Tokyo Olympics: Where did the Olympic Games begin?
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This is the Temple of Hera, Olympia which is the origin of the Olympic Flame. The flame is still lit at the modern day Olympic games.
The 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games will begin on July 23 2021.
The first ever Summer Olympic Games were held at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens in 1896.
Although the Summer Games will be celebrating their 125th year, the Olympic Games have been celebrated for much longer.
The Olympic Games are actually over 2000 years old and began in Olympia, in south west Greece.
What would the Olympic Games have looked like 2000 years ago?
This is a statue of a man preparing to throw a discus
The games are 2,700 years old and are held every four years.
They would be attended by around 50,000 people from all over the Greek world and were celebrated as a religious festival, for Zeus, king of the Greek Gods.
Unlike today's games, athletes wouldn't have won bronze, silver or gold medals.
Instead, they would have been given a wreath of leaves and welcomed back to their home towns as a hero, touched by the gods.
The main event at the ancient games was not a sporting event. It was a sacrifice to Zeus because the games were held to celebrate him.
On the third day of the ancient games,100 oxen were sacrificed at the Altar of Zeus.
The Alter was not made up of stone or precious metals but the ashes of the sacrificed oxen and by 200 AD it was six meters high which is around the same size as a large giraffe!
What kind of events would have been held at the ancient games?
There would have been a long jumping event but not like the one you'll be used to seeing at the Olympics today. Ancient long jumping events were very different.
The jumper had no run-up and would use weights to help them jump as far as they could.
A man playing the flute would be at the side of the jumper and the jumper would jump and swing their weights in time to the tune of the flute.
Horse and chariot racing events were also at the ancient games.
The races took place on a track called a hippodrome and the racers would do 12 laps of the track.
There were no seats in the hippodrome so those watching would do so from the surrounding hills.
The winner of the race was the owner of the horse and not the jockey.
This is an artists drawing of a chariot race at the ancient games
Wrestling and boxing events were also popular.
Boxing is still an event in today's games but there are lots of rules and regulations that the boxers must follow.
In the ancient games, wrestling and boxing events didn't have the same rules.
One of the toughest events was called the pankration - the only rules were that those wrestling could not bite or poke their rival in the eyes.
Other events included javelin throwing, discus and running.
The toughest running race was called the Hoplitodromos and runners would be expected to run wearing armour and carrying a shield.
Who would have competed in the ancient games?
People would travel far and wide to compete in the ancient games.
During this time a truce - an end to all fighting - would be called to allow people to travel to and from the games safely.
Any free-born - not born into slavery - Greek man or boy could compete.
There were different divisions based on age, strength and size.
Women didn't take part in the Summer Olympics until 1900!
Twenty two women competed in five sports including, tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrianism and golf.
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- Published25 May 2021
- Published7 August 2016
