The stadium

The Olympic Games lasted for five days, and people coming to the games would sleep in tents around the stadium, or in the open air. The stadium was 200 metres long and 30 metres wide. It was in a valley, with rows of seats sloping up the hillside on either side, and the starting line for the athletes was marked by a line of stones set into the ground. The surface of the stadium was white sand, and the referees at the games kept order with large sticks. Winners of competitions at the Olympics were treated like heroes. They were given laurel-leaf crowns and prizes of olive oil, wool and silk to take home.

Women were not allowed to take part in the Olympic Games, but they did have their own games at Olympia in a different year. They held the games to honour the goddess Hera, but the only race was running!

The Ancient Greek Olympic Games continued until AD 395, when two earthquakes destroyed Olympia. The Olympic Games we have today were started in 1896, by a Frenchman called Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

A model of a stadium