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Article: Spirit of ancient games remains at Olympia ruins Journey across Greece retraces steps of long-ago competitors
- Article from:
- The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee, WI)
- Article date:
- August 4, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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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. 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 had yet to be founded;
Confucius had not been born; and Nike was the Goddess of Victory,
not a registered trademark.
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