|
|
Before box seats, selection committees and sequined leotards.
When the Olympic Games returned to the land of their birth in 2004, many were surprised
to learn that their classical home was not Athens but a small riverside sanctuary
some 160 miles south, called Olympia. Today, it is an evocative experience to visit
this serene outpost. Archaeologists have unearthed the ancient stadium, complete
with its original running track and even a marble-inlaid starting line. Olympia
is a dreamy place today, but the pagan festival was anything but peaceful. Every
fourth summer, 50,000 sports fans would converge on Olympia, overwhelming the modest
local facilities. The atmosphere resembled a badly planned rock festival. The only
two inns at Olympia were reserved for VIPs, so everyone else camped on the hillsides:
Plato himself once had to share a tent with snoring strangers. To see the athletic
events, spectators had to sit on a bare hillside for hours in the blistering sun,
without seats or shade, eating cut-rate sausages sold from dubious vendors and drinking
cheap wine. There was no regular drinking-water supply at Olympia, so many collapsed
from dehydration. Of course, none of these difficulties deterred Greek sports fans
in the least: One Athenian baker boasted on his gravestone that he had been to the
Olympics 12 times. And athletics was only one dimension of the festival. In between
sports events, spectators could listen to famous Greek poets and admire artworks
like the Statue of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. No wonder
that for over 1,000 years, the Olympic Games were considered the greatest spectacle
on earth.
|
