History of the olympic games Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

History of the olympic games - Term Paper Example These activities later improved. Since at that time, man had little knowledge of other activities the survival skills therefore created entertainment activities. They would wrestle to determine who is strongest in the community and they would be chosen as leaders because of their strength. Division of the small societies due to disagreement created the need for improvement of these skills. To prevent fights between these communities Heracles created peaceful sports. Olympic Games founder was the son of Zeus. Dedication of these games was to the Olympian gods and staged at the ancient plains of Olympia. Herakles initiated the Olympic Games so as to reunite warring nations. Individuals who would be caught with weapons at Olympia would fall under Zeus’s wrath. Soldiers and may others joined this noble cause. Sport then became competitive with awards given to winners with acknowledgment of their families. This created interest and desire as many athletes used this to uplift their families’ names. The games were every four years, in a span called the Olympiad. There were no rules in this games and most focused on proving masculinity. Athletes competed as individuals. Cheating was not part of the game, and those caught cheating fined heavily, and the money used to build the Zanes; statues of Zeus. Games in this period concentrated only on single races. A naked runner Coroebus who was a runner from Elis won the Stade; a run of approximately 192 meters which by then was the only event in the Olympics. After the stade run, different sports came into existence including the Hoplitodrome. This was a footrace while the athletes wore their full armor. Another sport was the pentathlon which like the name suggests the athletes competed in different sports during the same event, these included wrestling, jumping, discus, sprinting and, javelin. A