"Citius, Altius, Fortius"

.....I've been watching the Olympic Games being held for the third time in London.  I don't recall seeing them on TV the first time--probably because I was too young and there was no TV.  I can imagine the pressure on the athletes and the terrible feeling of loss if they do not win the medal they were looking forward to.  I've felt that pressure and I know the feeling of not only winning, but also of losing.  I know it from high school athletics and from coaching track and field and soccer for 30 years. However, the Olympic Games are far and away the most anticipated event for every athlete in every sport, and tears come with loss and even with winning.  The emotions are sorely tested, more so than many another event in one's lifetime.  

.....The Olympic Games in ancient times were part of a religious festival honoring Zeus, the father of gods. They were first held in Olympia, a rural site in western Greece, probably in 776 bC.  As an athlete one time, long ago, myself, I naturally became interested in anything Greek. I feel like an Olympian every time I walk into a Greek restaurant.  I love everything Greek, not only the Olympiad, but also Homer, Plato, Sophocles, Souvlaki & Pastitsio (baked pasta with meat), and Greek salads and soup.  

.....The Games were held every four years in Olympia for about twelve centuries.  Not only were they a religious institution but also the athletes were preparing for wars (which were held about once a year).  Many of the original events were brutal, and many a contestant was killed.  It is generally thought that nudity was a requirement in the beginning, and in wrestling, blows to the genitals were not banned in the rules--kind of like blows to the head in football now are not permitted. In the beginning, a foot race was the only event, but in the following centuries three foot races were added along with the pentathlon, discus javelin, and long jump.

.....The modern Olympics were staged in Athens in 1896, and here we are now  in London.  Almost every nation's Olympic team marched into the Olympic Stadium happy to be there, and smiling, with the British apparently cheering for them all.  But in every case, it seemed, the news back home was bad--civil wars, revolutions, the Arab Spring, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, economic depressions, penury, starvation, and whatever else un-Olympian occurs on this planet.  Nevertheless, perhaps one day we will all be "Citius, Altius, Fortius"--Swifter, Higher, Stronger.