Olympic Games, Olympians, and Your Family’s Sports Traditions

Whether you’re in the stands, on the field preparing to compete, or watching on television, it’s hard not to be drawn into the vibrant energy of sports. For some, sports are a family tradition, bringing everyone together as they cheer for the same team or train together. For others, it’s a passion or even a dream to join the ranks of elite athletes.

This fervor for sporting events has existed for at least several thousand years, with the best-known example being the legendary ancient Greek games. Though the modern-day Olympics look vastly different than they did in centuries past, the competitions still motivate athletes today. In fact, the athletes in your family tree may have been inspired by the Olympic Games when they were younger. 

The Original Olympics

Around 3,000 years ago, the Greeks began to hold sporting contests every four years in Olympia, Greece, as part of a religious festival that honored Zeus. Eligible men from across the Greek city-states—including the Black Sea area (now Turkey) and Iberia (now Spain)—were allowed to participate. Farmhands could compete alongside royalty. These early games included sports like:

• Foot races
• Boxing matches
• Hand-to-hand combat
• Chariot racing
• Wrestling

Women weren’t allowed to compete or even attend the ancient games, but a loophole in the chariot-racing event allowed one woman to become an Olympic champion twice. Because anyone could own a chariot, and it was the owner and not the rider who was declared the winner, the Spartan princess known as Cynisca officially won in 396 and 392 BCE.

As Christianity emerged over time, the acceptance of these games—as part of a religious festival—began to change. In 393 CE, the Greek king Theodosius I prohibited the celebrations of pagan cults and also forbade the Olympics by extension.  

The Olympic Games, Revived

After a 1,500-year gap, the Olympics returned in 1896 as a sporting event. Driven in part by the efforts of a Frenchman named Baron Pierre de Coubertin, delegates from more than 30 countries found the idea of a global athletic competition compelling, and they reestablished the Games in Athens in 1896. Since 1896, the Games have taken place every four years, with exceptions during World War I, World War II, and the COVID-19 pandemic. While the 2020 Games weren’t canceled, they were bumped to 2021 and took place without spectators because of the pandemic.