The Ancient Olympic Games

The Olympic Games was a contest for athletes and heroes. The term athlete in Greek means one who competes for prize. The Olympic Games was the first known and oldest athletic competition. In 776 B.C. the games were created in order to honor the Greek god Zeus in Olympia. People came from all over the country side. They set up booths for merchants to sell their foods and goods similarly to the way we have concession stands at our current sporting events.

The ancient Olympic Games were initially a one-day event until 684 BC, when they were extended to three days. The Olympic Games were usually held in late summer during the hottest time of the season. August was thought to be the best time to hold the games because this was the time that most farmers were done harvesting their crops and had more free time to travel attend and compete in the Olympic games.

In 776 B.C. the only stadium built was Olympus and only one race was held there, the stade race, which was the pre-eminent test of speed, covering the Olympia track from one end to the other basically a 200m foot race. In the 5th century B.C., the Games were extended again to cover five days. The ancient Games included running, long jump, shot put, javelin, boxing, and equestrian events. In 708 B.C. the pentathlon was added, it was a single event including all of the games.

The discus was first made of stone and then of iron, lead or bronze later. The technique was very similar to today's freestyle discus throw. Wrestling was highly valued as a form of military exercise without weapons. It ended only when one of the contestants admitted defeat. When boxing, boxers wrapped straps around their hands to strengthen their wrists and steady their fingers. At first these straps were soft but as time passed the boxers started using hard leather straps, often causing disfigurement of their opponent's