A slab of goat cheese, some red wine (chugged straight out of a
goat skin, not sipped from some wimpy glass), and a can of
olives
– it would’ve been a great way to get into the spirit of the
Olympics Games. My plan was for some of my more daring friends to
come over wearing Greek togas and sandals.
A slab of goat cheese, some red wine (chugged straight out of a goat skin, not sipped from some wimpy glass), and a can of olives – it would’ve been a great way to get into the spirit of the Olympics Games. My plan was for some of my more daring friends to come over wearing Greek togas and sandals. And at the moment the Olympic torch lit the eternal flame, we’d use a Bic lighter to ignite the gas jets in my fireplace.
But for some reason, the folks I invited declined to come over to my Morgan Hill home last Friday for the televised opening of the Athens Olympics. Oh, well.
Watching the athletes strutting in the televised procession around the Athens stadium, I thought about how much the Olympics have evolved since their origin in ancient Greece. This summer’s games cost $10 billion – the most expensive ever. Human have a vexing habit of taking a simple idea and making it far more complicated as they try to outdo each other in pomp and ceremony.
Olympic Games have been held at least as far back as 776 B.C. The first Olympics were a relatively simple single-day jamboree held in Olympia, a western valley on Greece’s Peloponnesian peninsula. There was only one contest that year: a foot race of about 200 meters.
Imagine the athletes who got together that day. A bunch of dudes from all over Greece just wanting to have a good time competing and kidding around. They had some laughs. Then one guy suggested, “Hey, this was such a blast, let’s do it again next year.” Schedule conflicts arouse. Travel difficulties made it a big hassle to gather from all over Greece on an annual basis. So everyone finally agreed to come back in four years. Little did they know…
Over time, the one-day festival for a foot race evolved into something more elaborate. More contests were created to attract more spectators – discus, javelin, jumping, wrestling and boxing. No ping pong or beach volleyball, but there was an all-out, no-holds-barred fight contested called the “pankration” where contestants mutilated or even killed each other. I suspect the modern International Olympics Committee won’t contemplate reviving that competition.
Over time, an elaborate complex of temples and gymnasiums was constructed at Olympia to house and train athletes. It included a Hippodrome for chariot racing where drivers maneuvered their team of four horses along a circular track while at the same time physically attacking competing racers. Think of it as NASCAR with sanctioned road rage and no caution flags.
And you can be sure that merchants set up tents to hawk souvenirs such as amulets, headbands and “official” Olympic urns for sports fans to show off back home.
In those ancient days, athletes competed in the nude, something NBC television censors probably won’t take a hankering to if we ever contemplate reviving the tradition. Just consider that if Janet Jackson had performed at half-time of those ancient Games, she’d have been the most modestly dressed person there. And she’d probably have to have been played by a male actor.
That’s because only men were allowed to enjoy the competition. Picture 40,000 sweaty, smelly male spectators sitting on a grassy bank, drinking wine and swatting flies. Women faced a brutal death if they so much as tried to sneak a peek at the sporting spectacle. One peaceful benefit of the ancient Olympics, however, was that during the summer month when they were held, Greek city states ceased all wars and hostilities – or faced the wrath of Zeus, who must have had a big-time sponsorship deal.
For the most part, this peace plan worked. It did break down in 420 B.C., however, when the ongoing Peloponnesian War led to the city-state of Sparta being banned from that summer’s games. For their protection that year, Olympic athletes were kept safe by armed guards. Some things, it seems, never change. Modern Greece has spent $1.5 billion to protect athletes and spectators against terrorists for the 2004 Games.
For the ancient Greeks, only first place mattered. Second place was a disgrace and near-winners received humiliating jeers. Instead of a gold medal, first-place athletes got a garland of olive leaves. The real prize for Olympic superstars came upon returning to their home city. Victory parades showered glorious praise on them. Statues might be carved depicting them in a heroic pose. And poets penned lyrics to immortalize their fame.
Winning athletes also received cash, a tax-emption status, and free daily meals for life. We in the modern world do pretty much the same thing by giving medal-winning Olympic athletes the chance to pitch Wheaties cereal, Nike shoes or McDonald’s Big Macs.
The ancient Olympics came to an end in 393 A.D. when the Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius I shut them down because of their “pagan” ideals. But a great notion won’t stay gone forever. The modern world brought back the Olympic Games in 1896, in Athens. Today, we’re just as amazed by their pageantry and drama as the ancient Greeks once were.
Human beings evolved to physically compete with each other. We have a biological imperative to run, jump, throw things and wrestle. It goes back to our hunter-gatherer ancestors who survived based on how competent they were in tracking down and killing “game” – it’s no coincidence that term is used for both sports and hunted animals.
Natural selection hardwired into our genes a craving to compete. But our DNA coding for aggressive emotions has unfortunately led to wars and brutal violence in our modern human history. The Olympic Games and other international sporting competitions serve as a healthy outlet to let loose a bit of those Pleistocene Age urges and express those natural competitive feelings.
In the spirit of the Games, the ancient Greeks in the valley of Olympia would well understand.
Martin Cheek is the author of ‘The Silicon Valley Handbook’.
