What running events are there in the Olympics?
There were several ancient Greek foot races. The original
Olympic Games began at Olympia in 776 BC with a single, one way
foot race of about 200 meters, called a STADE and we derive our
word STADIUM (Latin) from the Greek word STADION, as a track where
this was run; Olympia seemingly the first one. A STADE became a
Greek standard unit of distance measurement for around 200 meters.
Later, around 724 BC the running event was doubled to the length
and back again and was called a DIAULOS, around 400 meters. The
next ancient running event to be added around 720 BC was a long
distance foot race called a DOLICHOS, which was around 20-24
lengths or around at least 4000 meters. If a competitor won all
three of these first foot races, he (or possibly she) would be
called a TRIASTES, meaning "triple" winner. Other running events
included the HOPLITODROMOS, a race run in armor. First run with
bronze shields, helmets and shin guards, later possible armor races
of 25 contestants may have carried only bronze shields; at Olympia
these were all the same weight for uniformity and attached outside
the Temple of Zeus. This event, starting around 520 BC, was often
understood as simulating or preparatory for military action. The
word derives from the Greek word for an infantry soldier (HOPLITE)
and the Greek word DROMOS, roughly meaning a "pattern" or race.
Other ancient foot races run at night with a torch passed like a
baton (note the Greek word for "lamp" was also our word source)
could be called LAMPADEDROMIA, possibly the origin of modern
Olympic torch running to begin the games. These were not
necessarily the only possible ancient Olympic races, but were
certainly the most important and time-honored. Boys, men and women
did not compete against each other; women had their own games at
another time in honor of the goddess Hera, games that were thus
called the HERAIA. Boys and men ran naked and barefoot where women
ran barefoot but clothed, all at separate times. Greek myth says
that the STADE length was determined by being the distance that the
hero Herakles (Hercules to the Romans) could run in 600 steps and
also the distance he could run in only one breath. We have
experimentally shown both of these to be possible at Stanford
University. Male athletes with about a size 14 shoe could walk 600
footsteps heel-to-toe in about 200 meters. This suggests the
ancient model for Herakles would have to been fairly tall or have
had very big feet! We also showed 200 meters could be run in one
breath by having some of our swimmer athletes run with mouths shut
but full of water and noses closed by tight nose clips (so they
could not breathe through the nose) and then spit out the full
mouthful of water at the end of the 200 meters. Our national
champion Stanford synchronized swimmers could all do this easily,
but most people probably cannot. Thus, there seems to have been
some truth to the ancient myth determining length of the ancient
STADION race track regardless of whether or not a real Herakles
figure ever existed. Some of this Herakles myth research and
experimental material is also published in Dr. Patrick Hunt's book
MYTHS FOR ALL TIME (2007); the best accessible book on the subject
of Olympic foot races is probably Dr. Judith Swaddling's THE
ANCIENT OLYMPIC GAMES (first published in 1980 but now updated in
later editions).
