The Olympic Games

So being that the 2020 AD (CE) summer Olympic Games are actually taking place this summer of 2021 AD (CE) because of COVID. I felt it important to drop some Olympic knowledge on everyone being I’m such the sports fan and history whiz.

Our modern Western societies on the continents of Europe, North America, and South America are derived from ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Carthage, and ancient Rome.

Out of all of these there is none more revered than ancient Greece. Every city functioned like its own nation. There wasn’t a unified Greece. Every city state had its own laws, culture, and unique way of doing things. While there were many city states (at least 1,000), Athens, Sparta, and Macedonia were the 3 most important. Sparta created the foundations of Western military culture. They literally ate, slept, and breathed martial arts, military strategy, and unadulterated ass kicking 24/7. Every day of the year. Their laws would not permit them to do anything else once so ever. Athens had an army just like Sparta did, except Athens was way more of a naval power. Spartan society thought fighting on land was more manly than the sea. But the main thing that separated Sparta, and Athens was the fact that Athenians had way more freedom than Spartans. So therefore, Athens is the birthplace of democracy, philosophy, science, etc.. All the great teachers of the ancient world were from a city within Greece, and/or traveled to Athens.

Now the only time that the various cities would not quarrel amongst themselves was when they traveled to the city of Olympia, which is named after the Olympian ancient Greek gods that reside on Mount Olympus. Why did they travel to Olympia every 4 years between 776 BC (BCE) and 393 AD (CE)? To help those non-historical people, we are in 2021 AD (CE). The original ancient Greek Olympics.

The ancient Greek Olympics were very different from our modern Olympics. All the events were open to any male of any social class over 5 days. Women could not compete, but the loophole was any rider who won a chariot race was not awarded victory, but the owner of the chariot was. And women could own a stable of horse chariots in ancient Greece. They competed naked. False start in a track and field race caused the men to be subject to capital punishment. These 2 are my own personal favorites being a martial arts historian. The Spartans were not allowed to compete in the Pankration events because they had no impulse control. They were brought up in a strictly kill, or be killed world. Pankration is the unarmed mixed martial art of the ancient Greek city states. It’s a combination of Boxing, and Freestyle Wrestling. My other favorite fact is that when the ancient Persians invaded Greece in 480 BC (BCE), the Olympics were so revered by the Greeks that they could not form the closest thing to a coalition to protect their land because all the soldiers were preparing for the Olympics. That’s the classic example everybody thinks of when discussing the history of the Olympics. And finally, there were no point systems, or medals. The victor of each event received an olive wreath.

The modern Olympics the way we think of them did not begin until 1896 AD (CE). The summer takes place every 4 years, while winter is every 2 years. They still continue to try to be a vehicle to bring peace amongst the sociopolitical squabbles of all 196 to 250 unified nations on this Earth, depending on your definition of a country. And before I forget, let me end with this important tidbit for everybody to take under consideration… From 1896 AD (CE) to the 1970s AD (CE) only amateur athletes could compete. It wasn’t until the 1980s AD (CE) that professional athletes began to compete.

In this day and age of technology, where you can program which events you want to watch, instead of having to watch whatever is live.

Here’s what I’ll be watching over the next 17 days:

Archery
Baseball
Basketball
Boxing
Fencing
Judo
Karate
Modern Pentathlon
Shooting
Soccer
Tae Kwon Do
Track and Field
Wrestling

The only Winter Olympic sport I watch:

Ice Hockey