Who is a famous Greek athlete?

Answer 1

Alexander the I of the Greek kingdom of Macedonia.

Bonus:

A tale o 'dirty tricks' being used in the Olympics

(Herodotus 5.22)

"or when Alexander chose to contend and entered the lists for that purpose, the Greeks who were to run against him wanted to bar him from the race, saying that the contest should be for Greeks and not for foreigners. Alexander, however, proving himself to be an Argive, was judged to be a Greek. He accordingly competed in the furlong race and tied step for first place".

Clarification:

The Hellanodikai (Judges of the Greeks) had unlimited responsibilities that could be separated into two parts, administrative and judicial. As an Administrative tool, Hellanodikai had also, first of all, the responsibility of applying the rules in reference to the athletes, among them to check if an athlete met all the necessary participation requirements like Alexander's Philhellene case.

"Distinctively dressed in purple robes and allowed the privilege of elevated seating (while others sat on the ground or stood), the Hellanodikai admitted or excluded competitors, assigned them to Age-classes,…"

[Sport in the Ancient World from A to Z] by Mark Golden

"the people who shared in the Greek ethnic identity were the people who perceived themselves to be Greeks, and whose self-perception was shared by those who had the dominant role in 'controlling" the boundaries of Greekness, such as, in the fifth century, the Hellanodikai who controlled participation in the Olympic games"

[Herodotus and his world, Essays from a conference in memory of George Forrest] By Robert Parker, Peter Derow Knowing by now exactly their responsibilities we will try and analyze the above quote of Herodotus.

So why didn't the Hellanodikae, the ones having the dominant role in 'controlling" the boundaries of Greekness of an athlete, excluded Alexander in the first place?? It is indicative that initially ONLY the other athletes protested and NOT Hellanodikae. In reality, Hellanodikae - whose judgement was considered sacred - were the ones that should forbid in the first place, the participation of Alexander I if they thought he was a not a Greek.

Evidently, that was *not* the case!!! After the incident, Hellanodikae had to simply 'investigate' the claim of the other athletes - as is the case of modern athletics with judges

Alexander proved to them he was a Greek and he was accepted by them as a bona fide competitor. So, the head of the games concluded that the lineage presented was reasonable and consistent with their Peloponnesian accounts.

• It is also indicative the moment Alexander I, announced his Temenid origin to all bystanders. Among the bystanders were certainly Argives and other Peloponessians. On the sound of the names "Temenos" and "Hercules" used by Alexander to trace his descent, they would strongly protest if it was not true. No one did, but contrary we find evidence of the same Alexander taking part in the Argive Heraea together with other Argives. Hence those Argives and Peloponessians were aware of a number of Temenids having indeed migrated to Macedonia and the Argive origin of Macedonian kings is beyond any doubt.

To quote John Whitehorne: "In the race itself, Alexander came in equal first (Herodotus 5.22) making the entire issue even more suspect to the ground that the original protest by his rivals may well have a claim to be regarded as one of the earliest recorded examples of those "dirty tricks" which so beset modern sport."

Did Athletes in ancient Olympics employ "dirty tricks" in order to exclude an athlete's participation in Olympic games??

Answer: Yes! There are a few examples. In one of these, Themistocles urges the exclusion of the tyrant Hieron of Syracuse in the Olympic games, accusing him that he neglected to help militarily against Persians. (Lysias also urged the exclusion of Dionysious a century later). No one can ignore the fact Hieron had the best horses at that time in the Greek world and his chariots were the absolute favourite to win again in those Olympic games as they did 4 years earlier.

Later Philip II of Macedonia (Father of Alexander the great) also competed in the chariot race.

The first woman to win the ancient Olympics was Cynisca /sᵻˈnɪskə/ or Kyneska (Greek: Κυνίσκα; born c. 440 BC). Cynisca was a Greek princess of Sparta. She became the first woman in history to win at the ancient Olympic Games.