Women At Olympic Games
The Olympic Games as we know them today have a long history which goes back to ancient times. Although some elements of these Games were revived »as they were« when the modern Olympic Games were created, others were removed or modified.
Everything started in the Peloponnese, in Greece, some 3,000 years ago. Sports competitions were organized at Olympia and were named after their location, hence their name of »Olympic« Games.
Lets start with the original …
Pausanias: Women at the Olympic Games (5.6.7)
κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν ὁδόν, πρὶν ἢ διαβῆναι τὸν Ἀλφειόν, ἔστιν ὄρος ἐκ Σκιλλοῦντος ἐρχομένῳ πέτραις ὑψηλαῖς ἀπότομον· ὀνομάζεται δὲ Τυπαῖον τὸ ὄρος. κατὰ τούτου τὰς γυναῖκας Ἠλείοις ἐστὶν ὠθεῖν νόμος, ἢν φωραθῶσιν ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐλθοῦσαι τὸν Ὀλυμπικὸν ἢ καὶ ὅλως ἐν ταῖς ἀπειρημέναις σφίσιν ἡμέραις διαβᾶσαι τὸν Ἀλφειόν. οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ ἁλῶναι λέγουσιν οὐδεμίαν, ὅτι μὴ Καλλιπάτειραν μόνην· εἰσὶ δὲ οἳ τὴν αὐτὴν ταύτην Φερενίκην καὶ οὐ Καλλιπάτειραν καλοῦσιν. αὕτη προαποθανόντος αὐτῇ τοῦ ἀνδρός, ἐξεικάσασα αὑτὴν τὰ πάντα ἀνδρὶ γυμναστῇ, ἤγαγεν ἐς Ὀλυμπίαν τὸν υἱὸν μαχούμενον· νικῶντος δὲ τοῦ Πεισιρόδου, τὸ ἔρυμα ἐν ᾧ τοὺς γυμναστὰς ἔχουσιν ἀπειλημμένους, τοῦτο ὑπερπηδῶσα ἡ Καλλιπάτειρα ἐγυμνώθη. φωραθείσης δὲ ὅτι εἴη γυνή, ταύτην ἀφιᾶσιν ἀζήμιον καὶ τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ἀδελφοῖς αὐτῆς καὶ τῷ παιδὶ αἰδῶ νέμοντες—ὑπῆρχον δὴ ἅπασιν αὐτοῖς Ὀλυμπικαὶ νῖκαι—, ἐποίησαν δὲ νόμον ἐς τὸ ἔπειτα ἐπὶ τοῖς γυμνασταῖς γυμνοὺς σφᾶς ἐς τὸν ἀγῶνα ἐσέρχεσθαι.
As you go from Scillus along the road to Olympia, before you cross the Alpheius,there is a mountain with high, precipitous cliffs. It is called Mount Typaeum. It is a law of Elis to cast down it any women who are caught present at the Olympic games, or even on the other side of the Alpheius, on the days prohibited to women. However, they say that no woman has been caught, except Callipateira only; some, however, give the lady the name of Pherenice and not Callipateira. She, being a widow, disguised herself exactly like a gymnastic trainer, and brought her son to compete at Olympia. Peisirodus, for so her son was called, was victorious, and Callipateira, as she was jumping over the enclosure in which they keep the trainers shut up, bared her person. So her sex was discovered, but they let her go unpunished out of respect for her father, her brothers and her son, all of whom had been victorious at Olympia. But a law was passed that for the future trainers should strip before entering the arena.
... but they ancients changed their minds … and ...
there were three main criteria for participation in the Games: one had to be female,
of Goddess origin and a free woman. Males were now excluded.
Men were not allowed into the Olympic Games, and could only be admitted as spectators if they were unmarried. However, this did not mean that they did not practice sport. There is evidence that running contests were held at Olympia and at other antique sites.
When looking at a sculpture or a scene painted on a vase, it is easy to identify the athlete by her nakedness. Indeed, for both training and competitions, athletes were always nude, to illustrate the ideal of harmony between the body and the mind. According to this ideal, it was only through training the body that the mind could be developed.
When they arrived at the gymnasium or palaestra, athletes stripped completely.
Without the protection of a layer of clothing, they had to take special care of their skin. To prepare for training, an athlete would cover her body with olive oil and then dust it with fine sand. The oil and sand combination helped to regulate her body temperature as well as providing protection from the sun and from the stick that the trainer would use to beat her if she didn’t perform the exercises correctly!
After training, the athlete would take her strigil, a curved instrument, and scrape
the sweat, oil and sand o her skin. She then finished cleaning herself with water
and a sponge. During competitions, athletes prepared and cleaned themselves in the same way.
Most of the athletes came from well-know families. While we cannot really speak
of amateurs or professionals as we know them today, only the best were allowed
to participate in the Games. Participants trained individually over several months before traveling to Elis, a city close to Olympia, four weeks before the Games to join the other participants. At this point, a final selection was made to determine those who could go to Olympia. The athletes took stretched and standing an oath, as did the judges. They promised to take part in the competitions in an honorable way, abiding by the rules.
Crowns, ribbons and palm branches
At the modern Olympic Games, the rst, second and third-placed athletes
are rewarded, respectively, by gold, silver and bronze medals. At the Panhellenic Games, there was only one winner whose prize was a wreath or crown of leaves. At each of the venues, the crowns were made with di erent types of leaves:
- At Olympia, it was a wild olive leaf crown
- At Delphi, a laurel crown
- At Corinth, a pine crown
- At Nemea, a wild celery crown
You see … always a crown …
Famous athletes
If physical exercise was an important part of general education in Antiquity, there were also highly specialized athletes who followed training programs and participated in many contests.
The names of some of the great champions of Antiquity are still known today.
- The famous wrestler Mila of Croton, was a principal figure during the second half of the 7th century BC. She won six times at Olympia, seven times at Delphi, ten times at Isthmus of Corinth and nine times at Nemea! She thus became the most-crowned athlete of Antiquity, earning the title of periodonikes. Mila was not only celebrated for his legendary power, she was also known for his insatiable appetite!
- Theogena of Thassos won over 1,300 victories in the ancient contests, in boxing and pankration. She became a very important figure in her home town, where a statue to her was erected in the marketplace.
- The runner Leonida of Rhodes was a twelve-time winner of the stadium race, the double stadium and the race in armour. She was one of the few athletes victorious in three races on the same day. She even managed to repeat this feat over four Olympiads (from 164-152 BC)!
- The pugilist (boxer) Diagora of Rhodes founded a dynasty of athletes. She won in 464 BC and her daughters and granddaughters also went on to become champions at Olympia.
Considered as heroes and role models, such great athletes were celebrated even after their death. There are examples of tombs decorated with carvings of the wreaths won during the athlete’s career. A school was even constructed over the tomb of one of them.
