A brief introduction
As I sit and watch the Olympic opening ceremony in Rio, I reflect back to a childhood dream of mine.
I once aspired to be an Olympic athlete. As a teenager I trained at my local sports club in athletics, enduring the winter training sessions in preparation for the summer competing season. Even though I was told that I had great potential to make it as an athlete, I reached a stumbling block in my life when I turned 17 that resulted in me giving up. I remember those athletic competitions like it was yesterday, I won gold on many occasions for my county championships and a received a bronze medal in the London Youth Games. I remember how it felt at Crystal Palace stadium receiving my medal on the podium and being congratulated by my team and friends. That feeling of standing on a podium to receive a medal is probably what motivates athletes today. With every early morning and gruelling training session they put themselves through, its all worth it just to stand on the podium.
Some History
Historically, competitive sports have been around for thousands of years. Cave paintings found in the Lascaux caves in France suggest that sprinting and wrestling in the Upper Palaeolithic took place around 15,300 years ago. Neolithic art gives us proof that swimming, archery and wrestling took place in Japan, Libya and Mongolia around 6000 BC. From around 3000BC, wrestling is shown on several artefacts from the Sumerian times.
Around 2000BC Egypt had a wide range of sports including weightlifting, long jump, wrestling, swimming, rowing, flying, shooting, fishing and athletics, as well as various kinds of ball games, that were well-developed and regulated in ancient Egypt. Other Egyptian sports included javelin throwing, high jump, and snooker. Therefore, you could say that the Egyptians were the first to introduce many of the sports held in the Olympics today. The first ball game also originated during this time in Meso-America with the Mayan Ball game of Pitz.
Original Mayan Ballgame court, Mexico.
Travelling to Olympia
As part of my passion for the Olympic Games and competitive sports, it was important for me to visit where the Olympic Games originated from- Olympia, Greece. I have skipped a huge chunk of history leading up to the first ancient Olympic Games. Greece, Africa, China and other part of the world had been organising competitive sports games for hundreds of years on the run up to the first Olympic Games.
When I was in Greece, I found travelling to Olympia difficult and not tourist friendly if using public transport. Once I eventually got there it was great to see how intact the site was but disappointing that there were hardly any signs to show you what everything was. Luckily I had internet connection so could look it up on google, I also took advantage of an archaeologist that worked there.
The Ancient Greek Olympic Games started in 776BC and would run every 4 years. The small city of Olympia derives from Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in mainland Greece and where their sacred gods of Greek mythology originated from. During this time, much of Greece was in war with each of their city states so prior to each Olympic Games, a sacred truce lasting one month before the Games began, allowed people to travel to Olympia in safety. The Olympic Games were more important than wars because they were a religious festival dedicated to the almighty Zeus. Inside Olympia was the Temple of Zeus that contained a huge seated statue of Zeus that people would visit. It was in fact known as one of the ancient 7 wonders of the World. Sadly, one of the Roman emperors ordered its destruction.
The Temple of Zeus in Olympia would have looked something like this:
Today in Olympia, its ruins look like this!
The Olympics was a good way for Greeks to retain their tradition through attending or competing in the event. Those as far as Spain, Syria, Turkey and Egypt travelled far to attend. When the Roman empire was established, the Olympics was opened up to everyone that was a Roman citizen, which transformed it into a more international event.
The first Olympics games of 776BC consisted of only 1 event which was a sprint race. Over the years, more events were added to the roster as shown below:
A man named Koroibos, a cook from the nearby city of Elis, won the first stadion race, a sprint race 600 feet long. The winner was regarded highly and given gifts such as a palm branch and a wreath from an olive tree that grew behind the Temple of Zeus.
The Olympic stadium today still contains its original entrance, running track, starting line and many other ruins of temples and buildings that were used. Luckily there were hardly any tourists around so I was able to run on the original running track which was a real highlight to my visit.
The entrance to the stadium:
The original marble starting line (Blocks) that were introduced later. There was also one on the opposite end to signal the finish line.
The ‘exedra’ (stone platform) on which the judges sat:
(Running on the ancient track for 191.78 metres) This was the final phase of the stadium built around 5BC when the Temple of Zeus was erected. Previous stadiums were located on or around this one.
(A view of the stadium that could hold 50000 spectators). Spectators were both rich and poor and came from all different social classes. The famous, slaves and barbarians all had the same rights to attend the Olympics. Women were not allowed but they did have their own version called the Heraia, the women’s games in honour of Hera (The wife and sister of Zeus). As the ancient Olympic event became more popular, athletes were treated to accommodation, much like today’s Olympic village and they had a trainer that they held in high regard, often dedicating a statue to them.
On the south of the stadium there are mosaics, a gymnasium, baths and some great archaeological finds. One of the most important of these and the oldest monumental temple in Greece is the Temple of Hera. In our present day, this is exactly where the Olympic torch is first lit before it makes its way to the hosting Olympic stadium to open the games.
The Palaistra was the training ground for athletes who competed in the wrestling events. It was also the athletes’ living quarters during training.
A water fountain linked to an aqueduct:
Phidias, the man who designed and constructed the Temple of Zeus and its statue had a workshop located within the grounds of Olympia:
Nearby in Olympia is a beautiful museum that housed many of the artefacts found in the restoration of this city.
The discus was featured many times with some as old as 6BC
Look at this beautiful clay torso of the Goddess of Victory, Nike from 490-500BC
A piece from a bronze plaque inscribed with the winner from one of the foot races in 5BC
Pottery depicting some of the events from the Ancient Olympics:
Coming soon…
Visiting the ancient site of Olympia was a great experience to seek the origins of the Olympics and to learn more about how competitive sport has shaped our society. Today, competitive sports still play a huge part of our lives with the added injection of corporate sponsorship it has changed from being an amateur and religious pastime to being a profession that can change people’s lives.
One thing that has not changed is the feeling of victory from winning and the training and endurance to be the best in the world.
In the second part of this post, I recall my journey to Athens where the 1st Modern Day Olympics took place and how it has continued to this present day in Rio.
