Let the Games Begin: The History of the Olympics and Our Collective Fascination with Human Prowess!

The time has finally arrived! The arenas and the stages in Paris are set! All the world’s finest athletes are here to compete…and we’re ready to watch them do so. The Summer Olympics 2024 is here…a time to celebrate human strength and prowess…and the human spirit in general!

At the Temple of Zeus

But…as we always do with these articles…let us turn back the clock…way back…all the way to the original Olympics. Picture the scene. The year is 776 B.C.E. The setting- Olympia, Greece at the sanctuary of Zeus. The heralds from Elis have announced the dates of this religious/athletic festival, and so the people have arrived. It’s dry and dusty, and the sun beats down on everyone! Poplar trees dot the mountainous horizon, and rows of Doric columns line the main thoroughfares. Large slabs of stone bleachers wait for people to arrive and take their seats. The competitors are all eager to perform for their well-traveled, enthusiastic spectators!

The wheels creak and the horses whinny as the chariot racers zoom past. The “track and field” athletes follow suit. Bare-bodied wrestlers grunt and groan as they grapple with one another…vying for victory! Sparring Pankration athletes kick, punch, and jab one another. Javelins and discs whizz through the air. The athletes are all serious and focused, and the spectators are all fascinated at their impressive feats of physical strength, endurance, and accuracy.

One of the original myths is that Hercules and his father Zeus founded the Olympic Games^1,2,3. After Hercules- according to legend- completed his “twelve labors,” he initially named these Games the “Olympics” and established the custom of holding them every four years⁴. He then built the Olympic stadium in honor of Zeus, walked 200 steps, and called this distance a “stadion” (Ancient Greek: στάδιον, Latin: stadium, “stage”). “Stadion” later became a unit of distance.

The events didn’t kick off until a few ritualistic sacrifices were made; one in honor of Zeus and the other in honor of Pelops (the divine hero and mythical king of Olympia)⁵. When they did begin, though, running events, pentathlons (which included jumping events, discus and javelin throws, foot races, and wrestling), boxing, wrestling, pankration, and equestrian events all took place^6,7. Tradition has it that the Olympics’ first recorded champion was Coroebus, a cook, baker, and athlete from the city of Elis⁸. This was significant, as it indicated that the competitions were not limited to those from the aristocracy⁹. Ancient Greece had put its original stamp of democracy on the world of sports (in addition to politics).

Long Hiatus

These “Olympiads” (the four-year periods between festivals) continued for hundreds of years…reaching their peak in the 6^th and 5^th centuries B.C.E. While there is no scholarly consensus as to when the Games officially ended, many believe it was in 393 A.D. The Romans gained power and influence in Greece, Emperor Theodosius I decreed all pagan cults and practices be eliminated, and, approximately 30 years later, his successor, Theodosius II, ordered the destruction of all Greek temples¹⁰.

The Panhellenic Games- including the Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian Games- vanished from the world for at least a millennium or so¹¹. Then, in the 17^th century, England held an annual meeting near Chipping Camden. Robert Dover organized these “Cotswald Games” (involving various sports) between 1612 and 1642, and a series of later celebrations led the way to the current Olympics we know and love today!

Athletic Revivalism

The new era of Olympic games really kicked off though when the Greeks found a new interest in their nation’s old tradition. The Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire (1821) had just transpired, and poet/newspaper writer Panagiotis Soutsos proposed reviving the ancient festival in his poem “Dialogue of the Dead” (published 1833)¹¹. Wealthy Greek-Romanian philanthropist Evangelos Zappas first wrote to King Otto of Greece in 1856, offering to fund a permanent revival of the Olympic Games^12,13. He sponsored the first Games in 1859 (held in Athens city square), and he funded the restoration of the Panathenaic Stadium (which could then host all future games)¹³.

Inspired by the 1875 games, Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC)¹⁴. He built on the ideas and work of Zappas with the aim of establishing internationally rotating Olympic Games that would occur every four years, and he presented these ideas during the first Olympic Congress of the newly created International Olympic Committee (June 16-23, 1894)¹⁴. The first new, official Olympic games were held in Athens, Greece in 1896. They took place in the Panathenaic Stadium under the auspices of the IOC. 14 nations and 241 athletes came together to compete in 43 different events¹⁵. A new era of friendly global competition had begun!

The Modern Games

We’ve all heard and seen stories of the world’s greatest Olympian athletes. Jesse Owens and Louis Zamperini are certainly memorable names. Both Americans competed in the notorious 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. The latter became the subject of Lauren Hillebrand’s gripping nonfiction work, Unbroken- in which Zamperini, a fighter pilot over the Pacific, crash lands and is lost at sea for several weeks (the Japanese then capture him as a POW!). Angelina Jolie adapted this work onto the big screen in 2014. The former, of course, became famous for being one of the first African Americans to compete in the Olympics (Hurdler George Coleman Poage was the first to do so in 1904). Owens is also famous for succeeding as a track-and-field star in the violently racist state of 1930s Germany. Leni Riefenstahl’s beautifully shot but disturbingly propagandistic documentary- Olympia (1938)- perfectly captured the frightening, eugenics-driven atmosphere of the time.

Then there are of course all the other major names—Mark Spitz, Michael Johnson, Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Simone Biles, and so on and so on. The Winter Olympics gave us one of the most controversial athletes of all time- Tonya Harding, whose scandalous life and story inspired I, Tonya- the eponymous, 2017 film with Margot Robbie as the lead character. English ski-jumper Michael David Edwards, affectionately known as “Eddie the Eagle,” also inspired an eponymous 2015 film with Taron Egerton as Edwards and Hugh Jackman as his coach, Bronson Peary. And…how could we—especially us older millennials—possibly forget everyone’s famous Jamaican bobsled team. Cool Runnings (1993) was one of the signature sports films of the early 1990s!

The variety of sports is of course one of the things that draws us to the Olympics. The Summer Olympics give us diving, swimming, gymnastics, archery, rowing, track-and-field, and equestrianism…just to name a few. The Winter Olympics give us skiing, snowboarding, ski-jumping, ice-skating, figure skating, and curling…just to name a few. What sports will be on display this year? What athletes will compete? Participants will play football and handball. They’ll do some shooting…and some diving…and some amazing aerial gymnastics. Swimming, tennis, and fencing are also scheduled to take place…as are beach volleyball and water polo!

“It’s just a game!”

Where would this article be without its trademark inclusion of personal, philosophical musings and recollections? Well…truth be told…most of those musings and recollections are very consistent with previous articles. I seriously reflect a lot on the difference between “games” and “emergencies” …or between “excitement” and “terror.” What intrigues me is how often we conflate these terms/ideas. But, while they may sound the same, they are actually worlds apart! A “game” in which you escape a burning building creates a whole different type of physiological and psychological reality than a situation in which you actually escape one. Plenty of people play video games that involve armed conflict. No one ever suffers PTSD from those. Real-life soldiers who’ve seen action, obviously, often do suffer from PTSD (if they survive, that is).

This principle is as important to us as individuals as it is to us as nations. The recent assassination attempt against Donald Trump, for instance, highlights this disturbing reality. You can love a political candidate or hate them; you can support their bid for office or wish that they never hold any type of office whatsoever. Elections are games. Serious games…but games, nonetheless. Once people cross a certain line, though, they become games no longer. They become emergencies…and emergencies are as unpleasant and chaotic and painful and intolerable as we perceive them to be! Same thing, of course, extends to athletics.

The fact that some fans physically riot after contentious matches- slugging it out and setting cars on fire and the like- isn’t amusing or funny. It’s very disturbing. The Olympic Games are the Olympic Games for a reason. They’re games…they’re fun, and they’re there to be enjoyed. People voluntarily engage in them, and the fact that they voluntarily engage in them is also significant because voluntary participation produces positive emotions and feelings.  We obviously know what it’s like for all the nations of the globe to seriously be at each other’s throats (after all, we went through it twice). It’s a terrible experience! But to spar with each other…well…even the most serious non-life-and-death sparring matches exist within a “safe space” of fun, entertainment, and joy.

Visualization and Devotion

Also, it is always very compelling to consider the path every Olympian takes to get to the Olympics. Every one of them—skiers, jumpers, divers, skaters, gymnasts…whoever—single-mindedly devotes themselves to their craft. They get in their obligatory “10,000 hours” (as writer Malcolm Gladwell puts it) …and probably much more. And…finally…when their turn arrives, they deeply visualize everything. They visualize every twist and turn…every extension or retraction of their hands and legs and arms and feet…every single physical movement! And then…they let it all go. If they think too hard…that might mess up their performance (hence, the age-old phenomenon of “choking”).

Simone Biles, of course, drew attention to this haunting phenomenon of “performative choking” when she discussed the “twisties.” The truth is that we are confronted by the “terror of the twisties” in our own lives as much as Simone Biles is in hers (except for us it usually doesn’t involve gymnastics). The same principle of “visualization” holds true as well. It’s something many of us- myself included- certainly struggle with…the age-old reality that our own thoughts greatly influence how we interact with the world.

Conclusion

It seems so obvious and intuitive, and, yet it can be a very difficult challenge for many of us to overcome. The Olympians who compete every four years (winter and summer), though, do overcome this type of challenge, and it should serve as an inspiration to us all! With that…let us tune in tomorrow when the torch-lighting ceremony occurs and enjoy our next two weeks as we watch the Summer 2024 Olympics in Paris!

SOURCES

1. Pausanias, “Elis 1”, VII, p. 7, 9, 10; Pindar, “Olympian 10”, pp. 24–77.
2. Richardson, N.J. (1992). “Panhellenic Cults and Panhellenic Poets”. In Lewis, D.M.; Boardman, John; Davies, J.K. (eds.). The Fifth Century BC. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-23347-7. Retrieved 2 February 2013. p. 227.
3. Young, David C. (2004). “The Beginnings”. A Brief History of the Olympic Games. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 12-13.
4. Pausanias, “Elis 1”, VII, p. 9; Pindar, “Olympian 10”, pp. 24–77.
5. Finley & Pleket at 15.
6. Crowther, Nigel B. (2007). “The Ancient Olympic Games”. Sport in Ancient Times. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 59-61.
7. “Ancient Olympic Events”. Perseus Project of Tufts University. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
8. Golden, Mark (2009). “Helpers, Horses, and Heroes”. Greek Sport and Social Status. University of Texas Press. p. 24.
9. Perrottet at 50-51.
10. Crowther, Nigel B. (2007). “The Ancient Olympic Games”. Sport in Ancient Times. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 54.
11. Olympic Museum (2007). “The Olympic Games in Antiquity” (PDF). International Olympic Committee. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
12. Young, David C. (1996). The Modern Olympics: A Struggle for Revival. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 1.
13. Young, David C. (1996). The Modern Olympics: A Struggle for Revival. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 14-16.
14. “Rugby School motivated founder of Games”. Sports Illustrated. Reuters. 7 July 2004. Archived from the original on 23 August 2004. Retrieved 4 February 2009.
15. “Athens 1896”. The International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 8 February 2010.