User:Shikib1998/Sandbox

The Olympics named after Mount Olympus,home to the gods of Greek Mythology, began in the year 776 BC, a form of athletics to strengthen the bond between Ancient Greek city-states. Believing that their gods wanted them strong and fit, many Greek men came to this fierce athletic competition, either to participate or watch. The current Olympics are a product of these games which in the past 3 millennium has grown into an international form of recreation.The first Olympics, held in Olympia in the West Peloponnese, were nothing for than a foot race. Still, it brought throngs of people out to applaud the races vying for the first Olympic olive branch, the sign of an abundant amount of victory; which finally rested in the hands of a cook from Elis; Koroibos’. These games inaugurated a festival that was for centuries considered the most honorable of the Panhellenic Festivals. No historian or archeologist can yet explain why exactly Olympia, a city-state that prior to the games was not considered prominent or especially important, was chosen as the site for such an event. It would have been more understandable if the games were held at the foot of Mount Olympus; the target of the Greek religion. The tradition established; an Olympiad passed and every Olympiad (a Greek year: equivalent to four Gregorian years) the Olympics were held. The previously one day event increased to three days then to five. The Olympics modernized each time and it was making its way to today’s internationally viewed games though one person was standing in its way; Emperor Theodosius. Around the year 393 AD many fans were devastated to hear that the games which were ameliorating significantly were ordered to a halt by the considered evil, abhorred foe of many, yet an admired hero to others; Roman Emperor Flavius Theodosius Augustus (more famously known as Emperor Theodosius). Before the cancellation of the Olympics most people still loved to appreciate the festive mood on day of the Olympics, yet many turned their backs to what they called cheating your religion. Many athletes cheated, sabotaged and helped smuggle in people from bordering nations, when the Olympics were meant for Greek participants only. Some have credited Theodosius’ cancellation of the games with preventing the post-Olympic wars but the loss if the Olympic Games was deeply felt both as a spectator sport and a religious festival of the body.