Rites and participants
The sanctuary ofOlympia is located in the Peloponnese on the territory of the city of Elis, which is responsible for organizing the event every four years, in summer. Ten months before the beginning of the tests, the king of Elis gathers the hellanodices, judges who take care of the respect of the rules. Then heralds leave through the Greek world to announce the Olympic truce: one month before the Games, the conflicts between cities must cease so that the athletes can come in peace. Those which contravene it, like the Spartans during the Peloponnesian war, see themselves inflicting strong fines. All the Greek cities and later their colonies send their delegations of pilgrims and athletes. In the enclosure of the stadium and the sacred hippodrome, with the exception of the priestess of the worship of Demeter, only the men can enter, that they are Greeks, barbarians or slaves. And in the rest of the sanctuary, sacrificers, dancers and musicians ensure the animation.
Course of the tests
Until 472 BC, the Games lasted only one day. At dawn, the athletes gather to swear before the altar of Zeus respect and obedience to the Olympic rules. The first tests are those of the horse races. It takes place in the hippodrome, located by the archaeologists, but always buried under the alluvium of Alphée. The quadrigas pulled by four horses start first for 12 laps of the track (about 14 km). Followed by the synoris (chariots pulled by two horses) for 8 laps and the keles (horses mounted bareback) covering 6 laps. Most of the time, slaves compete against each other, but the owner of the winning horse(s) receives the reward, a rule that has allowed some women to be crowned champions. The spectators then moved to the stadium where the gymnastic events took place ("naked"), the athletes simply competing coated with oil to limit dehydration. Still accessible today, the track is 192.27 m long, which corresponds to 600 times the foot of Heracles. While the sun is already beating down, the pentathlon begins, an event that includes discus throwing, javelin throwing, long jump, running and wrestling. Then come the dolichos, a long-distance race consisting of 24 stadiums (4.6 km), and the queen event, the stadion, where athletes sprint on a stadium (192.27 m). After each event, the first one receives his reward: not a single drachma, but a laurel wreath and the honor of hearing his name, that of his father and that of his city. The sand is then sprinkled for the so-called "heavy" events: wrestling, pugilism (similar to English boxing) and pancratizing, a kind of free fight where all blows are allowed ... except the fingers in the eyes. The competition ends by the race in weapons introduced in 520 BC, where the runners in dress of hoplite (helmet, shield and lance) carry out two stages. The Games are finished. Begins then a long night of drunkenness.
Other games
From the seventh century B.C. onwards, many similar competitions were created in Greece, such as the Pythian and Delian Games organized in the sanctuaries of Delphi and Delos in honor of Apollo. The events sometimes changed, with additional disciplines (singing and poetry in Delphi, for example) or different stadium lengths (the units of measurement varied from one city to another). The athletes therefore have a busy schedule. They try to concentrate on the most prestigious competitions: those of Olympia in priority, then the Pythian Games (in Delphi), the Isthmian Games (in Corinth) and the Nemean Games (in Nemea then in Argos). These four form what one calls the Panhellenic Games ("of all the Greeks"). Organized in alternation each year on a cycle of four years, they give rhythm to the life of the cities and will last until the beginning of the Middle Ages.
The decline
In 148 B.C., two years after Rome conquered Greece, Roman athletes were allowed to participate in the Olympic Games. This provoked the anger of many Greeks. And, indeed, the Romans gradually distorted the spirit of the Games. First they introduced money, not directly into the sports arena, but paying dearly to set up stables of athletes. In 80 B.C., competitive Games were held in Rome with gold awards for the winners, so that few athletes went to Olympia that year. And, in 67 BC, Nero himself took part in several Olympic events. In the quadriga, the emperor fell from his chariot on a bend, but he so corrupted the hellanodices that he was declared the winner. The following year, after his assassination, all his victories were annulled. The most famous sports competition in the Mediterranean thus gradually loses its aura. It lasted until 394 A.D., when Emperor Theodosius had all pagan ceremonies banned in the Empire, which had become Christian. The sanctuary of Olympia was abandoned, burnt down by Theodosius II in 426 before being buried several times by the waters of the Alpheus.
The modern Olympic Games
The memory of the Olympics resurfaced in the 19th century when the practice of sport began to develop. Two men tried to recreate the Games: the Greek Dimitrios Vikelas and the Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin, founders of the International Olympic Committee in 1894. The enterprise was difficult, but the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens in 1896. The craze is such that each country intends to welcome the Games soon. However, the Olympic spirit is largely denatured: the women are admitted (we will not complain about it), new disciplines make their appearance, the Olympic truce is not respected any more, etc. The big change, it is especially that the Games do not take place any more in Olympia, but in a different city every four years. However, in 2004, Greece is the smallest country to welcome the modern Games after Finland in 1952. To celebrate the great mass of the sport, the country launches between 1997 and 2004 in vertiginous works with the support of the European Union and the stadium of Olympia will welcome only the test of the throw of the weight, a poor consolation prize, because this discipline did not exist in ancient Greece. The Olympic construction site will take a lot of delay between the bureaucratic and financial blockings and the numerous interruptions in front of the archaeological vestiges exposed by the works. However, Greece will be ready in time, but at what price... This return of the Games in Greece, originally estimated at 4,6 billion euros, will finally cost 11,2 billion according to the official figures and will put the economy of the country to knees.
