Ancient Greek Sports The ancient Greeks lived around

Ancient Greek Sports

The ancient Greeks

lived around the Aegean Sea.

What did the Greeks like to do?

The Greeks loved sports. People who do sports are called athletes.

Every four years, Greeks met at the town of Olympia,

to see who was best at sports. This was called the Olympics.

With their fists,

they boxed—they fought to see who was toughest. (video)

With horses and riders (called jockeys),

they had horse races, to see which horse was fastest. (video)

With horses pulling chariots,

they did chariot racing, to see which chariot could go fastest. (video)

They had a big sporting event, called the pentathalon. The athletes did five sports: 1. Discus 2. Javelin 3. Jumping 4. Running, and 5. Wrestling.

In the first part of the pentathalon, the athletes threw this, which is called a discus,

to see who could throw the discus farthest. (video)

In the second part of the pentathalon, they threw this spear, called a javelin,

to see who could throw the javelin farthest. (video)

In the third part of the pentathalon, the athletes jumped, to see who could jump farthest. (video)

In the fourth part of the pentathalon, they did a running race, to see who could run fastest. (video)

And in the fifth (and last) part of the pentathalon, they wrestled—to see who was toughest.

Who won a wrestling match? The man who threw other man down on the ground, three times. (video)

The Nemean Games (some footage of what ancient games might have looked like) “Greek Mirthology” – Popeye as Hercules (not much educational value…)

The End