Passage 6 In ancient Greece athletic festivals were very important and had strong religious associations. The Olympian athletic festival held every four years in honor of Zeus eventually lost its local character became first a national event and then after the rules against foreign competitors had been waived international. No one knows exactly how far back the Olympic Games go but some official records date from 776 B.C. The Games took place in August on the plain by Mount Olympus. Many thousands of spectators gathered from all parts of Greece but no woman was admitted even as a spectator. Slaves women and dishonored persons were not allowed to compete. The exact sequence of events is uncertain but events included boys’ gymnastics, horse racing, field events such as discus and javelin throwing and the very important foot races. There was also boxing and wrestling and special tests of varied ability such as the pentathlon the winner of which excelled in running jumping discus and javelin throwing and wrestling. The evening of the third day was devoted to sacrificial offerings( 祭品 )to the heroes of the day and the fourth day that of the full moon was set aside as a holy day. On the sixth and last day all the victors were crowned with holy garlands( 花冠 )of wild olive from a sacred wood. So great was the honor that the winner of the foot race gave his name to the year of his victory. Although Olympic winners received no prize money they were in fact richly rewarded by their state authorities. The public honor also made the strict discipline of the ten month training period worthwhile. In spite of the lengthy training however runners were known to drop dead from tiredness at the winning post. After an uninterrupted history of almost 1 200 years, the Games were abolished in A.D.394 the Christian era because of their pagan( 异教的 )origin. It was over 1 500 years before there was another such international athletics gathering. The Greek institution was brought back in 1896 and the first small meeting took place in Athens. After the 1908 London Olympics success was reestablished and nations sent their best representatives. In times of peace the Games have taken place ever since at four yearly intervals.