Research Paper On Olympics

Submitted By erickivan2590
Words: 1006
Pages: 5
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The Olympic Games are the most popular sporting events worldwide. When exploring the Olympic Games it is important to review where it all began. For us understand the present, we should take a look at the past. When examining Ancient Olympics we need to review the history and look into things such as; origin, culture, and why they ended. Another area to examine would be politics, and lastly the games themselves. The Olympics first began in 776 BCE. The Games were held in Olympia Greece and were believed to have begun in the honor of Zeus. The Games occurred every four years, a measure of time that is still used with the modern Olympics. The Games were very important. The Games were one of two important customs in Ancient Greece, the other was Eleusinian Mysteries. Since the Games were held in honor of gods they were very much a reliougs event, sacrifices would even take place in the honor of Zeus. The age to be able to participate was 12 years old. The youngest known participant was Damaskos of Messene. He was the winner of the stadion. Later the changed the age to over 18. The games ended after 10 centuries. Many natural disasters happened at this time, also they was an invasion, which caused the Emperor Theodosius ended the games. It was not common for women to exercise or participate in sports in ancient Greece. Women were not allowed to be spectators at the Games, because the men competed naked and it was believed if women attended that affairs would occur. The only women allowed to attend was the priestess of Demeter. It was said women who tried to see the Games would be thrown off a cliff if caught. It was believed that a women camouflaged herself in order to bring her son to compete in the Olympics, because she was widowed. Her son won the boxing match, and has she rejoiced she revealed herself. There was victories for women at the Games. It was possible for wealthy women to participate. Since horse races did not require attendance women could send their horses and a jockey to the event. In the fourth century BCE a women competed in the horse races for the first time, and won. A Spartan princess was inspired to compete, in order to show that the success achieved at the races depended on wealth not being a man. This encouraged many other wealthy women to compete. The Heraia was a Game in honor of Hera. Sixteen married women organized the event. Unmarried women were only allowed to participate. The women did not compete naked, they wore tunics. They were divided into three sections. The only event they participated in was running, and it was 80 percent of what the men ran. Christians were not fans of the Greek athletics. The vein aspect of participation in sports did not appeal to them. They also concerned the nudity extremely inappropriate. For Greek culture religion and sport went hand in hand. Religious gatherings often had some type of sporting event. There was also a temple there dedicated to Zeus. There was also many gold statues for the gods and kings. Slaves never participated in the Games, despite being in great physical shape. Most often only the wealthy competed. Hiring trainers was too expensive for the common man unless they got a sponsor. The social class of the winner was not revealed, so it’s hard to say if there were any winners who overcame their hardships. As well as felons were not allowed to compete. Prizes in most cases were very modest. “Olympia’s prizes probably always were simple wreaths of olive leaves” (Kyle, 117). Only in cases of the wealthy were crowns given. Another major event was Pentathlon. “The Pentathlon consisted of five sub events: broad jump, dicus, javelin, running, and wrestling. Running and wrestling existed independently as events, but the jump
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