Limelight: Return to Olympus By Lubna Abdel-Aziz It was a spectacular homecoming extravaganza. Despite all odds and obstacles, amidst much pomp and circumstance, in a sea aglow with light, displaying 3,000 years of civilisation, the five Olympic rings were set ablaze -- the torch was lit -- and the 28th Olympic Games commenced. And the gods on top of Mount Olympus smiled approvingly, pleased to welcome back to their land the precious ideals of their divine culture. In a quiet valley in Western Greece, 18 kilometres from Pirgos, lay the sleepy town of Olympia, which rose to become the centre of religious, political and athletic activities in all of Greece. It was there that the first known Olympic contest was recorded, the foot race, held in honour of Zeus the king of gods in 776 BC. Religious festivals of ancient Hellas however, dated as far back as 1400 BC. Ancient Hellenic cities and tribes were always at war with each other, but the wars were suspended every four years during the period of the Games. Four national festivals developed, the Isthmian, Nimian, Olympic and Pythian games, but Olympia ranked the highest, quickly becoming a cult region, a sanctuary for religious, political and athletic events. All the buildings were either for worship or for athletics. Ten months before the Games, athletes, all males, came to Olympia to train, after a rigorous exam by a 10-member panel which assessed their parentage, character and physical prowess. As the Games approached, around the first full moon of the summer solstice, about the first of July, thousands of pilgrims, spectators, and visitors descended upon the tiny village, transforming it into a thriving metropolis. The winner was offered an olive branch cut from a wild olive tree by a knife of gold, or crowned by an olive wreath. The Greeks were not the first to cherish the spirits of sports and competition. Relief on the walls of tombs and temples of both Egypt and Mesopotamia include wrestling, boxing, archery, etc, dating as far back as 3000 BC. Other ancient civilisations such as Mycenaean and Minoan also enjoyed sports, but it was Greece that refined and polished the art of competitive sports. For 1,000 years Olympia was the site of the best that Greek culture had to offer. With the Roman invasion the Games experienced decline and degradation. Slaves and wild animals replaced the great athletes of Greece. By 394 AD Christianity had spread and the Games were abolished by Emperor Theodosius. No Olympic Games were held for 1,500 years. In 1875 a German expedition discovered the ruins of the ancient city of Olympia which had been destroyed by an earthquake in 500 AD and was buried under six metres of sand. No strangers had ever been allowed at the site, and news of its discovery was sensational. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a French educator, conceived the idea of reviving the Games to promote peace amongst the world's youth. He assembled 79 delegates from 12 countries and despite strong opposition, they voted to re-established the Olympic Games. They formed the International Olympic Committee, and two years later the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, their original birthplace, in 1896. For centuries people around the world have been touched by Greek culture, but there is not one corner of the globe that was not inspired by the high spirit and principles of the Olympic Games. Trumpets played, canons boomed, de Coubertin opened the first modern Games with 285 male only athletes, representing 13 nations. Their old motto was adopted -- swifter, higher, stronger. De Coubertin tried to preserve all the noble traditions of the ancients. He drew the line however, at nudity. Four years later the ladies were invited to participate in Paris in 1900. Since then the Games have grown to become the festival of all festivals, attracting more media, more coverage, more interest than any other international event in history. It offers the spectacle, the variety, the colour, the excitement and the drama. In drama, it has no equal. Years of hard work, intense training, mental preparation and total dedication come down to a peak, at exactly one moment in time and performance. The result is not only magical, it is divine. This year Athens presented a spectacular parade of 10,000 male and female athletes representing 202 nations marching together in a flourish of light, a parade of the world's finest gathered in peace and unity. Where else would we find Afghanis, Iraqis, and Palestinians, their countries badly damaged by wars and political strife, walk head high, shoulder to shoulder and compete honourably on an equal keel with the rest of the best of the world. And the gods looked down on the city of Athens, and they smiled. During the last century the Games have created an unforgettable gallery of heroes and heroines that have left their perfect images imprinted in our memories. In 1936 the black American athlete Jesse Owens won four gold medals in Berlin spoiling Hitler's party by destroying his theory of Aryan supremacy. Who can forget the noble barefoot Ethiopian Abebe Bekela as he ran along the Appian way in Rome in the dark of evening to become the first African gold medalist in Olympic history! How about the incredible swimmer, handsome American Mark Spitz who at 17 in Mexico in 1968 won two gold medals, a silver and a bronze, and was so unhappy he came back four years later and won seven more gold medals and set world records at every event. The Winter Games now held two years after the Summer Games, gave us the "avalanche" named Killy, French skiing legend Jean Claude Killy who won more warm hearts for the Winter Games in 1968, and "Secretariat on Skates", the nickname given to American Eric Heiden who won a record of five gold medals for Winter Games in 1980, a feat impossible to repeat. Some athlete stars went on to become real stars like Norwegian Sonja Henie, four times gold medalist who skated all the way to Hollywood stardom. Other stars were part of Olympic history representing their countries like Johnny Weismuller, the most beloved Tarzan, and Esther Williams, the world's favourite Bathing Beauty and Cassuis Clay, better known as Mohamed Ali. No one ever cut as lasting an impression as did the tiny 14-year-old Romanian who achieved what no other gymnast had in the history of the Games. No male or female had ever received a perfect score in any Olympic gymnastics event until Nadia Comaneci in Montreal in 1976. My daughters and I were among the lucky spectators to witness history in the making. She not only received the first perfect score, she did it seven times during the Games. Meanwhile we salute the citizens of Athens who despite all the delays and disputes, all the scepticism and criticism, dazzled the world with the great feast they prepared for the best young men and women the world has to offer, who will uphold the highest principles of virtue man has ever known. Thousands of years ago the Greeks established the traditions of democracy, justice, and individual freedom. While victory is the goal, achieving it honourably is the method. Some cynics may feel the Olympics have become too politicised, may have lost their purpose, abandoned their principles. Bound up with hatred, jealousy, drugs and corruption, winning became its only aim. "In other words it is war without the shooting" wrote George Orwell. It becomes easy to forget that: "It is not how you win or lose but how you play the game." Fairness and honour rank above all else. The ideals of the Fathers of the ancient Games should be carried on to the Sons of the modern games... and the gods can continue to smile.
