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The Ancient Olympics

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The Olympic Games that we watch on television today are very different to the original games.

The first records of the Olympics are from the year 776 B.C in Ancient Greece, (but most historians think it stared way before then) that’s around 2300 years ago! These are called the Ancient Olympics. 

They were a religious festival celebrating Zeus. For the first 13 Games, only one athletic event was even held, which was a 180-ish metre running race that was won by a cook! 

Later, events such as wrestling and javelin were introduced. The Games were only competed in by men. You may have also heard about the story that they ran naked. That is true! Some say that it was to intimidate other contestants, to show Zeus (the Greek god that the games were dedicated to) how powerful they were, or that the nudity started when somebody lost their shorts in a race, and some say that it was the Spartans who introduced nudity.

Either way, it happened! Thankfully, athletes wear clothes at the modern Olympics! 

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