|
|
Article: THE ORIGINAL SPORTS MAGNIFICENT RUINS RECALL THE SPIRIT OF THE GAMES IN OLYMPIA, WHERE IT ALL BEGAN.(TRAVEL)
- Article from:
- Albany Times Union (Albany, NY)
- Article date:
- July 21, 1996
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Albany Times Union. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Byline: MIKE NICHOLS Universal Press Syndicate
The temptation is natural: To run past the judges' stand and imagine being crowned with the olive wreath of victory as spectators (including, perhaps, Plato or Diogenes or Herodotus) roar their approval.
Children readily succumb to the urge, crouching at the stone starting line and then bolting down the track here in Olympia, Greece. Amid tumbled columns and roofless walls, in the ruins of the stadium where it all began, they are running literally in the footsteps of ancient Olympians.
When the Olympic Games were born here in 776 B.C., the Great Wall of China had not been built; the Mayan culture ...