My Big Fat Greek Olympics.

[burnsbyrne]

I don't know why all the crying by the Athens Olympic committee that there are no spectators in the stands. I just finished watching women's beach volleyball on the CBC and the stands were jammed pack.

There were some nice shots....ahem by the CBC of the participants but they weren't wearing pants, jsut some skimpy two piece outfit that seem to take away from the game.

MarkB

My wife and I decided that the men's beach volleyball competitors should wear tiny speedos and no shirts. What's good for the goose...
Mike

[MarkB]

Burnsbyrne wrote

My wife and I decided that the men's beach volleyball competitors should wear tiny speedos and no shirts. What's good for the goose.

Indeed! There was quite a ruckus in the pub last night, over what the ladies were calling sexest and thought that men should play volleyball in thongs! And they didn't like some of the camera shots and angles!

The guys just sat there with their mouths open, even while playing in the session!

MarkB

[Lorenzo]

The men and women's shot-put event will be held at the orginal site of the Olympics. Just being in the staduim is probably enough to raise the hair on the back of your neck. But, to think of the way the original competitors dressed! Originally, all players competed in the nude. I wonder if that was to insure there'd be no cheating. Nah, I'm sure it was done with a festive atmosphere, kinda like Beach Volleyball. Too bad they didn't let women compete back in the good old days.

[Steven]

One good thing about NBC having so many stations to show the games on is that they don't just show 40 seconds of each sport before moving on, which has been a problem with past Olympic coverage. The problem is that some sports are ONLY shown on the cable stations, like CNBC and MSNBC, and I don't have cable! I guess I'll have to find someone willing to let me program their VCR if I'm going to see any of the Tae Kwon Do....

[vomitbunny]

I heard on the radio that originally cheating by "magic" was considered a serious offense, so yes, copeting naked might have had something to do with that. People caught cheating by potions, charms and incantations were fined and ordered to errect a statue of Zeus. At the foot of the statue or tribute there was a warning to copete fairly.

[IvanP]

The naked thing was an emulation of divine beauty (which is why there are so many Greek nude statues). All trainers had to enter the stadium nude too, after an amusing incident in whic an athlete's mother pretended to be his coach. When her son won, she jumped into the air, losing her tunic...
All Hail PBS!

[MarkB]

A little art history here. Most of the Greek statues that everyone admires were polychrome or painted in a real life likeness. It had to be a very senuous society.

MarkB

[TomB]

Last night I heard that those caught cheating "back in the day" were required to pay for a "statue" or "monument" with their family named carved into it. These were then placed near the entrance to the site, so that everyone entering could view the family's shame.

All the Best,

Tom

[Lorenzo]

hmmmm....all kinds of interesting reading on this search page. After you get past all the links to modern Olympic Athletes who have posed nude (it must run in the competitive family), and links to having sex--before and during competition--there is some actual history provided:

ATHLETES: Not just any man could be a participant. One had to have been a male "free born Greek without taint or suspicion of sacrilege (desecration, theft or misuse of something sacred) against the gods." They performed religious duties in their home towns. Women were never allowed at the Olympic games because the participants were primarily adult men, or at times younger men (boys). There were, however, separate games held in honor of the goddesses such as Hera. The competitors had to swear that they trained for a period of ten months before they came to Olympia. Once they arrived, they had to endure another strenuous training for thirty days with all of the other athletes who were going to compete. During the thirty days, each athlete was fed only fresh cheese and water at each meal and they were to follow strict rules under the scrutiny of the instructors.

For an athlete to be able to afford to not work for the ten months that he trained, either the athlete or his family had to possess a large amount of money. The family also had to pay for the man to have a trainer, the journey to Olympia, the equipment that they had to use, and a feast if that athlete won. The feast was in honor of Zeus for having looked upon the athlete, his family and town with great favor. A feast like this had everyone in attendance who was at the games.

CLOTHING: As can be seen in Greek art, athletes are depicted as being entirely nude during athletic competitions. One might wonder "why would men compete in the complete nude during major athletic competitions such as the discus throw?" It sounds somewhat bizarre coming from our standpoint, but for the Greeks it became a way of life.

To begin with, that is not how the games originated. During the first 14 Olympic games the athletes actually wore shorts or loin cloths called zomas. The transition from wearing shorts to nothing is attributed to a number of theories. One theory suggests that during the fifteenth Olympiad in 720 B.C. a runner named Acanthus (who was a Spartan) just decided to show up without his loin cloth because he felt it hindered his running capabilities in some way.

Another theory is that while running a race in Athens, a participant lost his loincloth during the race but went on to win!

Yet another version is that another unlucky runner lost his shorts while running in the Panathenaic Games and tripped over them. Not only did he trip, but also died!

[Martin Milner]

I don't like raining on the parade, but did anyone else watch the opening ceremony and wonder if the money would have been better spent on famine relief or cancer research?

[IvanP]

That's showbiz.

[susnfx]

I don't like raining on the parade, but did anyone else watch the opening ceremony and wonder if the money would have been better spent on famine relief or cancer research?

*sigh* Yes...but I wonder that about a lot of things, like sports stars' salaries, multimillion dollar homes, etc., etc...

I heard on the radio today that the percentage of people watching the Olympics on tv during prime time in the U.S. averages 25% - except in Utah where it averages 44%. I have no idea why. Any notions?

Susan

[avanutria]

I'd guess it is because people are more interested on a personal level, having recently hosted the Games here in Salt Lake.

[Zubivka]

I don't like raining on the parade, but did anyone else watch the opening ceremony and wonder if the money would have been better spent on famine relief or cancer research?

Now really!
When, for the same money, you can:
- keep Tommies one more day in Iraq
- send up half a communication satellite just for more cell phones
- fund the pharmaceutical industry so it develops more GMO and cloning
- buy this whole extended community a full set of high-end whistles
- get Kerry the real budget needed to be elected
- print for each Greek a new free passport without religion mention
- make ISDN free to all Chiffers so we keep on rebuilding the world, but faster
- fill the TV with more, enlightening, reality shows and violent cartoons, instead of these stoopid adults wearing short pants and playing ball
- celebrate a Royal wedding (or Jubilee)

Feast for feast, TV-show for TV-show, unnecessary thing for another, some choose sports.
Maybe because it's not one OR the other. Just ask Kenyan, Ethiopian athletes, or those who survived a cancer.

Now, you say "just downplay the ceremony?". Right.
Did it occur to you that forbidding wedding dresses (and tall hats) would save even more money for famine relief , cancer research, etc. ?

PS: I wonder what costed more: the opening ceremony in Athens, or the recent thing in Lourdes...

[Jerry Freeman]

Favorite Olympics comment heard on the radio ...

Announcer: "Do the bikinis have anything to do with your interest in watching the beach volleyball competitions?"

Male sports expert: "No. I would be just as interested if they didn't wear the bikinis."

Best wishes,
Jerry