The Story of a Competitor

The following story is a fictional memoir of an actual athlete who competed in the ancient Olympic games. If you click on any of the highlighted words, you will be given an explanation or shown a picture.

Hello, my name is Xenophon

I come from Corinth, one of the oldest Greek cities. I belong to the family Oligaethidae which is known for its outstanding athletes. My grandfather, Ptoeodorus, and father, Thessalus, were both famous athletes.

When I was growing up, I saw my relatives achieve great fame as olympic champions and being influenced by my father, I decided I wanted to enjoy this prestige also. I committed myself to harsh training to build my physical and mental strength. My family was able to train me as a professional since we had already established our name in the honorable group of Olympic victors. I would practice outside our house,in the pasture.

I practiced running, jumping, javelin, discus, and wrestling. I showed excellence in all of these areas, particularly running. My trainers supplemented my practice with lessons on the rules of participating in all of these contests and the qualities I needed to win at the Olympics.

My first year of competition was 464 B.C. A messenger from Olympia came to my town and announced that the games would start in two months I decided to compete in two different events. First, I would run the stade, which is the shortest race: a 200 yard sprint. Then, I would compete in the pentathalon. This was to be the ultimate test of my athletic talent since this competition tests all around strength instead of just one particular event.

Before departing on my journey to Olympia, I climbed the Acrocorinth and visited the temple of Aprhodite. This is a very hard climb but I risked my life to pray to the goddess for her help. I vowed that if the goddess let me win my competitions, I would give her 100 slave girls to attend to her temple.

My trainer,Vasilios, and I made plans to take a boat to Olympia. We left early enought to leave us about a month of training time in Olympia before the actual competition. When we departed, the townspeople were very excited for us and the other young men who were going to compete. We all wanted to win for Corinth and bring our city glory.

As the boat sailed away, I waved to my family and promised that I would return to them a champion. The next couple of days were spent on the boat. I was nervous but very excited.

I met some other competitors. One of them, Pherias, was from Aegina and he was going to compete in wrestling. At the time of the announcement of the games he was in Corinth so he and I were journeying the same way. He said he was nervous about the competition too. He looked very strong. Pherias and I talked a lot and enjoyed the scenery from our boat.

He told me that he had tried to compete in the games at Olympia four years ago and they told him he could not because he was too young. Since he could not participate, he spent the last four years preparing for these games. We were both getting anxious because we were almost there.

I could tell he was ready to win. I told him I was going to compete in the pentathalon that had wrestling as one of its events. He gave me some suggestions to beat my opponents and told me to be confident and that victory would follow.

We finally made it to Olympia.

It was a beautiful place and I was so excited to be there for the games.Once I arrived in Olympia, Pherias and I went our separate ways to do training. I realized I needed to find a sleeping place. I did what most of the competitors did; I shared a tent with my trainer. Before we could compete, the runners were responsible for 'cleaning the track'. We had to tear out weeds and grass that had grown on the track and fill in the track with sand. I arrived aearly enough that after this preparation was done, I had a month to practice with my trainer and continue my worship to the Aphrodite, as well as the other gods and goddesses.

The day before the competition arrived soon. All of the athletes were nervous, but excited. The actual competition lasted two days. My first event, the stade, was the first event to be held, early the next morning. On the day of the competition I awoke early having had a great dream. I dreamt that my feet were on fire which is a good sign for runners, meaning that I would run "like a cat on hot bricks".

To prepare, I stretched and said my final prayers to the gods. I removed my toga and rubbed oil all over my body, a ritual for competitors. After arriving at the stadium and gazing at all of the cheering spectators, I was set up at the starting line, which was at the far end of the stadium, with the other twenty competitors. Assuming starting position, we were all tense, aware that anyone who started early was punished with a flogging.

3... 2... 1

We were off.

I ran as I had so many times before, practicing on my track in Corinth. Digging my feet into the sand, I scattered it everywhere as I struggled to gain the lead. There were 50 meters left and I had only one runner slightly in front of me.

Do I win the race???

(click to find out)