[00:00.00]The first number of Olympic games
[00:03.28]had only one event,
[00:05.14]called the stade. By
[00:06.78]the late 8th century BC,
[00:09.52]events included,running,wrestling,
[00:13.02]boxing, pancratiu(a mixture
[00:17.29]of boxing and wrestling),
[00:18.93]chariot racing, a footrace
[00:21.45]with heavy armour, and
[00:23.09]the pentathlo. The only official
[00:26.15]prize earned by the champion,
[00:28.56]was a crown of wild
[00:30.20]olive branches.Unofficially,
[00:32.93]some athletes received valuable prizes,
[00:36.00]including large sums of
[00:38.29]money from their home
[00:39.83]citystates. As in modern times,
[00:43.11]ancient athletes, even though
[00:46.61]they made pledges of fairness
[00:48.25]in competition, sought out
[00:50.55]every advantage, legal or illegal,
[00:52.74]in order to win. Even then,
[00:56.57]the concept of amateurism,
[00:58.75]for which there were no rules
[01:00.51]in ancient times, and the zeal
[01:03.13]for the competitive spirit
[01:04.88]were often sacrificed for
[01:06.74]the more selfish materialistic considerations.
[01:11.01]By the 6th century BC,
[01:14.72]athletes began to specialize
[01:17.02]in particular sports, and even
[01:19.21]began to hire coaches.
[01:21.29]Special diets and new
[01:24.46]innovated kinds of physical
[01:26.65]conditioning became popular.
[01:29.28]Protein, from meat and beans
[01:32.01]in particular, became the popular
[01:34.53]nutritional need of Olympic athletes.
[01:37.16]The rules for events became more
[01:40.11]numerous and more strictly enforced.
[01:43.06]For example, a false start
[01:46.34]of a running event might
[01:48.20]have been followed by
[01:49.73]a whipping of the violator.
[01:51.48]Penalties usually included fines
[01:54.55]for most violations. It was said
[01:58.16]that the elegant, elaborate bronze
[02:00.56]statues of Zeus that lined
[02:02.53]the route to the Olympic Stadium
[02:04.73]in the fourth century BC,
[02:06.26]were financed by revenue created
[02:08.55]by fines imposed on athletes.
[02:11.40]Some athletes even became
[02:15.67]free agents, negotiating and hiring
[02:19.38]themselves out to
[02:20.80]the highest bidder, to win races
[02:22.89]and money for their sponsors.
[02:24.63]One rather peculiar practice
[02:28.14]that surrounded the chariot race
[02:30.10]event was that the owners,
[02:32.18]rather than the drivers
[02:33.93]of the chariots, received
[02:35.36]the honours and prizes.
[02:37.11]Some owners entered numerous chariots
[02:41.05]in the same event to increase
[02:43.23]their chances of winning.
[02:44.43]To the amusement of
[02:47.28]Olympic historians, Emperor Nero
[02:49.80](famous for burning Rome)
[02:52.10]apparently entered a chariot race
[02:54.29]in which he fell from
[02:55.81]his chariot and did not
[02:57.56]finish, but still received
[02:59.32]the champion’s crown of
[03:01.29]olive branches. Who could
[03:03.58]argue with the Emperor?
[03:06.87]By the 4th century BC,
[03:08.94]the Greekonly restriction on
[03:10.48]participation was eased
[03:12.77]as the Olympic organizers accepted
[03:15.29]athletes from overseas, from such
[03:18.13]territories as Egypt and
[03:19.77]Libya on the African continent.
[03:22.07]Many city states even provided
[03:24.80]financial support and facilities
[03:26.99]for athletes so that
[03:29.19]they could concentrate full time
[03:30.82]on training, sometimes for more
[03:33.23]than a year before the games.
[03:34.98]The ancient Olympics were
[03:38.26]a strange mix of a religious
[03:40.13]pilgrimage and a forum for intense
[03:43.95]athletic competition. As mentioned above,
[03:46.47]Emperor Theodosius tried to permanently
[03:50.08]put an end to the games
[03:52.27]as pagan exercises, but they
[03:55.00]emerged again in 1896 after
[03:58.29]an interval of more
[04:00.04]than 1600 years. The Olympics
[04:03.10]maintained a religious theme
[04:05.29]from the beginning, varying
[04:06.93]in degree over time. The events
[04:09.33]were originally dedicated to
[04:11.63]the worship of gods and heroes,
[04:14.04]especially deceased heroes. They were,
[04:18.19]at times, called funeral games
[04:20.60](as mentioned in Homer’s Iliad),
[04:24.43]and sometimes fertility festivals.
[04:27.28]The games gradually culminated
[04:29.69]in the worship of the prominent
[04:31.76]cult of Zeus, the chief god.
[04:34.17]Today, the Olympics Games
[04:37.23]are secular events |