100 THINGS...

OLYMPIC GAMES

• Ancient Greeks loved sport and most cities in Ancient Greece had public gymnasiums where people gathered to train and relax. 
• The Olympics were part of a religious event. They were held in honor of Zeus, the father of the gods and were a big celebration.
• The Greeks believed that a healthy body was very important. Most men and boys practiced sports every day because they enjoyed them and wanted to keep fit. 
• Sport was a good preparation for war too. The Greek armies had to be fit enough to march long distances, carrying all their heavy equipment, and then begin the fight with the enemy.
• The Greeks had four national sports festivals, where athletes from different city states competed against one another. The most important of the sports contests was the Olympic Games. These were played at Olympia, every four years, in honour of Zeus. On the first day of the Olympics, sacrifices of grain, wine, and lambs were made to Zeus.
•  Unlike the modern Olympics, judges did not come from all over the Greek world, but were drawn from Elis, the local region which included Olympia. The number of judges increased to 10 as more events were added to the Olympics
•  Even though the judges were all Eleans, local Elean Greeks were still allowed to compete in the Olympics. The Elean people had such a reputation for fairness that an Elean cheating at the Games was a shock to other Greeks.
• The Games were held in a village called Olympia 
• Greece is the home country of the Olympic Games. Olympia, a Greek city, was known to be a very important centre of athletics. The Olympic games, held there every four years, were so important in Greek life that they were used as the basis for the Greek calendar.
  The first recorded Ancient Olympic Games were in 776 BC