modern games were inspired by the Greek tradition of calling a truce in any wars taking place as the Olympics were scheduled to begin. The modern Olympics were seen as a way to promote peace among nations.
Today, both winter and summer games are held, featuring hundreds of events in more than 35 sports. Athletes still compete in such Greek sports as running, boxing, and wrestling, and the Summer Olympics still has a pentathlon. In the modern event, men shoot, fence, swim, compete in horse jumping, and run. The modern games also has a decathlon with 10 track and field events (deka is the Greek word for "10"). The decathlon includes the discus and javelin throws from the ancient pentathlon. Women can compete in a seven-event contest called the heptathlon, which combines running, throwing, and jumping events.
Just as in ancient times, modern athletes receive only small awards for their efforts in the Olympics. But much greater riches await the top athletes, who can go on to earn
Money in their sport and by promoting commercial products and services.
In 2004, the Summer Olympics returned to Athens. The opening ceremony included a pageant that retold the history of ancient and modern Greece, and illustrated Greece's many lasting contributions to modern culture. Some ancient Olympian traditions were revived, as well. For example, all the medal winners received crowns of olive leaves. The marathon race began in Marathon and ended in Athens, and the shotput competition was held in the ancient sporting ground in Olympia, with spectators sitting on the grassy hillsides just as the ancient Greeks did.
But even when Greece is not hosting an Olympics, it plays a part. Greece always marches into the stadium first during the opening ceremony, no matter where the Games are held. And for both the Summer and Winter Games, a torch is lit in Olympia, using the sun's rays reflected off a mirror, and then is brought by relay runners to the site of the Games and used to light the Olympic flame. The Olympic flame traces its roots to the ancient Greek games, when a flame in honor of Zeus burned throughout the event.
Measurement of about 600 feet. Spectators camped out on the surrounding plains at night, and by day crowded the grassy hillsides overlooking the stadium as runners raced back and forth, rather than around its perimeter. Stones imbedded in the ground held special starting gates-the stones are still visible today. Drawings of the games on Greek pottery show referees wielding rods to keep eager athletes from jumping the starting signals.
Athletes competed in the pentathlon, a combined contest of long jump, running, discus, and javelin throwing, and wrestling. (The name comes from the Greek words pente, meaning “five,” and athlon, or “contest.”) Other events included foot races of various lengths, horse and chariot races, boxing, and an event called the pankration. This sport was a blend of boxing and wrestling. Fighters could inflict pain in any way, except by gouging their opponent’s eyes or biting.
All Olympic athletes competed as individuals, rather than as part of a city-state team. And athletes at the Olympic games not only represented physical excellence, they also represented wealth. After all, a top athlete needs plenty of time-leisure time-to develop his strength, speed, and agility. A typical Greek peasant farmer had no time to train for athletic competitions.
The award for Olympic champions was quite simple: Winners were crowned with a plain wreath of olive or laurel leaves. But once he returned home, the honors an athlete received could really add up, especially as the games gained in importance over the decades from their beginnings in 776 B. C.E. In fact, the Olympics inspired young men to try to become professional athletes (there were athletic contests at other festivals during the Olympics’ off years). Top athletes could bring in a decent income from appearance fees and by participating in other sporting events, much as they do today.
In his book Ancient Greece: From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times, Thomas Martin describes the most famous Greek sports star, Milo from Croton, a Greek city-state in southern Italy. Milo won the Olympic wrestling crown six times, beginning in 536 B. C.E., and performed stunts that included holding his breath until his bulging veins “would snap a cord tied around his head.”
World History
