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Content: Ancient Olympics: Greek Mythological Origins, Tracy Marks
The Origins of the Olympics in Ancient Greece, religious and mythical sources
The Ancient Olympics 
Their Origin in Greek Mythology and Religion 
copyright 2001, 2002 by Tracy Marks
What is the origin of the Olympics? The Olympic Games, originally created to honor Zeus, was the most important
national festival of the ancient Greeks, and a focus of political rivalries
between the nation-states. However, all competitions involved individual
competitors rather than teams. Winning an Olympic contest was regarded more
highly than winning a battle and was proof of an individual arete  or personal
excellence. The winners were presented with garlands, crowned with olive
wreaths, and viewed as national heroes. Although records of the Olympics date back to 776 BC when the Olympics were
reorganized and the official "First Olympiad" was held, Homer's Iliad suggests
that they existed as early as the 12th century BC. The games were held every
four years in honor of Zeus, in accordance with the four year time periods
which the Greeks called olympiads. Emperor Theodosius I of Rome discontinued
them in the 4th century AD, and they did not occur again until they were
reinstated in Athens in 1896. Originally, the Olympics was confined to running, but by the 15th Olympiad, 
additional sports were added  the pentathlon (five different events), boxing,
wrestling, chariot racing, as well as a variety of foot races of varying
lengths, including a long-distance race of about 2.5 miles.