The history of Ancient Olympics

As in the daytime there is no star in the sky warmer and brighter than the sun, likewise there is no competition greater than the Olympic Games.
Nobody knows exactly that how far back the Olympic Games go, while the history of the ancient Olympic Games can be traced back over 3,000 years to ancient Greece.
In ancient Greece, sports played a very important role in people’s life. The ancient Olympic Games have a history of over 3,000 years, and colorful religious meanings.
In ancient Greece, contests of athletic were regarded as a way to show the respects to their gods, especially Zeus.
As Greece became a more important country, the cities started holding a large festival as asign of unity. Finally they chose a place called olympia to hold the festival, partly because of its religious temples. Olympia was the site of the first recorded ancient olimpics, and was worshiped with the phrase"a healthy mind in a healthy body".
In 884 BC, the king of Elis reached a treaty with the kings of several other city states to hold regular athletic contests and to fulfill the “sacred truce”. That meant that there were no wars in the Greek world for as long as the games were on. Athletes and spectators can travel safely to and from the Games.
The first recorded ancient Olympics were held in Olympia in 776 BC, and had only one event, a race of about two hundred yards. A cook named Coroebus won the sprint race, a race of about 210 yards, and he became the first listed champion of the ancient Olympic Games.
Early Olympics each lasted between one and three days, but from about 400 BC, the festival was a full five days as more and more events were added into the Games.
Many of events held in ancient Olympic Games are still held today, such as running races, javelin, discus throws, wrestling and boxing, and some other events no longer exist now, including chariot racing and contests only for boys.
There are many differences between ancient Olympic Games and modern Games. Fewer events were held in ancient Olympic Games, and only free men who spoke Greek could compete, instead of athletes from any country. Slaves, women and dishonored persons were not allowed to compete.
Thousands of people gathered from all parts of Greece to watch the ancient Olympic Games, but no married woman was admitted even as a spectator. The ancient Olympic Games were always held at Olympia instead of moving around to different sites every time like modern Olympic Games.
Like the modern Olympic Games, winning athletes of ancient Olympic Games were heros who put their home towns on the map, but there were no medals, cash prizes or prizes in goods for the winners, they would only get a simple wreath of wild olive.
During 1,000 years after the first "official" ancient Olympic Games in 776 BC, Greece came under Roman rule. Eventually, in 394 AD, A Roman emperor Theodosius II halted the Olympic Games for some warring areas no longer observed a truce.
About a century after 394 AD, earthquakes turned Olympia, the historic area, into ruins. The ancient Olympic Games have to be ceased after a long history about 1,200 years.