A quick glance at any artwork from Ancient Greece gives an idea of the almost religious importance of nudity, and if we interpret the images literally, how widespread its practice was in many aspects of daily life. One of these, surely the most well-known, is sports; athletes competed naked in the games from the 8th […]
Olympic Games
Posted inAncient Greece
Bybon, the Greek Athlete Who Lifted 143-Kilogram Stones with One Hand
Although his name doesn’t appear in epic tales or the legends of great heroes, a physical feat performed by an athlete in ancient Olympia has reached us thanks to an inscription. The athlete’s name was Bybon, and he lived in the 6th century BC, a time when sports and displays of strength were a fundamental […]
Posted inAncient Greece
Coroebus of Elis, the Baker Who Won the First Race of the Olympic Games
Every story has a beginning, and so does that of the Ancient Olympic Games, of course. In this case, it all started with Coroebus, a baker from the city of Elis, whose territory included Olympia (which is still located there today). According to some sources, he was also involved in cooking and food preparation, but […]
Posted inAncient Greece
Kallipateira, the Woman Who Sneaked into the Olympic Games Disguised as a Man and Lived to Tell the Tale
“Rhodian princess, how did you enter? / It is an ancient custom here to expel women from here.” / “I have a nephew, Eucleos, / three brothers, son, father, Olympic athletes; / you must let me, Hellanodikai, / and to behold the beautiful / bodies, where is the field of Heracles? / They are fighting […]
Posted inAncient Greece
Cynisca, the Spartan Who Became the First Woman to Achieve Victory in the Olympic Games
The Olympic Games of Antiquity were an exclusively male event, and women were prohibited from attending, whether as athletes or spectators; at least the gynaikes (married women), since Pausanias seems to indicate that the parthenai (unmarried young women) could indeed be in the stands. However, Spartan women enjoyed greater freedom, and just as their education […]
Posted inClassical Archaeology
The Gymnasium Where Athletes Trained for the Ancient Olympic Games, Unearthed in Olympia
The Greek Ministry of Culture announced advances in the third phase of the archaeological excavation, protection, and enhancement project of the Gymnasium in Ancient Olympia after receiving favorable reports from the Central Archaeological Council on the static study of the walls and the drainage and sewage study of the rainwater in the excavated area. This […]
Posted inAncient Greece
Theagenes of Thasos, the Athlete who Became a God
The Greek island of Thasos is located in the northern part of the Aegean Sea, near the Thracian coast, and its capital, also called Thasos, is located in the northern part of the island. It was founded around 680 B.C. by settlers from the island of Paros. One of the most famous athletes of antiquity […]
Posted inModern Era
When Olympic Glory met the Art of Pistol Dueling in the Games’ Historic Past
Since Pierre de Coubertin revived the Olympic Games from ancient Greece in 1896, they have been held almost continuously every four years (with exceptions in 1916, 1940, and 1944 due to world wars). In each edition, changes and additions to the list of admitted sports, whether competitive or exhibition, are often considered. A glimpse into […]
Posted inArt, Modern Era
When the Olympic Games included competitions in architecture, painting, sculpture, literature, and music
Jean Jacoby was a Luxembourgish painter; Alex Diggelmann, a Swiss poster artist; the Danish Josef Petersen was a writer; the Hungarian Alfréd Hajós, an architect; the British John Copley, an engraver; the Belgian Josue Dupon, a sculptor, just like the American Walter Winans. Can you imagine what they all had in common, apart from a […]
Posted inModern Era
The German female athlete at the 1936 Berlin Olympics who turned out to be a man
A recent case is that of Caster Semenya, South African athlete twice Olympic champion and three times world champion in the middle-distance (800 meters, to be exact), who in medical analysis was found to have a chromosomal abnormality that makes her produce three times more testosterone than normal and have internal male sex organs, which […]
