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Olympia and the Games
In ancient Greek times each city held its own Games. In these Games the city’s athletes would compete for prizes. But there was nowhere for the athletes from one city to compete against athletes from other cities.
Olympia was a sanctuary for the
god Zeus. It was in the countryside away from the main cities. The first time Games were held at Olympia was in
776 bc. At this time all the cities agreed to allow the athletes safe passage across the countryside so they
could get to Olympia.
The temple of Zeus is in the centre of the picture 1 . Behind it is the race track (stadion) 2 . In front of it is the gymnasium 3 , which has a building on either side where the competitors stayed during the Games.
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The Games were held inside the sanctuary. A special race track was built, called a stadion.
3
In the earliest Games there was just a single day of races, but over the years more sports were added, such as wrestling and chariot racing, and so the Games lasted for several days.
The winner of each game was given a crown of olive leaves.