Ancient Olympics

In 776 B.C., the very first Olympics took place in Olympia, Greece. For some people, being in the Olympics was a lifelong dream. There are many stories told about why the Olympics were created. The Olympics went on every four years.They say it was created to honor their god at the time, Zeus, but no one knows exactly why they were created. The Olympic Games, originally created to honour Zeus, it was the most important national festival of the ancient Greeks, and a focus of political rivalries between the nation-states. All competitions involved individual competitors rather than teams. Winning an Olympic contest was regarded more highly than winning a battle and was proof of an individual athlete's personal excellence. The winners were presented

Athletes usually competed without clothes proudly displaying their perfect bodies. Women, foreigners, slaves, and dishonoured persons were forbidden to compete; women, once they were married, were not allowed to spectate any Olympic events, except for chariot races. Today's Modern Olympic Games have thirty-two dissimilar categories of competitive events. For example, track and field have a variety of events within their category and then they are broken down further to men's and women's, team, and individual competitors. It would be nearly impractical to keep a record of the games. The Ancient Olympics were much simpler. It had thirteen events which were divided into six main categories and only men were permitted to participate in the events. Boxing in the ancient Greece times had less rules than boxing today. There were no rounds and boxers did not stop fighting until one of them was knocked out, or when he admitted he had been beaten. Neither did the men or boys division have a weight class. The boxers did not wear gloves. Instead, they wrapped their hands and wrists with leather straps called himantes. This meant that their fingers were left

The official award ceremony that took place on the last day of the Games was a proud day for the victor. From the elevated vestibule of the temple of Zeus, the Herald announced the name of the winner, his father's name and the name of his homeland. The winner was finally honoured with the Herald placing the sacred olive tree wreath on the winner's head. Now, there are some traditions that are still valued and for many athletes, winning an Olympic gold medal is still the main highlight of their career. The Modern Olympic flag of five linked rings, each with a primary color used in the flags of the nations competing in the games, was introduced in 1908. The modern Olympic torch relay first took place at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. There is no ancient basis for this modern symbol. In conclusion, the Ancient Olympics were held to honor Zeus. There were thirteen events in the Ancient Olympics' compared to the thirty-two events in the modern Olympics. Most of the events that were held at the Ancient Olympics are still part of the modern day Olympics. In the ancient Olympics only men were allowed to compete whereas nowadays men and women are allowed to compete in all of the events. People will continue to enjoy the Olympic games as the greatest sport event in the