...The stench was awful. Add on the fact that all the athletes ran naked, and you get a pretty barbaric picture. Okay, so that doesn't happen now. But, cheating, scandal, gambling and oversized egos are quite common. They had some of the same problems that exist today. The ancient games only lasted 5 days. Wars would be put on hold to watch the showing of sport, which was considered a tribute to the gods. Statues of victorious champions would be erected in their hometowns to tell all who saw it that an Olympic champion was born here. Similar tributes happen today. However, also like today, there were examples of cheating. The first recorded actual incident of cheating was in 388 B.C., when Eupolos, a native boxer of Thessaly, bribed three opponents to lose. Before the event, athletes would consult oracles, highly respected fortunetellers and magicians, and drink potions, equal to steroids today. However, like modern Olympic Games, there were examples of cheating. Athletes were bribed to switch their allegiance from one city-state to another, often resulting in exile from their homeland. The city-state of Syracuse did this so often in search of a great champion to claim, they stopped sending actual Olympians to Athens. There is one case of bribing in which Syracuse bribed the sprint champion Astylos to denounce his birthplace being Kroton, a place in southern Italy. ...
