OLYMPICS

The first Olympics Games were thought to be held by the banks of the Alpheus River and perhaps the first race was a chariot race. Chariot racing is just one of the many events in the ancient Greek Olympics. In 776 BC the first true Olympic games were held and that year became the first year of the Olympiad calendar. The games were held every four years to honor the god Zeus.

During the Olympics, wars between city-states were put on hold. If you won the Olympics you didn't have to pay taxes. The Olympic games were a test of strength. The first winner of a foot race was Corybos from Elis. The games were expanded in 472 BCE from 1 day to 5 days. By 384 BC there were 18 Olympic events.

The winner recieved a wreath of olive branches from a sacred olive tree that grew behind the temple of Zeus, which according to some stories, Hercules, founder of the games, had planted.

Today the Olympics are similar and different than 3000 years ago. They would not have bobsledding, skating or biking. Sports such as javelin, discus, wrestling and boxing are old and new.

GYM means place where men go naked. Only men that were free and spoke Greek could compete in the Olympic games. Women were not allowed the compete in or watch the Olympic games.

A noble man entered 7 chariots in the games to make Athens look wealthy and powerful.

The Greeks invented many sports. The Ilisthmos games were staged every 2 years, in Cornith. The Pythian games were held every 4 years near Delphi.

However,the most popular games were the Olympic games held at Olympia in the south-west part of Greece. No one knows the order of the games. There were 4 different types of races in the Olympics.

The first woman to compete in the modern Olympics was in 1912.

But really the first woman to compete was in 396 BC she was the Spatin princess, Kyniska. She won a chariot race but was barred from getting her prize in person.

Women held their own games every 4 years in honor of hera.