Chariot
Hi Guys! So you probably noticed by the title that this is my final post! I am going to break it up into three separate sections.I hope you enjoy!
One> Daily routine /training of the Olympic athletes:
This may sound a little odd but the olympic athletes actually trained naked. This is because they competed in the actual games naked! At first they wore shorts but then they started to play naked because one sprint racer’s pants fell off and he tripped when he was about to win. Another story is that one man lost his shorts when he was running and ended up winning so then everyone thought that it was his secret to winning so in the next race everyone came naked.
The athletes trained in a palestra which can be transformed into many different sport courts kind of like the gyms we have today. They also had pools, eco buildings for music players and horse tracks. Athletes had to train ten months in advance before going to Olympia and then in Olympia, they trained for one month. If they didn’t follow this rule they were disqualified from the games. A man named Hellanodikai was a judge and also held training sessions. The training was also thought as “elimination rounds” because you played against people. If you didn’t do well in the training, you wouldn’t compete in the actual games.
The games were not all as fair as people thought. There was lots of cheating and bribery to win. That’s all most people were there for, to win. They were willing to cheat their way to the top. People came as individuals and not on teams. They had no joy in the sport that they played either. Winning was such an honor that when a man named Diagris won, he was named son of the god Hermes, the god of athletics.
Two> How the games went:
The games started in 776 B.C.E and were only sprint races for thirteen Olympic games. They started to have multiple events in 448 B.C.E. The games were started in honor of the god Zeus. Before the games begun, they took an oath in front of Zeus's statute for honesty and fairness.
The games were held in Olympia every four years just like it is today. They went on for five days and on the middle day of all of the festivals, 100 oxen were sacrificed for Zeus. Only free male citizens were allowed to participate. They had to be over 18, they could not be slaves and certainly no women in the games or even attending the games. Only one woman was allowed to go and that was the Priestess of Demeter. This is because Demeter is Zeus’s sister. If any other woman was spotted at the games she was thrown off of a cliff.
As the games became more and more popular, Olympia became the first "sporting city". They had temples, gyms and giant stadiums that could hold up to 40,000 people.
There were no team sports in the games, unless you count the horses in chariot races. Everyone came to win and only to win. Nobody had really any joy in the sport they were playing. As I said in the first final post, there were willing to bribe and cheat their way to the top. What’s up with that? If they were caught, they would be killed and put in the “Hall of Shame” as I like to call it.
Three> Events
The Greeks had many different games later on. Each of the games all had to do with war and you’ll see the trend when I tell you about some of these games.
Wrestling: You could do anything to you opponent besides bite fingers and touch private parts. The goal was to have the other person surrender.
Boxing: You try to surrender, knock out or kill the opponent.
Chariot Racing: Horse racing on chariots and the chariots were built for speed not safety. Each race was started in a complex starting gate called an afsis. Each lap was ⅓ of a mile. They wore heavy armor
Long Jump: They held heavyweights in their hand and threw them behind when they jumped to increase their distance.
Disc Throw: They throwing of a heavy, round disc.
Sprints: Running super fast to a finish line (usually done naked)
The greeks had the first version of multiple sports in one race. It was called a Pentathlon. It consisted of running, jumping and disc throw.
When the victors were named, they headed to the Temple of Zeus where they were given a leaf crown. And most importantly, people would look at them notice them and say “I wanna be just like you someday” ( you will also get delicious free meals just saying). If you are victor you name will go down in history, apparently for 3,000 years!
A note from the author: I really enjoyed creating and making my blog! I have learned all new information from doing this and it was a really fun project to do especially for a sports fan like me-- Ashley
One> Daily routine /training of the Olympic athletes:
This may sound a little odd but the olympic athletes actually trained naked. This is because they competed in the actual games naked! At first they wore shorts but then they started to play naked because one sprint racer’s pants fell off and he tripped when he was about to win. Another story is that one man lost his shorts when he was running and ended up winning so then everyone thought that it was his secret to winning so in the next race everyone came naked.
The athletes trained in a palestra which can be transformed into many different sport courts kind of like the gyms we have today. They also had pools, eco buildings for music players and horse tracks. Athletes had to train ten months in advance before going to Olympia and then in Olympia, they trained for one month. If they didn’t follow this rule they were disqualified from the games. A man named Hellanodikai was a judge and also held training sessions. The training was also thought as “elimination rounds” because you played against people. If you didn’t do well in the training, you wouldn’t compete in the actual games.
The games were not all as fair as people thought. There was lots of cheating and bribery to win. That’s all most people were there for, to win. They were willing to cheat their way to the top. People came as individuals and not on teams. They had no joy in the sport that they played either. Winning was such an honor that when a man named Diagris won, he was named son of the god Hermes, the god of athletics.
Two> How the games went:
The games started in 776 B.C.E and were only sprint races for thirteen Olympic games. They started to have multiple events in 448 B.C.E. The games were started in honor of the god Zeus. Before the games begun, they took an oath in front of Zeus's statute for honesty and fairness.
The games were held in Olympia every four years just like it is today. They went on for five days and on the middle day of all of the festivals, 100 oxen were sacrificed for Zeus. Only free male citizens were allowed to participate. They had to be over 18, they could not be slaves and certainly no women in the games or even attending the games. Only one woman was allowed to go and that was the Priestess of Demeter. This is because Demeter is Zeus’s sister. If any other woman was spotted at the games she was thrown off of a cliff.
As the games became more and more popular, Olympia became the first "sporting city". They had temples, gyms and giant stadiums that could hold up to 40,000 people.
There were no team sports in the games, unless you count the horses in chariot races. Everyone came to win and only to win. Nobody had really any joy in the sport they were playing. As I said in the first final post, there were willing to bribe and cheat their way to the top. What’s up with that? If they were caught, they would be killed and put in the “Hall of Shame” as I like to call it.
Three> Events
The Greeks had many different games later on. Each of the games all had to do with war and you’ll see the trend when I tell you about some of these games.
Wrestling: You could do anything to you opponent besides bite fingers and touch private parts. The goal was to have the other person surrender.
Boxing: You try to surrender, knock out or kill the opponent.
Chariot Racing: Horse racing on chariots and the chariots were built for speed not safety. Each race was started in a complex starting gate called an afsis. Each lap was ⅓ of a mile. They wore heavy armor
Long Jump: They held heavyweights in their hand and threw them behind when they jumped to increase their distance.
Disc Throw: They throwing of a heavy, round disc.
Sprints: Running super fast to a finish line (usually done naked)
The greeks had the first version of multiple sports in one race. It was called a Pentathlon. It consisted of running, jumping and disc throw.
When the victors were named, they headed to the Temple of Zeus where they were given a leaf crown. And most importantly, people would look at them notice them and say “I wanna be just like you someday” ( you will also get delicious free meals just saying). If you are victor you name will go down in history, apparently for 3,000 years!
A note from the author: I really enjoyed creating and making my blog! I have learned all new information from doing this and it was a really fun project to do especially for a sports fan like me-- Ashley
Zeus's Temple