**The Original Olympics**

You know the Olympics are back. You know their ancient ancestors were Greek. You may even know that their birthplace--the religious sanctuary of Olympia--was home to the gargantuan Statue of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. But do you know what the ancient games were really like?

Praise Nike!

We don't mean the shoe company. We mean the ancient Greek goddess of victory. According to legend, the first Olympics began in 776 BC, with a dusty, barefoot race held during Olympia's Zeus festival. After that, when Greeks flocked to Olympia's rural sanctuary every four years to praise Zeus, they stayed for the thrill of Nike and the agony of defeat. Similar games were held at ancient Delphi and other sanctuaries, but Olympia's games reigned supreme.

Like their modern equivalents, these competitions were intended to reveal the most skilled athletes. But a lack of protective clothing, random pairings that failed to account for size or skill, and few rules made the ancient Olympics a most dangerous game. Ancient fans were as forgiving as a Russian figure skating coach, and competitors could die trying to please the crowd.

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The Quick and the Nude

The fleet of foot enjoyed prominent status even among champion athletes, as most Greeks had grown up listening to legends of the half mortal, half divine Hercules, who ran great distances as a test of strength. Olympic athletes proudly ran their distances barefoot and naked, but legend suggests that wasn't always so. An ancient story circulated that the tradition of nudity began in 720 BC when an eager sprinter simply lost his shorts.

Competitors had four races to choose from, all measured by the length of the 192-meter stadium. The first was called the stadion, a sprint exactly one stadium long. The next race was double that length, while the third was long distance--between 7 and 24 stades.

The other race was the hoplitodromos, an exhausting two- to four-stade sprint by runners encumbered with 60 pounds of hoplite armor. Eventually, nakedness won out there, too, and racers grabbed just helmets and shields. A starting rope ensured few jumped the gun; those who did were beaten.

Chariots of Fire

Greek jockeys also competed sans pants. No saddles or stirrups either. And they never got much credit for being real athletes. As in modern times, it was expensive to buy, stable, and train a horse. Jockeys were considered mere employees. When a race was won, the owner, and not the rider, was crowned with the olive wreath.

The real glamour lay in the chariot races, easily the equivalent of today's NASCAR. Spectators held their breath waiting for a good chariot crash. The four-horse chariot race, called the tethrippon, was the real crowd pleaser--thrilling to watch, easy to bet on, and terribly expensive for owners. According to some accounts, Greek women could vie for the olive wreath in this category as horse owners, though under practically every other circumstance, married women were expressly forbidden to watch the games.

Complaints that the horse races were rigged cropped up frequently. In AD 67, the extravagant and eccentric Roman emperor Nero staged a unique ten-horse chariot race. Judges declared him the winner despite the fact that he fell from his chariot and failed to complete the course. Later historians duly struck Nero's name from the list of champions.

And for the Overachiever . . .

There was the pentathlon--"pent" for five events: sprinting, long jumping, javelin hurling, discus throwing, and wrestling. The philosopher Aristotle called pentathlon competitors the most beautiful athletes of all, since their bodies were "capable of enduring all efforts."

Discus and javelin hurling required balance, agility, and strength. The saucer-shaped discus was more or less a lead or stone frisbee that varied in size, while the wood javelin was a six-foot pole with a leather thong near the center that let the hurler keep a firm hold. Long jumpers used barbell-shaped weights called halteres to increase their distance, in a swinging motion that physicists say really does work.

The games concluded as they began: with a sacrifice to the gods. Winners returned home to be feted with banquets, parades, and money. Some were even granted free meals for the rest of their lives. The defeated went home in disgrace.

Claire Vail
February 16, 2006