Weekly Lesson - History of the Olympics

The first in the series of weekly lessons, The History of the Olympics, tells the story of how the modern games came to be…

The poet Pindar credits Heracles (Hercules) with creating the first Olympic games, in what is believed to have been 776.  The Olympics took place every 4 years as is still custom.  At the peak of the games there were approximately 20 events.  The Olympics in Ancient Greece had a strong Religious influence as most things did at that time period.  The games were held in honor of Zeus and sacrifices were made at the front of his 40 foot tall likeness (which is one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world).  If you have ever read The Iliad or the Odyssey than you are probably not surprised to see the mixing in of religion with life.

The games gained more and more popularity, peaking in the 5^th and 6^th centuries BC.  The games popularity declined as the Romans began gaining power in Greece..  Then they were eventually banned when Christianity was named the official religion in AD 393.

Various miniscule “Olympics” took place in the 1800’s in Europe, but it wasn’t until a wealthy Greek man named Evangelos Zappas sponsored the first modern Olympics in 1859 in Athens City Square.  He then refurbished an ancient stadium in Athens for the games in 1870.

The man responsible for what we call the Olympics today is probably Pierre de Coubertin; a Frenchman eventually formed the International Olympic Committee (IOC).  The first IOC Olympics had 250 athletes that competed in nine events: athletics (track and field), cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, swimming, tennis, weightlifting, and wrestling.  It wasn’t until the second IOC games that women were allowed to compete.   From these first IOC games the Olympics have grown and grown into what we have now…except now the athletes wear clothes.   Maybe to make up for past injustices we should allow the women to have a few all-women nude games like the men got to have in ancient Greece…. Just an idea…

Interesting

• After Heracles built the Olympic buildings he walked out 400 strides and called it a “stadion” this is approximately 400M which is still used today as one lap of the track.
• The five rings symbolize the five significant continents and are interconnected to symbolize the friendship to be gained from these international competitions
• Olympic oath “In the name of all competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules that govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams.”
• In 1912 the gold medals were in fact made of gold

Man Facts:

• Athletes in the ancient Olympic Games would participate in the nude.
• A referee in ancient wrestling corrected improper behavior by whipping the athlete
• Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) existed in the ancient Olmpics…It was known as Pankration - Here is a passage from a text “Arrhachion’s opponent, having already a grip around his waist, thought to kill him and put an arm around his neck to choke off his breath. At the same time he slipped his legs through Arrhachion’s groin and wound his feet inside Arrhachion’s knees, pulling back until the sleep of death began to creep over Arrhachion’s senses. But Arrhachion was not done yet, for as his opponent began to relax the pressure of his legs, Arrhachion kicked away his own right foot and fell heavily to the left, holding his opponent at the groin with his left knee still holding his opponent’s foot firmly. So violent was the fall that the opponent’s left ankle was wrenched from his socket. The man strangling Arrhachion … signaled with his hand that he gave up. Thus Arrhachion became a three-time Olympic victor at the moment of his death. His corpse … received the victory crown.” Source - Ancient Greek Athletics
• Winners of the ancient Olympic games received fame, money, sex, and parades

Sources:  Wikipedia, About.com, Ancient Greek Athletics,BSPCN.com,