Olympia

Although my life consists mostly of playing basketball, reading/writing, and basically doing whatever I want, it still isn’t boring. There is constantly something going on to keep you alert, engaged, and on your toes. This weekend was no exception….


We had a big game on Sunday, against the first place team. Not a big fan of these girls and not a whole lot of love lost between us considering we won the championship on their home court last April. So Sunday we play them for the second time this year. We get down by about 20 in the first quarter but finally get our heads out of our you know whats and start playing. By half time we are down 10 and the third quarter had us hitting a barrage of threes to come within five despite the fact that the refs cheat. No joke I have heard this team pays refs, don’t know it is true or not. Anyway there is a loose ball that Erin and I both dive on with two girls from the other team. It was a wrestling match basically in which every time the ball was controlled it popped out and we had to dive on it again. Let me just say that Greek girls play dirty so they are flailing around while we are trying to secure the ball. Finally it’s a jump ball and I get up. But the girl that has been guarding me all game gets up and starts coming at me cause she’s mad about the contact. So I push her in her face to get her away and everyone pulls us apart. The thing is this girl I don’t really have a problem with but she was coming up on me like she wanted to fight and pretty sure I am gonna be the one to hit first. But it wasn’t a big deal, this kind of stuff happens constantly. So we go about playing.

In the beginning of the fourth quarter, us down by five I go up for a defensive rebound. The girl I am guarding pulls me from the ball and has my arms as I turn around. I push her skinny butt off me and she flails across the floor dramatically. To make a long story short, they ejected me for pushing the biotch off. Needless to say everyone on the bench and our fans go berserk. I am utterly confused as to what the call is and what is going on. I still don’t really know except I was on the bench with 8 minutes to go, us down by five, and I couldn’t go back in. I’m just a little freaking pissed off. We lost by about 10 and there was lots of profanities used at half court after the game with referees, players, and management. Then the police escorts came. Such bullshit…. Bunch of cheating biotches.

So after a fun filled afternoon of Greek basketball, Dad and I got in the car and headed west to the Pellopponese. We went over the Corinth Canal, where St. Paul preached , up along the coast of the Ionian sea, and down to Ancient Olympia, where the ruins still remain of the original Olympic games.

Of all the cool, interesting things I have seen in Greece, this tops the list. The town itself was mostly deserted due to the season, but it was terribly quaint and nestled in the mountains well away from any cities. Cafes and souvenir shops lined the streets right up till the entrance to the archeological site and the museums.

The history was amazing. The Olympic games were first began in the 10th century B.C. as a tribute to the God Zeus and continued more or less until the 5th century A.D. when the emperor Theodosius II order all pagan sanctuaries destroyed. It reached its height in the 4th century B.C. and began its demise during the Roman period in the 2nd century B.C. It was a peaceful gathering of Greeks during the midsummer of every fourth year, sometimes the only interruption of war and disagreements. The truce between city states was an important aspect of the Olympics, it was a time when enemies dropped their weapons and stood together in the stadium to cheer for their favorite athlete.

The Olympics were about more than athletics, they were about bringing people together and honoring the Gods. They really emphasized the body and soul connection and saw athletics as a spiritual elevation. And people came from all over Greece, dignitaries and artists to talk politics and watch famous philosophers and orators. It is believed that Aristotle and Socrates attended the games.

The games were only open to free Greek men, until the Roman rule, and women could not compete or watch. If a woman was to be found in the stadium, they were to be thrown from a nearby rock. Instead, the women had their own competitions where they would wear a tunic, but exposing their right breast and shoulder. It was called the Heraia games to honor the Goddess Hera.

It was fascinating reading all the history of the games and then walking through the ruins where it all took place. We walked into the site and found first the training facilities where athletes came one month before competition to train and be evaluated. There was a huge field surrounded by columns where they trained for running and discus and another for wrestling. Behind those were the baths next to the river where athletes scrubbed their bodies with sand and oil. Unlike many historical site these aren’t ropped off. So you can walked among the remains of houses where the priests stayed and run on the grass where the athletes trained. You can walk between the columns where Aristotle might have walked and look out on the field like the ancient coaches once did.

It was a beautiful day in the morning. The sun was shining and the ground was soft from the rains the night before. There were trees everywhere, more types than I could count, and grass, weeds, and purple wildflowers sprouted up between the stone, placed there nearly 3000 years ago. Moss now covered the rocks but patterns and designs were still visible. The buildings were now rocks in most places, destroyed by time, the Romans, and various earthquakes, but the outline of the sanctuary was still very much there and the spirit of the history was no doubt present. The ancient site was huge. Complete with the training facilities, housing, and temples of the time. And, of course the stadium where it all happened.

The temple of Zeus was the main area of the sanctuary, once standing 60 ft. high. In it contained a 40 ft. ivory and gold statue of Zeus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was destroyed in a fire in Constantinople. The temple was mostly on the ground from the earthquake and looked like a giant’s house. The columns were about the diameter of a king size bed. I have no clue how they could have possibly made and moved these things. The statue of Athena Nike once stood outside.

Everywhere we walked, every step we took, felt like journey back in time. I have seen a lot of really old stuff, been to countless museums but never have I really felt so completely overwhelmed and immersed in the ineffable passage of time. It was almost all there, only remnants remained, but the sanctuary where the Olympic games were held was under my feet and all around me. It was completely awesome.

From there we went to the actual stadium. This is it! I thought. You walk through the tunnel and it opens up into a huge stadium where 45,000 Greeks stood screaming. I ran the length of the race, happy to have won the Olympics, the highest honor bestowed upon a mortal. Of course, as a woman I wouldn’t have been able to be in the sanctuary, much less compete, but that’s irrelevant.

I stood in the stadium, basically a dirt field surrounded by hillsides of grass for spectators and just took it all in. This is where is all began. Humans have probably found ways to compete since the beginning of time and there are records of the Egyptians competing. But the Greeks invented sports as we know it and it was all right in front of me. 3000 years ago some young man dedicated his life to training and worked for the honor that would be bestowed upon him in victory. I know what that is like. He probably walked down the streets in front of the temples sick to his stomach with nerves just like I did at the track in West Seattle as a little girl. And if he won he shouted in joy, hugged his coach, and felt like the world was in the palm of his hands. It’s the same for me as it was for him. So I ran down that field and threw my hands up at the finish line and celebrated. I let the rain fall on my face and tried to imagine the roaring crowd just like I was used to hearing in the gym. Only the date has changed, the essence of athletics is still the same.

The Parthenon is cool but I’m not a politician, the ancient ruins of civilizations are cool but I’m not a Greek. But I am an athlete and I touched the ground, ran in the stadium and saw the goddess of Victory where 3000 years ago, the first real athletes came together for the honor of competition. Completely unbelievable….