Ancient Olympics Race Track
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The ancient Olympics were unlike modern Olympics. Not many countries and not everyone were allowed to participate in the ancient Olympics. Only free men, who could speak Greek and who were from the ancient Greek empire, were eligible to participate in the Olympics.
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Also, the ancient Olympics did not have many events, and it lasted only for a day, unlike modern Olympics. Originally, in the ancient Olympics there was only one event called the stadion race, this was a short sprint of around 180 to 240 meters. Later on, a two stade race was added to the events where the participants had to complete one lap of the stadium which would be around 400 meters. The ancient Olympics also started having one long distance race where the runners would be required to run around 7 to 24 stades, i.e., approximately 1350 m to 4600 m.
One of the other races which is not a part of the modern Olympics was a stade race with athletes in armors. The athletes were supposed to carry a shield and had to be equipped with a helmet. A standard armor which these athletes had to wear weighed around 50-60 lb. They had to run 2-4 stades with this. It was very difficult for the athletes to avoid falling or dropping their shields and this race was mainly useful in building speed and stamina which the Greek men needed for starting off their military service.
In the years that followed, many more events were added such as boxing, long jump, wrestling, javelin throw, shot put, and equestrian.
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