Ancient Greek Olympics

The Opening Ceremony At the Olympics, which was always held in Olympia, a ceremony was held, in which a priestess would light a flaming torch to then be ran in laps around the city by athletes in a kind of relay before being taken to the arena to light the fire. That is why we do the torch relay and opening ceremony at the modern Olympics!

Where did their Olympics originate from? The Olympics was in honour of the chief god Zeus and was always held in the ancient Greek city of Olympia hence the name “Olympics”. Unfortunately the city was destroyed due to a major big earthquake.

The Olympic events In the ancient Greek Olympics there were many events. These consisted of javelin, discus, wrestling, Chariot racing, Boxing, Horse racing, Long jump, Running and the great Pentathlon.

Women at the Olympics Women in ancient Greece were not allowed out of the house not to mention the Olympics. So a special Olympics was held for them in honour on the Greek goddess Hera ( Zeus's wife )

Running Running was definitely one of the most popular sports in the Olympics. In this sport you had to run a set distance and whoever reached there first won. But there were other types of running races, such as where you had to were full body armour while running a long distance

Javelin When playing javelin naked athletes would throw a long, sharp stick, otherwise known as a Javelin as far as they could. The Athlete who threw the furthest was the winner!

Discus In the discus, naked men would throw a type of Frisbee called a discus as far as they could, the one that went the furthest won!

Boxing The sport of boxing consisted of two naked men punching each other until their opponent gave in or lost consciousness.

Wrestling Wrestling was an event in which two Athletes, would fight using any techniques they liked apart from biting and eye gouging.

Chariot Racing Chariot racing was a sport consisting of a small carriage called a chariot pulled by four strong horses. The chariot was made of wicker and leather helping it to be lighter and go faster. Chariot racing was the most dangerous sport in the Olympics. This was because of the chariot being small and the horses of another chariot would trample you to a paste if you fell off!

Horse Racing Horse Racing in the Ancient Greek Olympic Games was a sport in which an Athlete rode bareback on a horse as fast as they could around a track and which ever pair who reached the finish line first won .

Long Jump When playing long jump an Athlete had to run from a certain point on the track towards a pit of sand . When he reached the pit he would make a flying jump through the air as far as he could.

The Pentathlon The famous Pentathlon contained five events. Starting with the Long jump then javelin, discus, wrestling and stadion, (a short foot race.)

The Awards At the end of the Olympics the much awaited awards were given out. The awards were Olive wreathes, cotton ribbons, pots of Olive oil and sometimes statues were made of you.

To find out more on the Ancient Greek Olympics Please Click Here. The Olympic Games To find out more on the Ancient Greek Olympics Please Click Here.

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