Olympic Games in Ancient Greece

The very first Olympic games were held in Olympia, Greece, in the year 776 BC and they were stopped in 393 AD. In the beginning, the games were conducted for participants from various cities of Ancient Greece. It was one of the important ceremonial rituals that were held at that time. The games where held in the sanctuary of Olympia and not on Mount Olympus, where Greek gods were assumed to dwell, and hence, the name Olympic was derived. Otherwise it would have been Olympian games.

There are many stories about how the Olympic games originated. One of the stories is that Heracles, the well-known hero of that time had won a race in Olympia, after which he declared that the race would be held every four years. According to another myth, the king of Olympia, Pelops defeated Oenomaus to marry his daughter, Hippodamia. For this his former lover, Poseidon, helped him. In the beginning funeral sacrifices were offered to Pelops, but now there is no sacrifice, only offerings, at every Olympic games. While another story claims that king of Elis, Iphitos sought the help of Pythis, who was the Oracle at Delphi, to protect his kingdom from war and foreign invasion. Pythis ordered him to please the gods by holding games in honor of them. Others say that Zeus started it after he defeated Titans Cronus, the leader of a very powerful race of deities.

The sanctuary of Zeus where the first Olympic games were staged has a twelve-meter tall gold and ivory statue of Zeus, the father of all the Greek Gods. This status was one of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World. The only game that was held in the beginning was Stadion or Stade race. It was an ancient two hundred yard foot race, which was considered to be of great supremacy, and the winner was given great respect and large amount of money. Participants had to pass five stakes, divisions in the racetrack, and there was no time limit for the race. Who ever reached the end line first was declared as the winner. Two stade, four hundred meter long, race was started in 724 BC, in the fourteen Olympic games, and was known as the Diaulos.

The racetrack was made out of clay and sand. Hoplitodromos was the last running game added to the Olympics. In that, the athletes were made to wear Armour, carry shied and wear helmet. This was to demonstrate the military capacities and the Armour made it vulnerable to trip and fall. Other games that were added later on were wrestling, boxing, mixed martial arts, chariot racing, long jump, discus thro and javelin throw. The Spartans or the Megarian Orsippus started the tradition of athelitic nudity in 720 BC. As many people fought for the authority of the sanctuary hence it was considered a matter of prestige to conduct the games.

At first, slaves and women were not allowed as spectators or participants. Only free men were allowed to participate in the Olympics. They came from all the states of Greece and when the word started spreading, people started coming from as far as the Mediterranean and the Black sea. Participants had to file their name in the list and had to meet certain standards to qualify for the games. Only youth were allowed to participate and every participant had to take an oath that he had been in training for the past ten months, before the statue of Zeus.

The Heraea Games were started for women and featured foot games like races, just like for men. It was started in the Olympic stadium, was administrated by a group of sixteen women gathered by Hippodameia. All the games, including Olympic Games, which was the most famous, were a subordinate of Panhellenic games. The interval between each game was two to four years, but at least one game was held once in four years. Historian, Ephorus, named the time period between two Olympic games as Olympiad.

Theodosius I or his grandson, Theodosius II ended the tradition of the Olympic games in 435 AD, when they wanted to establish Christianity as a state religion. An earthquake also destroyed the sanctuary of Olympia in the sixth century AD.

Problems faced by Olympic Games

The Olympics have seen both its good and bad days during its journey from early B.C. to this day. Some of the major issues, which caused problems, were political involvement, doping, boycotting and violence.

The most famous political involvement was by the German Nazis, in the 1936 Berlin's Summer Olympics. They used it as a platform to spread their ideas. Until the 1952 Helsinki's Summer Olympics, The Soviet Union didn't participate in the Olympics and had conducted international games event of their own named Spartakiads, since 1928. Many associations made by communists didn't participated in the Olympics and instead opted for the Spartakiads and some of the athletes belonging to these associations, who wished to participate were barred from the Olympics.

In the 1968 Summer Olympics, which was held in Mexico City, another political controversy took place involving two African Americans, John Carlos and Tommie Smith, winners of the two hundred track and field races. They performed the black power salute on the victory stand. This angered the IOC's autocratic president Avery Brundage and he ordered the USOC to either send the two athletes back home or to withdraw the whole team of track and field. And because of this the athletes were send back home. Iran had ordered their athletes not to participate in any Olympic heat, semi finals or finals, which had participants from Israel. An Iranian judo wrestler didn't participate in the Olympic hear because there was an Israeli wrestler participating in it, in the 2004 Olympics.

Performance enhancing drugs and doping are other major threats to the smooth running of the Olympic games. It was at the start of the twentieth century that the Olympics participants started using drugs to better their performance. The first recorded incident was that of Thomas J. Hicks who was given brandy and strychnine during the race, which helped him to get the winning position of the marathon, in the year 1904. When the drug abuse began to rise to a considerable level, a ban was levied in the mid 1960s. After that IOC, too, implemented the ban in 1967.

Drugs abuse by athletes took its own toll. Enemark Jensen was believed to have died of heavy doping, when he collapsed in a cycling race in Rome. Over a period of thirty-eight years, seventy-four athletes were tested positive to doping and they were deprived of their medals. The very first athlete to have tested positive for drugs was Hans Gunnar Liljenwall at the 1968 Summer Olympics, after which his bronze medal was taken away from him. In spite of the tests, many athletes have taken the risk of taking drugs and were not caught in the process. Some of the East German females participants were given anabolic steroids by their coaches, as part of a government policy.

The World Anti-doping Agency was formed in 1999 to fight doping. Many of the cross-county skiing and weightlifting medallists who were found guilty were stripped of their medals in the 2000 Summer Olympic games.

Switzerland, Spain, and Netherlands boycotted the 1956 Melbourne Olympics due to the restriction set by the Hungarian Uprising by the Soviet Union. Because of the Suez Crisis, Egypt, Lebanon, Cambodia and Iraq also boycotted the Olympics. The number of nations that participated in the 1980 Moscow Olympics was merely eighty, which is the lowest after the 1956 Olympics. This was because United States and sixty-four other nations rebelled against Soviet invasion on Afghanistan. As revenge, the Soviet Union and fourteen other nations didn't participate in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, giving the reason that they fear the safety of their athletes.

Violence was seen in the Olympics since its inception, although in ancient Greece, wars were brought to a halt during the games for the safety of the spectators and the athletes. The 1916 Olympics was cancelled due to the World War I and the 1940 Summer Olympics and the 1944 Winter Olympics were cancelled due to the World War II. A bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta killed two and injured one hundred and eleven people.

The International Olympic Committee has been trying to make the Olympic events more friendly and peaceful. They to stop doping and to ensure a healthy competition also introduced Blood testing. The security has been tightened to combat any terrorist attacks. The efforts have been taken to retain the true sprit of the game.

Heroes of the Ancient Olympic Games

The ancient Olympics were an event where participants from all over Greece and as far as the Mediterranean participated. It started in 776 BC. Married women and slaves were banned from participating and watching the Olympics in ancient Greece. Only free young males had the right to be a part of the Olympic games, despite their social status. Many famous personalities participated and supported the games. This was a very prestigious event and the winner was awarded with an Olive Wreath, also known as Kotinos and big celebrations in their home place. They were awarded by large sum of money and poets used to write poems to signify their talents.

The king of Macedonia and son of Amyndas, Alexander I; the general from Megara, Orsippos; philosopher Plato; philosopher Socrates; philosopher Pythagoras; philosopher Aristotle; philosopher Democritus; the member of the royal family from Rhodes, Diagoras; the father of medicine, Hippocrates; shepherd Polymnistor, are some of the well-known athletes of ancient Greece.

Goddess of fertility and Priestess of Demeter were honored during the games and was given a seating position just next to the stadium altar. Only married women were not allowed to be spectators or participants at the Olympic games. But unwed women were allowed to watch the events. Whoever dared to break the rules was thrown from the top of the cliff.

Women were finally given a chance to participate in the Herean Games, which was conducted to honor the wife of Zeus, Hera. It started with foot races initially. Hippodameia made an administrators' committee consisting of sixteen women. The sixteen females were considered to be peacemakers from Elis and Pisa.

Among the well-known athletes, Milon was a very versatile athlete. He was the pupil of philosopher and mathematician, Pythagoras. He was from Kroton, South Italy. He had won six Wreaths in Olympic Wrestling, which still remains one of a kind victory till this date. His first victory was in the youth wrestling event and the rest five were in the men-wrestling event. He won ten championships in the Isthmian games, nine championships in the Nemean games and seven championships in the Pythain games. He even won in many of the other events.

Also born in Kroton, South Italy, Astylos had won six victory Olive Wreaths in a total of three Olympic games. He was very good at the Stade race and Diaulos race. He represented Kroton in the first Olympic and he won in that, for which the residents of Kroton honored him. After that, he took part in two of the Olympics as a citizen of Syracuse. The Krotons disgraced him by tearing down his statue and replacing his house with a prison.

Leonidas won four times consecutively at the Olympiads. He was from Phodes and was the most well known runner. He was a champion in Stade race, Armour race and Dialous race. In all, he won twelve Olympics Wreaths. He was a great hero for the people.

The first woman known to be a winner at the Olympics was Kyniska of Sparta. She was the daughter of King Archidamos. In the 96th and the 97th Olympic games, she also won the horse chariot race.

Melankomas was from Karia and was a winner in the Olympic boxing championship. He was a very hard working athlete. He used to do vigorous training by fighting for two days continuously with out lowering his hands. He was known for his swift moves and he used to win without even getting a single blow from his opponent.