With the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics fast approaching, many people are looking forward to seeing some good athletic competition. In the modern olympics, we have everything from shooting to judo to rhythmic gymnastics (with ribbons). However, in ancient Greece, the olympics had far fewer events. The olympic events in ancient Greece were:

Running: There were three different running events in the ancient olympic games. The shortest was the stade race. This race was run for 200m from one end of the olympic arena to the other. The second running event was the diaulos race. This was double the stade race, which made it 400m long. The longest running event was the dolichos. This olympic race could be anywhere from 7-24 stades long. It was obviously the biggest test of endurance.

Jumping: The ancient jumping events were different from those that will be staged in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In ancient olympics, athletes held onto weights until the end of their jump, then threw them backwards. This helped them jump farther distances. In the modern olympic jumping events, their are no weights.

Discus: The ancient discus throw is almost exactly the same as the modern discus throw, in which athletes spin around before hurling the discus as far as possible.

Wrestling: In ancient times, wrestling matches ended only after one contestant gave up or was killed. This is very different from the modern event in which there are many rules for scoring.

Boxing: Nowadays, boxers wear padded gloves to protect from serious injury. In the ancient games, boxers just wrapped hard leather strips around their hands. However, this wasn't to soften the blow, the strips were meant to strengthen the fingers and wrists.

Pankration: The last fighting sport in the ancient olympics was Pankration. Pankration is a cross between boxing and wrestling, much like some of the mixed martial arts of today. Pankration was believed by the Greeks to have been created by Theseus when he fought a Minotaur.

Equestrian Competitions: In ancient Greece, horse races and chariot races took place in a wide, flat arena.

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