Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-29
Olympic Games Glorify Athletes

! three opposing boxers to LAY down" to
| him. Gambling had entered into the
| noble contests. This was only in later
| times, when something of degeneration
| had crept into Greek life, and was in
sharp contrast with the heroic spirit
| which attended the Olympic games for
several centuries after they were first
| instituted.
Quite different was the reverence paid
to the victors while Greece was at her
| best and noblest The glory of the vic
tor was reflected upon his entire family
| as witness that classic tale of the three
sons Of DiagoraS. AL three of these
AcusilauS Damagetus and Dorieus had
come off victorious in the pankration or
ceStuS matches. When Acusilaus and
Damagetus were declared victors In the
seventy-ninth Olynpiad, 464 BIC. they
| waited until the applause had died
away, when the elder brother cried
aloud: Not to us o people of Athens,
be the praise, but to him who hegat u.s. .
And they lifted their aged father in
their arms and bore him around the
stadium.
The heredity of victors in the games
was claimed for Diagoras in a still
more sweeping way. for it was said that
all his sons and grandSons were victors
daughters. who had married champions,
bred conquerors. for their sons Eucles
and Pisidorus triumphed in the pankra-
ton. The story runs that the mother
Of PisidoruS, Pherenice. together with
her husband, had trained her son from
earliest infancy but before he was old
enough to enter the games his father
died. Pherenice disguised herself as
an athlete. 10 accompany her son, so
that he might have fair play, although
1t was the law that any woman found
In the stadium was to be hurled from
the nearby precipice. Pisidorus, urged
on by his mother, came off victorious,
but her sex became known. Brought
before the judges, she was allowed 10
go free because Of the renown OF her
family and was even permitted to crown
her son with the wild olive But there
after. so as to avoid any recurrence, the
athletes we're compelled to come to the
! contests unclothed. The most famous
member of the Diagoras family was
Damagetus, who stood q feet 5 inches
and was victorious In the seventy ninth
Olympiad as mentioned
The greatest SculptorS of Greece Wed
with one another III making statues of
these mighty men of valor. and some
have fortunately been preserved to our
da3s ALI III III ItlEIt were "a COItlDS~
titions finally. including chariot and
horse races. contests for boys and the
unique hoplite race for fully armed and
equipped soldiers When We compare
the events with the modern Olympic
meetings, which were initiated with the
first at Athens in 1896, and have been
held eight times since II must be noted
that they vary greatly from the con-
tests which took place at Olympia.
There are many reasons for these
differences, The Winter contests were
impossible for the ancient Greeks, and
they had given little or no attention 10
water sports, so swimming and rowing
were out of the question for them
The bicycle did not exist nor did the
rifle, so these contests could take place
only in our day,
Yet most of the Greek contests have
been preserved. even though modified
TO meet modern ideas OF sport and fair
play The running various distances.
the jumping. putting the shot, throw
Ing the discus, lifting weights, and the
ancient athletic games Of boxing and
wrestling have been in play at every one
OF the modern contests, The Marathon
race was not Olympic, but has proved a
special feature of the modern games,
beginning with the first In 1898 This
year the competitions are even more
extensive than ever before, The Win
ter contests have already been con-
cluded, and the real meeting takes
place at Amsterdam beginning today
and running until August II.
American athletes are competing in
many OF the contests. striving with
might and main to maintain the SUI
premaey thus far established, for they
have led IN general average at most
OF the meetings In 1894, the last
Olympic meet, the United States scored
% points, AMhile France had but Ga,