The Olympic Games are the most significant and popular sporting events. To become the winner of the Olympics is the greatest honor for an athlete. Suffice it to say that the title "Olympic champion" is a lifelong title, in contrast to the title of world or European champion.
The first reliable data on the ancient Olympic Games date back to 776 BC. Scientists have found on one of the marble columns the name of the Greek Koreb from Elis, who won the race, as well as an indication of his occupation - a cook. Most likely, such games were held long before the specified date, but there is no reliable confirmation of this yet.
The ancient Greeks attached great importance to physical development. They dedicated games to the gods, and the competitions were usually called by the name of the city where they were staged. There were Nemean, Pythian, Isthmian games. But the most significant were the Olympic ones, because they were arranged in honor of the supreme deity - Zeus. That is why the holding of the Olympic Games has become an event of general Greek significance. The winner of the Olympic Games (or in other words "olympionic") became a real idol in his homeland. He was honored as a hero. The statue of the winner adorned the main square of the city.
Initially, there was only one type of competition - running a distance of 1 stages (about 192 meters). By the way, this is where the word "stadium" came from. Subsequently, the number of types of competitions has increased. Athletes competed in double distance running, full combat gear, fist fighting, wrestling, discus and javelin throwing, chariot races. The Olympic Games attracted huge numbers of spectators from all over Greece. For the period of their holding, an armistice was declared. Only free Greeks, full citizens of their states - policies - could compete. Foreigners and slaves were strictly forbidden. And women could not even be present at the stadium as spectators - for this they were threatened with the death penalty.
After Greece was conquered by Rome, the Olympic Games began to decline. And the Roman emperor Theodosius I generally forbade them to be held. This happened in 394 AD. And only many centuries later, in 1896, the first revived Olympic Games took place in Athens. This happened thanks to the titanic work of Baron Pierre de Coubertin and his associates.
