Reporting today's Olympic games is like a technological masterpiece.
The athletes compete in many events, their times and scores are tallied and
sent worldwide by satellites and high-tech computers within seconds. Each
event is carefully watched and recorded with a sense of history. There was no
such sense of history or records when the first Games began in Ancient
Greece.
The first recorded champion in Greece was a sprinter, Coroebus, he
was a cook in a near by Greek city called, Elis. He ran naked on a sanded
course in front of thousands of spectators. The course was about 630 feet
long 'or one stad-from which the word stadium was derived.' His victory
won him a wreath of olive leaves.
That was in 776 BC and this year became very important to later
Greek Historians. In 300 BC all time was dated by Olympiads, a time span
of four years between the games.
The Olympiad began with the first
recorded foot race.
As far back in Greek time as anyone can remember, the human body
was a very beautiful thing. 'A body of a man had glory, as well as his mind,
that both needed discipline, and by that such discipline men best honored
Zeus.' From time to time the Greeks held ceremonies of Games in honor
of their god Zeus. They held these ceremonies for the areas in which they
took place. These places were, Pythian, Isthmian, Nemeam, and of course,
Olympian. The Olympian games go back to the time of the first people
to live in the valley of Alpheas River. There in Elis, in the western
Peloponnesus was Olympia, 'the fairest spot in Greece.' This land was filled
with beauty and snowcapped mountains. This area was a perfect spot for
the ceremonies held every four years, for...