What events were in the Ancient Greek olympics?

Question

What events were in the Ancient Greek olympics?

Answer 1

Ancient Olympics: Main Sports

Boxing

Discus (part of Pentathlon)

Equestrian Events

Javelin (part of Pentathlon)

Jumping

Pankration

Pentathlon

Running

Wrestling

According to "The Athletic Events of the Ancient Olympic Games,"(1) the stade, a 200-yard foot race, was the first and only Olympic event for 13 Games. The diaulos, a 400-yard foot race, was instituted for the next (the 14th) set of Olympic Games and the dolichos, a variable-length foot-race, averaging 20 stades, was instituted in the 15th Olympiad.

The information you are looking for is here:

http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/olymp...

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/sp...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ancientgree...

Answer 2

Originally the games were just a series of foot races with the stadion race which ran the length of the Stadion (a sprint of about 180 meters) the most important.  The winner of the Stadion was the champion of the games.

The other races added to the games were the diaulos, which was a lap around the Stadion (about 400 meters); the dolichos, which was a distance race of about 5 km; and the hoplitodromos, which was run like the diaulos but in full battle armor rather than naked.

Later events added included boxing, wrestling, pankration (similar to today's mixed martial arts), and chariot racing, although these were all more prominent at the other panhellenic games: the Isthmian, Pythian, and Nemean games.  Later a pentathlon was added to the Olympic games consisting of wrestling, stadion, long jump, javelin throw and discus throw (the latter three of which were not individual events).