Olympics: Putting past on a pedestal

By EUGENE BINGHAM

Next door to the Temple of Zeus, the god worshipped by the ancient Olympians, the first discovery of the 2004 Athens Games has already been unearthed.

In the modern Olympics, the discoveries are usually of previously unheralded athletes - Harold Abrahams, the sprinter whose 100m victory at Paris in 1924 inspired the movie Chariots of Fire; Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci with her perfect 10 in 1976; or Peter Snell, who upset the world record-holder to win the 800m at Tokyo.

But it is appropriate that the first find of these Games should be an archaeological site, due to be opened to the public in time for the August 13 opening ceremony.

To walk the streets of Athens is to tread the paths of the ancients and the sporting forebears of the 10,500 athletes set to compete in Greece. Three of the venues, including the Panathinaiko Stadium, trace their origins back thousands of years.

Such history is easy to become blase about in a city where even the metro stations are scattered with displays of relics such as a 2500-year-old sewerage system.

But as Government archaeologist Vasso Daiaki leads the Weekend Herald on an exclusive tour of the latest finds dug up in central Athens, the sense of history and connection with long-disappeared generations is palpable.

The site, which was written about in ancient texts but had been lost to the modern world, is right next to the huge Temple of Zeus, the building of which began in the sixth century BC. Across the road is the very 20th-century Royal Olympic Hotel, where rooms have been booked out by a New Zealand travel company for Kiwi tourists going to the Games.

As Daiaki explains it, the site is important because it has revealed an Athens inhabited from pre-historic times to the Middle Ages. Temples and other places of worship have been lovingly and painstakingly dug, brushed and dusted clear.

"There was once a river over there, and you can imagine the trees and flowers and wonderful surroundings," says Daiaki.

Greeks are hugely proud of their 3000-year-old culture, of which the Olympics are an important part.

The Games were born in 776BC as part of a religious festival in honour of Zeus, and continued for more than 1000 years. While the ancient Games are revered and remembered as a spiritual zenith, they also included moments of athletic triumph, heroism and scandal to rival today's.

The greatest speedster of antiquity was Leonidas from Rhodes, who won his three events at four Olympics - a total of 12 victories. Milon, a wrestler from Croton, achieved his first victory as a teenager in 536BC and won at the next six Olympics, before being defeated on his seventh attempt.

The Greek Deputy Minister of Culture, Petros Tatoulis, is fanatical about his country's obligation to save its cultural heritage.

"Greece is full of archaeological monuments," he says. "But we don't believe that these monuments belong to us - they belong to the global community."

The country pours millions each year into unearthing ancient sites, saving them, as Tatoulis puts it, from nature and obscurity. One unexpected spin-off of the Olympic construction programme has been the discovery of artefacts at two-thirds of the building sites.

The Government believes the cultural and historical importance of Greece as the home of the Olympics will be an important part of these Games.

Tatoulis wants to use the event to re-emphasise the Olympic ideals and values and to thwart the scourges of the modern Games.

"We want these Games to be a new beginning. We would like to break through the past of doping and artificially creating super-athletes.

"That puts the lives of the people in danger and we can't accept that.

"Life itself is a victory. We want the athletes to really participate in the celebration of life."

The ancients were hardly clean on the scandal front. In AD 67, Emperor Nero become one of the greatest match-fixers in history by bribing officials and competitors on his way to "winning" six events.

Then there is the story of Callipateira, the only woman caught watching the men-only Games. Dressed as a male competitor, she snuck along to watch her son, but when he won, her celebrations drew attention to herself and her ruse was discovered. The incident caused Games organisers to decree that all gymnasts would compete in the nude in future, to avoid any repeats.

Tatoulis vows that Greece will not try to overawe or impress the athletes with special effects.

"The surroundings will do that."

The event that will most strongly bring home to athletes their connections with the ancients is the shotput. New Zealand medal hopeful Valerie Adams and the other shotputters will take a four-hour trip from Athens to compete at Olympia, the home of the ancient Games.

Of all the venues, it will most closely resemble the conditions and appearance of that historic competition. Although shotput was not contested back then (but discus was), the International Olympic Committee decided this year to hold the event at Olympia as a nod to the past.

But to preserve the site, certain rules will apply. The shotput qualifying rounds and final will be held on one day, August 18.

No temporary structures, including grandstands, are allowed. Neither are electronic boards or artificial lighting. Media and visitor access will be severely restricted.

But Finnish coach Mauri Auvinen, whose squad includes reigning men's champion Arsi Harju, says the competition will be great for the Olympics.

"The names of past athletic heroes will echo in the Olympia Stadium," he says on the IAAF website. "Any athlete would be proud and honoured to compete there."

They bred them tough back then. Ancient boxers were not organised into weight categories and there were no rounds - competitors fought until one dropped.

If the fight went too long, it was decided by the "wrestler's trick", the equivalent of a penalty shoot-out where the boxers took turns to punch their defenceless opponent in the face.

Wrestling was also notoriously tough. Leontiscus from Sicily developed what became known as the "Sicilian", breaking his opponent's fingers, a technique that helped him win in 456BC and 452BC.

* Anecdotes about the ancient Games were drawn from the book Olympic Games - 28 Centuries, produced by the Greek Government.