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Yes, athletes in the ancient Olympics (who were all MEN, by the way) did compete in their birthday suit. It wasn't always this way, but it seems that in 720 BC, a runner named Orsipus of Megara was the first to run NAKED. One source says that he did this because he thought it gave him an edge. Another source says that he lost because his shorts fell down. Yet another says that he was killed when he tripped on his shorts. After this everyone competed NAKED, for safety's sake.
Well, there's NAKED, and then there's slightly less naked. Some young men did wear a thin leather thong, called a kynodesme, that they tied around the foreskin of their penis and to a waist belt or the base of the penis. If you search for pictures of ancient Olympians you can often see a depiction of this device on the athletes in question.
Incidentally, since all of the (men) athletes were NAKED, married women were banned from watching the games, on penalty of death. Unmarried women, though, were encouraged to attend.
The End!
Greeks admired the body's form, specifically and especially the male body. Its strength, its fluidity of movement, the tasks it could achieve and how it worked to affect results, were studied and appreciated by some of the top philosophers in the world. It doesn't hurt an athlete's ego to have so much attention either, and none had a problem showing off their assets.
The Olympics were the pinnacle of physical humanity at the time, competing in a (supposedly) divine competition; naturally, the events were performed naked, in the truest and purest form possible, to fully showcase a person's talent.
Ancient Greek male athletes competed in the nude. The term gymnós, which is where the word gymnasium comes from, means "naked".
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How were the Greek Olympics different from the modern day Olympics?
we did not compete naked but they did and we did not have to stop wars to be in them and women were not aloud to be in the greek Olympics or even see them
How come girls couldn't compete in the ancient Olympics?
cause boys competed naked galfriends!
What is the only way a woman can compete in the ancient Olympics?
Masquerading as a man, which would be difficult an athletes competed naked.
Who competed in the Ancient Olympics and what did the athletes wear while competing?
Only men were allowed to compete in the Ancient Olympics and they didn't wear anything while competing, they went naked.
When were wemon allowed to compete in the Olympics?
no women were not aloud to compete in the Olympics.
Why weren't women allowed to compete in the ancient olympics?
because men were naked and the men were naked so they could see if it was a man or a women. if they were a women then they had to go to the top of a cliff and get pushed off
If you compete in the winter Olympics can you compete in the next summer Olympics?
Yes, you can compete in consecutive Olympic games.
What are the same about the ancient and modern Olympics?
Women are now allowed to compete and there is a Marathon and there is winter Olympics and many more sports and no going naked. Ancient Olympic and Modern Olympic has a lots of events.
When did Jesse Owens compete in Olympics?
jesse owen compete in the olympics in 1936 23rd of april
Do you have to be an amateur to compete in the Olympics?
One does not have to be an amateur in order to compete in the Olympics. You just have to try out for the team.
When did Britain compete in the Olympics?
They compete when the olympic are held. They are one of hte few countries at all the Olympics.
What are the theater Olympics?
its when you compete in the olympics and do theter i think
