The Ancient
Olympics
by CTCWeb Editors
Other
people may not have had high expectations for me . . . but I
had high expectations for myself.
-Shannon
Miller, Gold, Silver, and Bronze medalist in gymnastics.
The Games
Along with the Olympics, there were three
other Panhellenic festivals held once every four years. These
festivals were held at important sanctuaries throughout Greece.
The Nemean games were held at Nemea and, like the Olympics, were
in honor of Zeus. The Isthmian games were held at Corinth and
were sacred to Poseidon. At Delphi, the Pythian games were held
in honor of Apollo. The Olympic festival took place during the
warmest time of the year, after the summer solstice, which usually
occurred around mid-July. Each of the festivals took place during
a different year. For example, the Nemean games were held in
537 BCE, the Isthmian in 536 BCE, and the 56th Olympics
in 535 BCE.
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Mitsuo Tsukahara, his
wife Cheiko, and their son Naoya are all Olympic gymnasts from
Japan. The elder Tsukahara is best known for the gymnastics stunt
known originally as the "moon" somersault. It received
this name because Tsukahara first performed it on July 20, 1969,
the day Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. The elder Tsukahara
used this stunt, now known as the "Tsukahara," to win
an individual gold medal, one of six medals he won in Munich
in 1972. The younger Tsukahara used his father's stunt, that
consists of a cartwheel with a quarter-turn followed by a backward
somersault while vaulting, at the 2000 Syndey games. |
The duration of the early Olympic festivals
varied from one to three days between 776 and 632 BCE. Over the
years, the Eleans added new events to the games and discontinued
others. From the fifth century BCE forward, the Olympic games
lasted five days, during which competitions were held and sacrifices
offered. Before the festivities began at Olympia, the spondophoroi,
citizens of Elis, traveled to city-states all over Greece, crowned
in olive branches and carrying the caduceus, a messenger’s
staff, to announce the forthcoming games. On their travels, the
spondophoroi proclaimed the ekecheiria, the suspension
of hostilities for three months, which was required under Olympic
rules.
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