query: part_of stadion 
supports: Stadion or stade ( Ancient Greek :  ) was an ancient running event , part of the Olympic Games and the other Panhellenic Games . It was one of the five major Pentathlon events . It was the premier event of the gymnikos agon ( nude competition ) . From the years 776 to 724 BC , the stadion was the only event that took place at the Olympic Games and the victor gave his name to the entire four - year Olympiad . This allows scholars to know the names of nearly every ancient Olympic stadion winner . The stadion was named after the building in which it took place , also called the stadion . This word became stadium in Latin , which became the English word stadium . There were other types of running events , but the stadion was the most prestigious ; the winner was often considered to be the winner of an entire Games . Though a separate event , the stadion was also part of the ancient Pentathlon . At the Olympic Games , the Stadion ( the actual building ) was big enough for twenty competitors , and the race was a 200 - yard ( about 180 - metre ) sprint . The original stadion track in Olympia measures approximately 190 metres . The race began with a trumpet blow , with officials ( the agonothetai -  ) at the starting blocks to make sure there were no false starts . There were also officials at the end to decide on a winner and to make sure no one had cheated . If the officials decided there was a tie , the race would be re-run . Runners started the race from a standing position , probably with their arms stretched out in front of them , instead of starting in a crouch like modern runners . They ran naked on a packed earth track . By the fifth century , the track was marked by a stone - starting line known as the balbis . Advancements in this stone starting block led to it having a set of double grooves ( 10 -- 12 cm apart ) in which the runner placed his toes . The design of these grooves were intended to give the runner leverage for his start . The winner of the stadion in the first Olympic Games was Coroebus of Elis . The race gave its name to the unit of length , the Stadion . Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, whether as a chosen job or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require a specific amount of military service from every citizen (except for special cases, such as physical or mental disorders or religious beliefs, and most countries that have conscription only conscript men). A nation with a fully volunteer military does not normally require mandatory military service from its citizens, unless it is faced with a recruitment crisis during a time of war. The modern Olympic Games or Olympics are leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games are considered the world's foremost sports competition with more than 200 nations participating. The Olympic Games are held every four years, with the Summer and Winter Games alternating by occurring every four years but two years apart. The discus throw is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disccalled a discusin an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an ancient sport, as demonstrated by the fifth-century-B.C. Myron statue, "Discobolus". Although not part of the modern pentathlon, it was one of the events of the ancient Greek pentathlon, which can be dated back to at least to 708 BC. Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th-9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity (AD). Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Roughly three centuries after the Late Bronze Age collapse of Mycenaean Greece, Greek urban poleis began to form in the 8th century BC, ushering in the period of Archaic Greece and colonization of the Mediterranean Basin. This was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the western end of the Mediterranean Sea. The Hellenistic period came to an end with the conquests and annexations of the eastern Mediterranean world by the Roman Republic, which established the Roman province of Macedonia in Roman Greece, and later the province of Achaea during the Roman Empire. Panhellenic Games is the collective term for four separate sports festivals held in ancient Greece. The four Games were:
  Description.
  The Olympiad was one of the ways the Greeks measured time. The Olympic Games were used as a starting point, year one of the cycle; the Nemean and Isthmian Games were both held (in different months) in year two, followed by the Pythian Games in year three, and then the Nemean and Isthmian Games again in year four. The cycle then repeated itself with the Olympic Games. They were structured this way so that individual athletes could participate in all of the games. The Ancient Olympic pentathlon was an athletic contest at the Ancient Olympic Games, and other Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. The name derives from Greek, combining the words "pente" (five) and "athlon" (competition). Five events were contested over one day, starting with the "stadion" (a short foot race) followed by the Javelin throw, Discus throw, Long jump (the order of these three events is still unclear), and ending with wrestling. While Pentathletes were considered to be inferior to the specialized athletes in a certain event, they were superior in overall development and were some of the most well balanced of all the athletes. Their training was often part of military serviceeach of the five events was thought to be useful in battle. An Olympiad ("olympiás") is a period of four years associated with the Olympic Games of the Ancient Greeks. During the Hellenistic period, beginning with Ephorus, it was used as a calendar epoch.
  By this reckoning, the first Olympiad lasted from the summer of 776 BC to that of 772 BC.
  By extrapolation to the Gregorian calendar, the
  1st year of the ((2017+779)/4 -.5)round 0th Olympiad begins in (Northern-Hemisphere) mid-summer 2017. A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words "pente" (five) and -"athlon" (competition). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Ancient Olympic Games. Five events were contested over one day for the Ancient Olympic pentathlon, starting with the long jump, javelin throwing, and discus throwing, followed by the "stadion" (a short foot race) and wrestling. Pentathletes were considered to be among the most skilled athletes, and their training was often part of military serviceeach of the five events in the pentathlon was thought to be useful in war or battle. The long jump (historically called the broad jump) is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a group are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". This event has a history in the Ancient Olympic Games and has been a modern Olympic event for men since the first Olympics in 1896 and for women since 1948. The Olympic Games ("Olympia", "the Olympics" also "the Olympiad") were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. They were held in honor of Zeus, and the Greeks gave them a mythological origin. The first Olympics is traditionally dated to 776 BC. They continued to be celebrated when Greece came under Roman rule, until the emperor Theodosius I suppressed them in 393 AD as part of the campaign to impose Christianity as the State religion of Rome. The games were held every four years, or "olympiad", which became a unit of time in historical chronologies. The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon.
candidates: 8th century bc ancient greece ancient olympic games archaic greece army bronze age c central asia competition empire event gregorian calendar hellenistic period history mediterranean sea middle ages military militia name olympic games part roman empire sea state statue thought track variety year
answer: ancient olympic games