The ancient games consisted of four different games, one of these games was held each year. The Olympic Games, held at Olympia in honour of the god Zeus. The Pythian Games, held at Delphi to celebrate the festival of Apollo. The Isthmian games, in honour of the god Poseidon. The Nemean games, also held in honour of Zeus. This is obviously different to nowadays seeing as they only have a summer and a winter games.
Like our Olympics, though, winning athletes were heroes who put their home towns on the map. One young Athenian nobleman defended his political reputation by mentioning how he entered seven chariots in the Olympic chariot-race. This high number of entries made both the aristocrat and Athens look very wealthy and powerful.
The main sports that were played in the ancient times were:
Boxing: Ancient boxing had fewer rules than the modern sport. Boxers fought without rounds until one man was knocked out, or admitted he had been beaten. Unlike the modern sport, there was no rule against hitting an opponent when he was down. There were no weight classes within the mens' and boys' divisions; opponents for a match were chosen randomly. Instead of gloves, ancient boxers wrapped leather thongs (himantes) around their hands and wrists which left their fingers free.
Equestrian Events:
Chariot racing-There were both 2-horse chariot and 4-horse chariot races, with separate races for chariots drawn by foals. Another race was between carts drawn by a team of 2 mules. The course was 12 laps around the stadium track (9 miles).
Riding-The course was 6 laps around the track (4.5 miles), and there were separate races for full-grown horses and foals. Jockeys rode without stirrups. Only wealthy people could afford to pay for the training, equipment, and feed of both the driver (or jockey) and the horses. As a result, the owner received the olive wreath of victory instead of the driver or jockey.
Pankration: This event was a gruelling combination of boxing and wrestling. Punches were allowed, although the fighters did not wrap their hands with the boxing himantes. Rules outlawed only biting and gouging an opponent's eyes, nose, or mouth with fingernails. Attacks such as kicking an opponent in the belly, which are against the rules in modern sports, were perfectly legal. Like boxing and wrestling, among others, this event had separate divisions for both men and boys.
Pentathlon: This was a 5-event combination of discus, javelin, jumping, running and wrestling.
In the modern Olympics we have some of these events; we also do not have any of them. But there are a lot of new events that have been introduced slowly in the past 100 years. There are 25 different sports that are taken part in and nearly 400 events, from aquatics too wrestling. In the winter Olympics there are 7 different sports.
The main difference between the ancient and modern games today is the commercial aspect. The games in the ancient times were there as festivals to please the gods and to get the different parts of the country that were at war, together. During the first Olympics this was the main idea, to bring the upper class gentlemen from different countries together as one. The modern Olympics then started becoming professional and with professionals comes money; money is the main and really only cause of corruption. People were starting to cheat to gain extra money for them and there countries. The centenary of the Olympics should have been held in Atlanta, but because of the coca cola company they decided to buy the games. This meant that the games went to Atlanta; they did not really put on a good performance either.
