Explain the history and significance of the original Olympic games, and discuss what elements of the original, if any, remain in the Olympics today. If nothing or little remains, what are the modern Olympics about?

Question

Please provide the best answer for the statement.

Answer 1

1, The Greeks date the beginning of their history to the first formal Panhellenic (“all-Greece”) athletic competition, held in 776 BCE at Olympia. The first contest of the first games was a 200-yard dash called the stadion. Over time, other events were added, including chariot-racing, boxing, and the pentathlon (from Greek penta, “five,” and athlon, “contest”), consisting of discus, javelin, long jump, sprinting, and wrestling.
2. The contests were conducted every four years during the summer months and were open only to men (married women were forbidden to attend, and unmarried women probably did not attend). The Olympic Games were held for more than 1,000 years, until the Christian Byzantine emperor Theodosius banned them in 394 CE. The Games were revived in 1896 to promote international understanding and friendship.
3. These games represented a defining characteristic of the developing Greek national identity. There were no second or third prizes: Winning was all. As a people, the Greeks believed in agonizesthai, a verb meaning “to contend for the prize.” They were driven by competition.
4. Answers to the last part of the question will vary. Students should respond to changes in the events of the modern games, their purpose and global reach, and their relation to national and transnational identity and perhaps address such topics as commercialism, politicization, doping and other forms of cheating, and so on.