Since then, a lot of myths have arisen about the ancient Olympics. The goofiest is that the athletes were amateurs, competing for nothing but an olive wreath. Baloney!
Sure, the winners were crowned with olive branches, but that's not all they got. They also got lots of money and vats of precious olive oil, and sometimes they got free food for life back in their home cities.
(Jason Reed -- Reuters)
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| _____ Countdown to Athens _____
• The Olympics are less than a week away and organizers are pulling the pieces together for the Aug. 13 opening.
_____ From The Post _____
• Dana Vollmer will be one of those tales of courage that come up during the Olympics.
• Michael Wilbon: In Athens, the new can't hold a torch to the ancient.
• Lauryn Williams is far more interested in chasing goals she can see rather than those she can imagine.
• Notebook: Jerome Young reportedly tested positive for the banned drug EPO at a meet last month.
_____ Live Online _____
• Tony Azevedo, the top scorer on the U.S. Men's Water Polo team, took questions July 28.
• Alexander Kitroeff discussed his book, "Wrestling with the Ancients: Modern Greek Identity and the Olympics," and the history of the Games on July 27.
_____ On Our Site _____
• Photos: Swimming trials.
• Photos: Track and field trials.
_____ Swimming's Wonder Boy _____
• Phelps's main training partners and buddies reflect on blown chances. (July 27)
• Coach Bob Bowman has been the guiding force for Phelps. (July 4)
• Gallery: Coach shows the way to Athens.
• Numerous endorsements already have made Phelps a millionaire. (June 1)
• Gallery: The road to the Games are paved with gold.
• Phelps expected to be the Games' most-decorated athlete. (April 18)
• Gallery: Phelps making a splash.
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"If you won at the Olympic Games," Perrottet says, "you never had to work again."
But the funniest myth is the one about the Olympic torch run. People ask me, Hey, old-timer, did you carry the Olympic torch back in the old days? That makes me laugh because the Greeks didn't invent the torch run. A German did. You may have heard of him. His name was Adolf Hitler.
Hitler had some weird ideas and one of them was that Olympia was some kind of ancient Aryan paradise. In the 1930s, he sent German archaeologists to Olympia to dig up the ancient stadium.
In 1936, when the Olympics were held in Berlin, Hitler and his personal filmmaker, Leni Riefenstahl, came up with the idea of the torch run. The torch -- made by Krupp, the German arms manufacturer -- was lit in a ceremony in the ancient stadium and then carried by runners to Berlin. You can see it in "Olympia," Riefenstahl's Nazi propaganda movie about the Games.
Now, the Olympic torch run is a symbol of international brotherhood. Funny how things turn out, isn't it?
Huh? What? You want to know if I'll watch this summer's Olympics?
Of course I will. What else is on, "Survivor" reruns?
These modern Olympics ain't half as good as the ancient Olympics, but they're still kind of fun.
You know what I like? The old-timers would hate to hear me say this, but I like the women athletes. They're tough. And good-looking, too. Back in ancient Greece, everybody made a big deal about male beauty. Hey, lemme tell you: Male beauty is overrated. Female beauty beats it every time. I don't know how we got that so wrong in the old days. What were we thinking?
So I'll be in Athens in August. Look for me at the beach volleyball games. I love to watch those girls jumping above the net, slamming the ball, diving in the sand. They're incredible! Too bad they don't play naked.
