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Article: GAMES ARE AS FLAWED TODAY AS THEY WERE IN ANCIENT GREECE
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- August 3, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2004 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Fans may yearn for the days when Athens' ancient Temple of Athena
Nike didn't remind them of a shoe company. But anyone who believes
the Olympics have strayed too far from their original vision of
untainted athletic glory should check their history books.
Violence, cheating, political scheming, professional athletes:
Ancient Olympia had them all.
The archeological record from the original games held, like this
month's competition, in Greece show the Olympics were not always a
paragon of sportsmanship and international peace.
"They had problems like we had problems," said archeologist David
Gilman Romano of the University of Pennsylvania, speaking by cell
phone from high on Mount Lykaion ...