Paris 2024 Olympic Games: when Greek athletes were honored as true stadium gods in Olympia

Le lancer du disque est l'un des gestes ayant le moins changé au fil des siècles sur le stade olympique. MAXPPP – KERIBAR IZZET

Representing their cities, the champions of ancient games were sometimes honored as gods, sometimes even with worship and funeral banquets. A look back at the major sports of the first Olympics.

From Olympia to Paris, from the Games of antiquity to those of the modern era, there is only one step in view of the ;rsquo;history of Humanity but a gulf between two worlds. The grandiose opening ceremony on the Seine, on July 26, a hymn to Parisian audacity and creativity, will remind us of this by echoing the very simple procession which opened the Olympic Games. rsquo;Olympia, from the 8th century BCE.

Like any religious festival, the ancient Games began with this long march starting from Elis, 35 kilometers away, and accompanying the athletes and a hundred oxen towards the original sacrifice on the sanctuary of ;rsquo;Olympia, facing the temple of Zeus. "The oath, the athletes took it with regard to the gods", recalls Eric Perrin-Saminadayar, professor of & rsquo;History and epigraphy of the Greco-Roman world and director of the faculty of human sciences and environmental sciences at Paul-Valéry. With the hope of becoming true stadium gods themselves.

"We were tearing down walls for the return of the heroes"

"Contrary to the motto that Coubertin would establish much later, the essential thing was not to participate but to win to show that we came from a powerful city, confirms the Montpellier. The victors were entitled to honors equivalent to those given to the gods, even going so far as to tear down walls for the bring into the city. The name of the hero and that of his father and his city were proclaimed. The notion of political recovery of the winners by the State already existed…"

Where the current Games, which have become Paralympics, are intended to be those of inclusion and parity, those of Olympia were those of exclusion: reserved for Greeks and forbidden to women. One of the reasons for this exclusion was the total nudity of the athletes to compete.

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The only exceptions were the horse racing events and the chariot races which traditionally opened the Games. Two-horse, four-horse chariots, mounted race… There was something for everyone, in front of a rather sparse audience at the beginning, the Olympia stadium not being equipped with stands.

"At the height of the Classic period, the stadium, which was rebuilt four times, could accommodate 40 000 people< /em>, says Eric Perrin-Saminadayar.Olympia was then transformed into a tent village. A few solid buildings were reserved for judges and athletes, but no hotel business was developed. On the other hand, a whole ephemeral fair was set up, where all kinds of goods and even trinkets, souvenirs, merchandising of the time were exchanged. .