The Ancient Olympics Games were a series of athletic tournaments, representing city-states. The event took place in honor of the Greek God Zeus. The origin of the Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 BC, associated with Greek mythology. The ancient games were held every four years, called the Olympiad. The oldest sports in the Olympics were running, long jump, boxing, shot put, pankration, and equestrian events. Stadion, aka foot race, became the first and only sport at the Olympics until 724 BCE. Read on to find out more facts about oldest Olympic sports and take our fun and informative trivia questions to lift your mood.
Oldest Sports in Olympics
What was the first Olympic Games? Here, we have put together some of the ancient Olympic games and facts about the oldest Olympic sports.
Running
Running, also known as stadion or stade, was also recognized as the oldest Olympic sport in the world. It was part of the first Olympics in 776 BCE. The race’s length was 600 Geek feet, which was not a standardized one but might vary in length. The stadium length in Olympia is around 192 m (629.9 ft).
What's the Oldest Sport?
- A. Wrestling
- B. Hockey
- C. Football
- D. Basketball
Running games included
- The stade race-(200m foot race),
- The diaulos-double stade foot race- (two stades – 400m foot race)
- Dolichos -long-distance running ( between 7 and 24 states)
Wrestling (Palé)
The Olympic Games included two more events in 708 BCE– wrestling and pentathlon. Wrestling became the first combat sport added in the ancient Olympics. It was known as a safer sport than boxing and pankration that were included later. Wrestling was introduced as one of the five sports in the pentathlon.
There were two types of wrestling followed in the ancient Olympics, such as upright wrestling (or the palé), which took place in a sandpit whereas Kato palé was held on the wet sand.
Pentathlon
The pentathlon was recognized as a multi-event competition, consisting of discus toss, javelin throw, long jump, wrestling, and station. In the early games, javelin, discus, and long jump were not held as individual events. It is still unclear the exact order of the pentathlon but it was organized on the same day and ended with wrestling. Pentathlon is known as one of the well-rounded events featuring several different events.
Jumping
Halters were stone or lead weights used to expand the distance of the jump. Athletes held onto the weights till the game ended.
Discus throw
iscus made of stone, iron, lead or bronze used to throw and today’s throwing style followed.
Boxing
Boxers used himantes which were wrapped in straps. Atheists used them to strengthen their wrists and steady their fingers. Later, boxers used hard leather straps.