What you might not know about the Olympics

Today I got to do something very little have done. We went from Athens to Olympia where the first Olympic games were held. We winded down a shabby road and ended up in a place where one of the seven wonders of the world used to reside. It was a sacred place that people could only visit once every four years to see the Olympic games. There were thirteen games played throughout five days and only one winner. Something I did not know was that the men in the games had to be completely naked to participate because of the heat, pride, and aerodynamics. Once a winner's mother came disguised as a man to see her son play. When he won and as she was shouting a breast fell out. They were going to throw her off the mountain to kill her but she pleaded that she came only to see her son win so they did not kill her. However, they made a law that every spectator had to come naked so that no women could enter. Another interesting fact is that the torch was not lit until 1936 for when Hiltler helped fund the games. That is until Jesse Owens won. World War II started soon after. After we walked through many ruins of what was their training facilities, we reached where they held the games themselves. There was a wall of winners and a wall of shame on each side reaching the gate. The wall of shame is where statues of cheaters were put and people would spit on them as they entered the stadium. The track was not actually a track, it was a straight path. Depending on the game is how far they would run. The longest was running it 24 times - which is an extremely long distance. My group and I actually got to race on this track. I can't believe that I got to run on the spot where sports began.

Niki Pulliam