Olympic Game Competitions

A detailed Summary of Olympic Game Competitions

The first Olympic Games were held in 776 B.C., in an outlying province called Ellis, located in western Greece. Within the province of Ellis, there was a sacred valley of Ancient Greece called Olympia. This valley was the site of the Olympic Games. The games first began as a religious festival for the Greek god Zeus and were held every four years in Olympia. The games started on the day after the first full moon following the summer solstice and would then continue for five days.

Athletes trained for months and some even for years to compete at the games. The reward from the games was simply a crown of olive leaves. Winning athletes put their city on the map and went down in history as heroes of their city. When the athletes returned to their hometowns they were showered with gifts, a banquet was held in their honor, they received exemption from taxes for life, and so on. These rewards were not part of the games. On the other hand, those who returned victorious were treated as failures.

There were only male competitors in the games unlike in today's modern day Olympics. The only people who could compete in the games were free men who spoke the Greek language. Although there could not be any female competitors, i

Later on, when Greece came under the domination of Rome, the games were still held every four years. The Roman soldier kept the festival, but they turned it into what we know as amphitheaters. They would put slaves in the stadium to fight for their lives against wild animals. This version of the games continued until finally, in 394 A.D., Theodosius I formally abolished the games. Olympia once again became a sacred, quiet valley of Greece. In 1896, a French sports enthusiast, Baron de Coubertin, revived the Olympic Games and started the tradition of the modern day Olympic Games.

Similar to today's versions of wrestling, a competitor needed to bring his opponent to the ground by means of throwing him. Upon throwing him, the opponent would have to land on his hips, shoulder, or back to be counted as a legal throw. When one competitor made 3 legal throws, he or she would win the match. Still, such things as biting and genital holds were illegal. Yet, such attacks like breaking your opponent's fingers were considered legal.

t was possible for a woman to pay for a chariot, horses, and a racer, and win through that way, since the winner of the chariot races were the owners of the chariot and horses. Most females were not able to attend the games even as spectators anyway, because the only females allowed at the games were those who were unmarried.

As you can already tell from the name of this event, the Pentathlon, was a five part competition. It included discus, javelin, jumping, running, and wrestling. To the ancient Greeks, the strength of an athlete throwing a discus was of the same importance as the rhythm and precision of the athlete's throw. Stone, bronze, and lead were a few of the things that were shaped into a likeness of a flying saucer, which was the discus. Since the boys weren't expected to throw the same weight as the men, sizes of the discus varied. The javelin was around the length of

Some common words found in the essay are:
Olympic Games, Greek Olympics, AD Theodosius, olympic games, Ancient Greece, running wrestling, games held, Ancient Greek, stade 192 meters, competitions ancient greek, stade 192, games started, mile track, compete games, opponent ground, 192 meters, chariot horses,

Approximate Word count = 1302
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Sports