The ancient sporting competitions held at the festival of Olympia in western Greece provided a place where any man could compete as a sportsman.

The First Olympics

The Ancient Games were not politically correct: women were strictly prohibited from attending and any woman caught at the venue was thrown off a cliff. Perhaps this was merely an attempt to preserve the modesty of their womenfolk, as the competitors were not only naked, but covered in olive oil. Modern athletes seem to feel that Lycra is the better option.

Traditionally the athletes travelled by foot to the games, (not that there was much choice in those days); laurel wreaths were awarded to the competitors; and it was all polished off with massive feasts to honour the gods.

The original Olympics consisted of only one event: a 192-metre foot race. The first recorded winner, in 776 BC, was Coroebos, a cook from the small Greek town of Elis. More events were added over the years and by 600 BC there were longer races as well, plus boxing, wrestling and the pentathlon (which comprised: long jump, discus, javelin, wrestling and sprinting).

Brutal

The wrestling and boxing were pretty brutal compared to today's events: the boxers wore serviceable knuckledusters in the form of leather thongs studded with iron knobs. In the wrestling, only biting and eye-gouging were banned, which was not strictly enforced.

The Only Dead Winner

A wrestler, Arachion of Phiglia, entered the record books by being the only dead athlete ever to win an Olympic event. His opponent, Eurydamion, was simultaneously applying the (perfectly legal) holds of a scissorlock and a stranglehold, when Arachion, in his death throes, broke Eurydamion's toe. Eurydamion let go and conceded defeat, but sadly the stranglehold had already done the damage and the victor's laurel wreath had to be placed on a corpse. Arachion's drop-dead victorious record still stands and right up to the present day no other athlete has attempted to equal it. It can hardly be bettered, except by being carried dead to the starting line.

Romans

Amazingly, the Ancient Games survived the Nero episode in 67 AD and went on for another 326 years before being banned on religious grounds by the Emperor Theodosius in 393 AD.