Thế vận hội đầu tiên hoạt động như thế nào

Trước khi các vận động viên Olympic mặc áo thun (và một số loại áo tiếp theo) ngày nay đã tranh giành vàng, bạc hoặc đồng, những người phát minh ra Thế vận hội Olympic, những người Hy Lạp ở thế kỷ thứ sáu, đã cạnh tranh để giành chiến thắng - và dầu ô liu.

Những người đàn ông này không phải là loại vận động viên thể thao nghiệp dư, sống-hít-thở-ăn-uống được triệu tập tại Thế vận hội ngày hôm nay. Họ là những người thợ buôn bán bình thường trong thế giới Hy Lạp cổ đại - một vùng đất trải dài từ Biển Đen đến Tây Ban Nha. Cứ bốn năm một lần, họ lại leo lên đỉnh Olympia để đạt được danh dự, tầm ảnh hưởng chính trị và địa vị xã hội thông qua chiến thắng thể thao.

Những trò chơi này chắc chắn là để giành chiến thắng, nhưng đó không phải là mục đích chính của chúng. Họ được thành lập để xây dựng nền ngoại giao trên toàn thế giới Hy Lạp và tôn vinh vị thần vĩ đại nhất trong số các vị thần Hy Lạp: Zeus.

Trong khi các trò chơi chính thức đầu tiên được tổ chức vào năm 776 trước Công nguyên, nguồn gốc của chúng thậm chí còn kéo dài trở lại. Theo một thần thoại, những trò chơi đầu tiên xảy ra trong trận chiến giữa Zeus và Cronus, khi hai vị thần tranh giành quyền kiểm soát với tư cách là thủ lĩnh của các vị thần (Zeus đã chiến thắng). Một thời gian sau, một á thần tên là Herakles đã tổ chức một lễ hội thể thao để tôn vinh Zeus vì đã ban cho anh ta chiến thắng quân sự trước thành phố Elis.

Lý do cho những truyền thuyết này là gì? Chà, không có nhiều thông tin về Thế vận hội đầu tiên. Những gì chúng ta biết về họ đến từ một vài di tích khảo cổ học và lời kể của những du khách cổ đại như Pausanias và các luận thuyết của một số nhà tư tưởng sơ khai, chẳng hạn như Herodotus và Pliny.

Hình ảnh mà chúng ta có về Thế vận hội sớm nhất nhắc nhở chúng ta về ý nghĩa thực sự của trò chơi. Một thế giới bị phân mảnh cần một thứ gì đó để thống nhất nó, và một chút cạnh tranh lành mạnh chính là điều cần thiết. Không phải những trận đấu này là hoàn hảo - đã có những vụ bê bối, phá hoại và rất nhiều người đàn ông quá tự tin, quá tự tin trên các sân vận động cổ xưa. Cổ phần là gì? Ai đã đứng lên để giành được chiến thắng cuối cùng, và những mất mát cay đắng của ai đã biến họ thành trò cười cho các thành phố của họ? Và điều gì đã khiến một số khán giả bị ném chết trên đỉnh núi?

Ở trang tiếp theo, chúng ta sẽ xem xét Pelops, người đàn ông huyền thoại đằng sau tất cả.

Melankomas đã ở đây

Trong sân vận động Olympic tại Nemeas, các đối thủ đã để lại dấu ấn của họ trên các bức tường của một đường hầm dẫn vào nhà thi đấu. Tình cảm cổ xưa của họ bao gồm những tuyên bố tự tin như "Tôi chiến thắng" và "Akrotatos thật đẹp trai" [nguồn: NPR ].

1. Mục đích Olympic
2. Sự kiện Olympic
3. Vận động viên Olympic
4. Trò chơi Herean
5. Lập kế hoạch cho Thế vận hội hiện đại đầu tiên
6. Thế vận hội năm 1896

Một số văn bản cổ lưu giữ manh mối rằng các trò chơi có thể đã bắt đầu ở Olympia từ thế kỷ thứ chín hoặc thứ 10, trước Công nguyên [nguồn: Đại học Pennsylvania ]. Thành phố Olympia nằm trên Pelops, một hòn đảo phía tây trong chuỗi các đảo Peloponnese của Hy Lạp. Tuy nhiên, một truyền thuyết khác cho rằng chính trên hòn đảo này, Pelops (người mà các hòn đảo được đặt tên) đã khởi xướng các trò chơi đầu tiên. Theo thần thoại Hy Lạp, Pelops, cháu trai của Zeus, trở thành con cưng của đỉnh Olympus khi các vị thần hồi sinh cơ thể trẻ của anh sau khi cha anh giết anh và phục vụ anh cho các vị thần vào bữa tối. Các vị thần thương xót Pelops và hồi sinh anh ta. Pelops đã trở thành một chiến binh vĩ đại và nổi tiếng là một vận động viên Olympic.

Cho dù Pelops có thiết lập trò chơi hay không, thì Olympia chắc chắn là nơi bắt đầu tất cả. Olympia được tôn kính như một thành phố linh thiêng và là điểm đến của nhiều người hành hương đến xem đền thờ thần Zeus (đọc thêm về nó trong Cách thức hoạt động của bảy kỳ quan thế giới cổ đại ).

Thế vận hội đầu tiên phát triển từ một lễ hội tôn giáo tôn vinh thần Zeus. Người Hy Lạp được triệu tập từ tất cả các vùng rộng lớn của đế chế để tham dự lễ kỷ niệm. Cho dù đó là Zeus, Herakles hay Pelops, một người nào đó đã quyết định rằng việc tôn vinh những người phàm trần cũng là một ý kiến ​​hay bằng cách thể hiện sức mạnh thể thao của họ. Ý tưởng đằng sau Thế vận hội gồm có hai mặt: thể hiện tài năng và sự phát triển của các công dân trẻ và gắn kết người Hy Lạp lại với nhau trong một khung cảnh ngoại giao, thân thiện. Các trận đấu không chỉ là một địa điểm thể thao, chúng còn là một thời điểm cho đại hội chính trị. Trong một thế giới chiến binh đầy bất ổn và có phần biến động, người Hy Lạp đã sử dụng các trò chơi như một cơ hội để thiết lập mối quan hệ thân thiện với các nước láng giềng và trở thành đồng minh.

­Because participants traveled from all corners of the Greek world to compete, it became necessary to protect them from the sometimes treacherous paths they traversed through hostile towns -- as well as the hostile politics they occasionally encountered at the games. In the ninth century, the city-state of Elis came up with the idea of an Olympic Truce. The truce, or Ekecheiria, called for a military cease-fire among all spectators and athletes [source: International Olympic Committee]. Just prior to the games, heralds from Elis traveled from city-state to city-state to declare the official start of the Olympics and to recite the truce.

776 B.C. marked the first official Olympics. Like today's Olympic Games, they were held every four years. The games' organizers added new events throughout the years and recruited more participants. What started as a one-day event grew to span five entire days. While some events took place in the stadium (a site that held more than 40,000 people), others were conducted in the Hippodrome, a large, leveled field. As the Olympics grew larger, gymnasiums were built for athletic practice and accommodations were constructed for the Hellanodikis -- judges. For the 12 centuries that the games were held, they changed locations four times, beginning in Olympia and ending in Nemea.

Next, we'll take a look at the events that made up the Olympic Games.

A Tale of Two City-States

The city-state that earned the prestigious post as host of the Olympic Games was granted temporary authority over the temple of Zeus. Hosts leveraged this control to gain political and economic clout, just like modern cities use the opportunity to earn revenue and honor. Elis and Pisa fought violently over this right in 364 B.C. Pisans gained the upper hand, and Eleans bitterly scoffed at any victories won that year [source: University of Pennsylvania].

The original Olympic events required minimal amounts of gear and equipment. They were tests of strength, agility and endurance. And at least one of them has mythical roots.

From 776 B.C. until 724 B.C., the only Olympic event was the stadion. The stadion was a running event -- specifically, a race spanning 600 feet (182.9 meters). Our knowledge of the stadion comes from its mention in ancient Greek poems and its depiction on pottery vessels. Some sources refer to the event as the stade race and estimate its length at 200 meters (656.2 feet) [source: International Olympic Committee]. Other running events added later included the dialous, a 400-foot (121.9 meter) race, and the dolichos, a race that ranged from 1400 feet (426.7 meters) to 4800 feet (1463 meters).

Some especially nimble athletes were skilled at the long jump. Jumpers strapped halteres (weights made of stone or lead) to their legs, which helped them gain greater distance. Before they landed, they'd rip off the weights and toss them aside to guarantee a safe return to the ground. Stone and lead weights were also used in the discus throw. The discus throw was pretty similar to the modern event, in which the thrower spins in a circle and releases a heavy disc toward markings within a confined space. Ancient Olympic discuses were later made from iron , lead and bronze.

In 708 B.C., the pentathlon became a part of the games. We don't know much about the pentathlon except that it was added after wrestling became part of the Olympic line-up and that it was loosely based on Spartan warrior techniques. Because the modern pentathlon includes archery, fencing, swimming, jumping and running, we can guess that the event was similar to a relay race in which athletes were tested by several diverse activities.

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Wrestling and boxing were two of the most physically combative sports in the games. While wrestling was strictly hand-to-hand combat, boxing permitted use of primitive gloves called himantes. Himantes were little more than bands that wrestlers wrapped around their hands for support. In addition to supporting the wrestler, himantes could also do some serious harm to the combatant -- when struck across the face with the hard, rough leather himantes, the resulting wounds could permanently deform features [source: International Olympic Committee]. Pankration was an even more violent event. It was a gory showdown that combined the roughest boxing and wrestling maneuvers. According to Greek mythology, Theseus invented pankration to defend himself against the minotaur (a creature half-bull and half-man) he encountered in the labyrinth.

Equestrian events drew large crowds and some regal competitors to the Hippodrome. Chariot races in particular were very cutthroat events, and royals clamored to claim victory as preeminent charioteers. It wasn't unheard of for royals to cheat in these races in order to gain the title of champion. Not that all the royals competed -- the title went to the owner of the horse, not the athlete competing in the event. So some kicked back in the stands while commissioned athletes drove their horses to victory.

Just who were these ancient athletes? And did they really compete naked? Read on to learn more.

Thoroughly Modern Marathon

While the marathon has its roots in ancient Greece, it wasn't a part of the ancient Olympics. The ultra-endurance, 26.2 mile jaunt wasn't added to the Olympic line-up until the end of the 19th century. We'll take a closer look when we examine the first modern Olympics.

Only male citizens were eligible to compete in the Olympic Games. The term "citizen" refers to a man who participated in local politics, voted and provided military service. Citizens were of Greek descent and had jobs or trades -- they weren't slaves. Some of the most skilled competitors had humble job titles: The first Olympi­c champion was Koroibos, a cook who won the stadion race in 776 B.C.

"Athlete" translates from Greek as "one who competes for a prize" [source: University of Pennsylvania]. The ancient Greeks didn't bother classifying their athletes as amateurs or pros. All athletes shared the same passion for victory for a pretty simple reason: They wanted to strike it rich. The prizes they sought varied from the material -- ancient trophies like cauldrons or tripods -- to the immaterial -- lifelong respect and prestige. Some unusual prizes included women , olive oil, clothing and animals. Athletes typically were rewarded with cash prizes by their city-states when they returned home, and some even got pensions for their victories. Athenian Olympic champions were even guaranteed one free meal a day for life. Athletes who won more than three events were immortalized by statues commissioned in their honor. These were placed in the temple of Zeus at Olympia. A few talented equestrian champs even got their images imprinted on coins.

­With so much at stake, some athletes tried bribing the judges or cheating at their events. If someone was caught cheating, he was disqualified. Especially brazen cheaters had their likenesses carved into statues that lined a hall of shame in the altis, a pathway that led to the stadium.

When it was time for their big events, athletes greased themselves with oil and fought hard for victory. It's debated whether or not athletes competed in the nude. According to some ancient sources, athletes wore shorts. Others claim that the tradition of competing naked started when a runner named Orsippos was stripped of his shorts during his event. Still others assert that the Spartans started the trend in the eighth century. After the eighth century, it was acceptable for athletes to compete with or without clothes. This may have also been an effort to discern which athletes were women competing in disguise.

In some events, particularly wrestling, athletes fought to the death. At the end of an event, a victor was crowned with red ribbons and showered with flowers. When all the games had ended, a bigger awards ceremony was held to honor all victors. They were acknowledged by their names as well as their fathers' and their city-states' [source: International Olympic Committee].

Not all competitors could be big winners -- and not all competitors would live to tell about their Olympic experiences. Next, we'll learn what happened to the women who tried to compete in the games.

It's Not Easy Getting Green

Some athletes claim that the greatest prize is the feeling of winning. At very elite events, ancient athletes probably shared this sentiment -- their only tangible spoils were wreaths of greenery made from olive branches, laurel, pine or parsley.

If you were imagining a wrestler's loving wife watching her husband fight to the death, twisting a tear-stained handkerchief in her hands, you'd be wrong. Married women weren't permitted to watch the games, but historians aren't sure why. However, young virgins could join the throngs of spectators that crowded in the stadium. If a married woman was caught watching the games -- be it in the guise of an unmarried woman or even costumed like a man -- she'd be put to death. Violators were hurled off the pinnacle Mount Typaion, which stands about 490 feet (150 meters) high.

In the second century, a traveler named Pausanias wrote about the Herean Games. We don't have a lot of information about these games, but we do know that they were devised as a counterpart competition to the Olympics for women. The Herean Games were held every four years at the festival of Hera, Zeus' wife. Whether the games were founded at the same time as the Olympics or later, we can't be sure.

The Herean Games consisted only of running events. For some unknown reason, only unmarried women were allowed to compete. They wore modest tunics that exposed their right breasts and shoulders and ran with their hair undone. Did the winners receive prizes? Perhaps, but nothing as extravagant as the male athletes. An organization of 16 women that hosted the races may have given the winner an amphora, an urn-like vessel.

While the ancient Greeks made great strides toward including women in the grand tradition of the Olympic Games, there were still plenty of inequalities and scandals that marred the events. The games were fated to end, especially after increasing instances of bribery and cheating that disputed the honor of the games.

And in 393 A.D., the Christian emperor Theodosius banned the Olympics and the Herean Games for their promotion of polytheism (worship of many gods).

But this wasn't the end of the Olympics. In the late 19th century, an enterprising Frenchman revived the grand tradition of the games. Learn how the Olympics were reborn in the next section.

Rebel, Rebel

Stringent as these regulations were, one woman dared to break the rules. Kallipateira was the daughter, sister, niece and mother of Olympic champions. As a widow, the responsibility for training her young son for the games fell on Kallipateira's shoulders. She was determined to see him compete, and at the moment he was crowned champion, she ran toward him in an excited frenzy. As she burst through the crowded stands where the other Olympic coaches stood, her clothes somehow ripped from her body. But because she had such close ties to Olympic victors, she was pardoned [source: Dartmouth].

In the 1800s, the Greeks began hosting athletic competitions again, hoping they'd gather the kind of steam that got the Olympics rolling. But the games didn't take off.

It took a real visionary to resuscitate a tradition that had been dead for nearly 1500 years. A French baron named Pierre de Coubertin thought that he could reform the French educational system by emphasizing the type of athleticism that the Greeks conceived of. Coubertin wanted to see his countrymen develop into great scholars and citizens as well as great sportsmen. Nurturing and pushing the body to its limits was just as important to Coubertin as challenging one's mind.

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He proposed the idea of holding Olympic Games in France to the Union des Sports Athlétiques in 1892. No one was too keen on the idea, but Coubertin was determined to follow through with his athletic revival. Two years later, on June 16, a committee made up of international delegates embraced his idea when he framed the notion of the Olympic Games as a diplomatic opportunity to mend a fractured world. Coubertin got the support of Belgium, England, Greece, Italy, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the United States -- even his skeptical homeland, France, got on board [source: Scholastic].

While Coubertin wanted to host the games in France, the committee thought it proper to pay homage to the founder of the games by holding them in Greece first. So Coubertin compromised: France would host the Olympics at the start of the new century in 1900, but Greece would host the very first Modern Olympic Games in 1896. The precedent of holding the games every four years was re-established, and a new precedent was created: The Olympics would be held in different locations each time they occurred.

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Famous First Olympians

Not only could these ancient Greeks philosophize and invent medicine with the best of them, they showed their faces and skills at the Olympics, too.

• Aristotle
• Hippocrates
• Plato (a two-time champion)
• Socrates
• Pythagoras

Other lesser-known but notable winners include:

• Astylos of Croton
• Kyniska of Sparta
• Leonidas of Rhodes
• Melankomas of Karia
• Milon de Kroton

The Olympic Games of 1896 consisted of nine events, including cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, swimming, tennis, track and field, weight lifting and wrestling [source: Scholastic]. The most anticipated event was the marathon. A co-organizer of the event, Michel Bréal, devised the idea of paying the ultimate homage to Greece by including a track and field event that covered the famous route of Phidippides, the ancient Greek messenger. Phidippides ran 25 miles to deliver an announcement of an important military victory and tragically died at the end of his arduous trek. The entire committee embraced the idea, and the Greeks were favored to win the event.

Fate was at work on the day of the race, and the Greek runner Spiridon Louis won the marathon -- even after stopping halfway through at the town of Pikermi to quaff a glass of wine [source: Lovett]. The marathon race course would be extended to its current length of 26.2 miles when London hosted the games in 1908.

In 1924, the first Winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix, France. These icy-cold events were added to the four-year rotation of their counterpart summer games.

To learn more about the Olympics and other topics related to sports and exercise follow the links on the next pages.

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