Olympic Games

athletic festival that originated in ancient Greece and was revived in the late 19th century. Before the 1970s the Games were officially limited to amateurs, but since that time many events have been opened to professional athletes. The earliest Olympic Games comprised many of the sports now included in the Summer Games. In 1924 the Winter Games were sanctioned for winter sports. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world's foremost sports competition.

Just how far back in history organized athletic contests were first held remains a matter of doubt, but it is reasonably certain that they occurred in Greece, at least, some 3,500 years ago. However ancient in origin, by the end of the 6th century BC at least four of the Greek sporting festivals, sometimes called classical games, had achieved major importance. They were the Olympic Games, held at Olympia, the Pythian Games at Delphi, the Nemean Games at Nemea, and the Isthmian Games at Corinth. Later, similar festivals were held in nearly 150 cities as far afield as Rome, Naples, Odessus, Antioch, and Alexandria.

The Olympic Games in particular were to become famous throughout the Greek world. There are records of the champions at Olympia from 776 BC to AD 217. The Games, held every four years, were abolished in AD 393 by the Roman emperor Theodosius I, probably because of their pagan associations. For the first 100 or 200 years, Olympic champions came from a dozen or more Greek cities, the majority from Sparta and Athens, but athletes in the next three centuries were drawn from 100 cities in the Greek empire, and champions in the final 100 years or so before the Games were discontinued came from as far as Antioch, Alexandria, and Sidon.

In 1887 the 24-year-old Pierre, baron de Coubertin, conceived the idea of reviving the Olympic Games and spent seven years preparing public opinion in France, England, and the United States to support his plan. At an international congress in 1894, his plan was accepted and the International Olympic Committee was founded. The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens in April 1896, with 13 nations sending nearly 300 representatives to take part in 42 events and 10 different sports. The revival of the Olympic Games led to the formation of many international bodies controlling their own amateur sports and to the creation of National Olympic Committees in countries throughout the world.

Greece, Olympic Games

Of all the games held throughout Greece, the Olympic Games are the most famous. Held every four years between August 6 and September 19, they occupied such an important place in Greek life that time was measured by the interval between them—an Olympiad. Although the first Olympic champion listed in the records was one Coroebus of Elis, a cook, who won the sprint race in 776 BC, it is generally accepted that the Games were probably at least 500 years old at that time. According to one legend they were founded by Heracles, son of Alcmene. The Games, like all Greek games, were an intrinsic part of a religious festival. They were held in honour of Zeus at Olympia in the city-state of Elis, on a track about 32 metres (35 yards) wide. The racing length was one stade, a distance of about 192 metres (210 yards). In the early Olympics a race, called a stade, covered one length of the track. Horse racing, which became part of the ancient games, was held in the hippodrome, south of the stadium.

At the meeting in 776 BC there was apparently only one event, the stade, but other events were added over the ensuing decades. In 724 BC a two-length race, diaulos, roughly similar to the 400-metre race, was included, and four years later the dolichos, a long-distance race possibly to be compared to the modern 1,500- or even 5,000-metre event, was added. Wrestling and the pentathlon were introduced in 708 BC. The latter was an all-around competition consisting of five events—the long jump, javelin throw, discus throw, foot race, and wrestling.

Boxing was introduced in 688 BC, and in 680 a chariot race. In 648 the pancratium (from Greek pankration), a kind of all-strength, or no-holds-barred, wrestling, was included. Kicking and hitting were allowed; only biting and gouging (thrusting a finger or thumb into an opponent's eye) were forbidden. Between 632 and 616 BC events for boys were introduced. And from time to time further events were added, including contests for fully armed soldiers, for heralds, and for trumpeters. The program must have been as varied as that of the modern Olympics, although the athletics (track and field) events were limited; there was no high jumping in any form and no individual field event, except in the pentathlon.

Until the 77th Olympiad (472 BC) all the contests took place on one day; later they were spread, with perhaps some fluctuation, over four days, with a fifth devoted to the closing-ceremony presentation of prizes and a banquet for the champions. Sources generally agree that women were not allowed as competitors or, except for the priestess of Demeter, as spectators. In most events the athletes participated in the nude.

The Olympic Games were originally restricted to freeborn Greeks. The competitors, including those who came from the Greek colonies, were amateur in the sense that the only prize was a wreath or garland. The athletes underwent a most rigorous period of supervised training, however, and eventually the contestants were true professionals. Not only were there substantial prizes for winning but the Olympic champion also received adulation and unlimited benefits from his city. Athletes became full-time specialists—a trend that in the modern Games has caused a long and bitter controversy over amateurism.

Olympia

ruined ancient sanctuary, home of the ancient Olympic Games, and former site of the massive Statue of Zeus, which had been ranked as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Olympia is located near the western coast of the Peloponnese peninsula of southern Greece, 10 miles (16 km) inland from the Ionian Sea, near a point where the Alpheus (Alfios) and Cladeus (Kladios) rivers meet. Set amid an idyllic countryside consisting of low, wooded hills alternating with farmland, the Olympia archaeological site is of outstanding cultural significance. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1989.