Movie Studio "Soyuzmultfilm" division of illustrated films
OLYMPIANS
Zeus the Thunderer,
having cast down the titans from Olympus,
himself began to reign from it,
and longed to celebrate that victory
with competitions for strong and nimble athletes.
The god Apollo, patron of the arts, in these competitions
prevailed over Ares,
the god of war, which is disgusting.
The god Apollo was proclaimed an Olympian -
a hero of the Olympic Games.
A lovely legend.
And yet, not from Olympus,
the abode of the Gods, do these games take their name,
but from the village of Olympia,
where for a long time,
every autumn, between the reaping of the wheat and the grape harvest
sports festivities were organized.
At that time there were fierce wars between the Greeks
which threatened to destroy Elis,
the small state on whose soil Olympia was located.
King Iphitos, ruler of Elis,
wishing to save his people,
turned to the Delphic oracle for help.
How could his enemies be stopped?
The oracle's reply was unexpected:
"Call them to Olympia, and organize athletic games."
Iphitos made use of this advice.
He went to his mighty enemy, the king of Sparta, Lycurgus,
and concluded a sacred truce with him.
"From now on, all wars during the games shall be stopped.
And may punishment befall him who comes to Olympia with arms!"
Through peaceful games, Iphitos achieved more than through military victories.
Every four years, Olympia became the capital of all Greece.
Sing, oh soul
a song of glory to the winner of the Olympic Games.
For know that, just as the sun is hotter than all the stars put together,
so does Olympia with regal splendor overshadow all that is great upon the Earth.
And so, we are at the first Olympics.
Year 776 B.C.
Involuntarily, our minds turn to familiar intonations:
Reporting live from Olympia!
Forty thousand spectators have filled all stadium stands to the brim on this sunny day.
Now the Hellanodikas, the chief judge,
will proclaim the opening of the first Olympic Games!
Do you all, happy guests of Olympia,
agree that those athletes standing in front of you are worthy of participating in contests?
The Olympic Oath sounds:
We swear not to inflict injury upon our competitor with intent or through negligence.
We swear!
We swear not to succumb to bribery.
We swear!
And to lightheartedly endure defeat and not challenge the decisions of the judges.
We swear!
We now know what is Olympic peace.
but we are yet to see the Olympic excitement that envelops the entire stadium.
Who will become the first Olympian?
Who will gain the right to immortality?
The first sensation!
Breaking through to the front is the completely unknown Coroebus,
a waiter at an inn in the city of Elis.
Well done, Coroebus!
Fast service has trained him well.
The top prize given to the winner
was a humble wreath of wild olive.
It was from the Olympics of Coroebus
that the Ancient Greek calendar began its count.
Gymnasium. So did the Ancient Greeks call their school and athletic hall.
Children were first trained in sports, and then in all the other sciences.
The training, like the competition itself, was accompanied by music.
In sports, beauty of movement was prized above all.
While the guests feasted,
the trainers tested the sportsmen with abstinence and hunger.
If you have done nothing dishonorable, and diligently tempered your flesh,
you may boldly go out to fight and show yourself a man.
But if you have indulged in excess and laziness,
leave us be and go your own way.
We are back at the Olympia stadium.
The 14th Olympiad, 724 B.C.
The final long-distance footrace.
Pay attention to the athlete on the left -
this is Orsippus, a native of Megara.
A debutant of the Olympic competition, and a promising long-distance runner.
Oh, what a shame!
The punishment will now follow.
The laws here are simple and strict -
any violation is punished immediately, in full view of everyone.
And yet, look!
Orsippus is overtaking his rivals!
What a difference a real will to win makes!
What's this?
In the heat of the competition, he even loses his clothes!
But he comes in first! Glory to Orsippus!
By the way, after this incident, all athletes began to compete naked.
When Orsippus returned to his hometown,
They didn't let him in through the gate, which was for mere mortals,
but through a gap purposefully- made in the wall.
Afterwards, the wall was rebuilt.
This meant that the victory that had entered the city
could never leave again.
A woman?
How could she be among the sportsmen?
The presence of women at the Olympic Games
was punishable by death.
Pherenike, from a family of glorious Olympians.
Not having found a decent trainer,
she decided to prepare her son Peisidoros for the competition herself.
Dressing herself in a man's outfit,
she secretly snuck into the stadium.
Peisidoros won five victories in a row.
Pherenike's heart could not take it;
overfilled with joy, the ran out to her son, and...
...and betrayed herself.
The criminal mother was to be punished, by the law.
But...
...the judges spared her.
Their hand would not rise to execute the trainer of an Olympic hero.
Drawings on antique vases
can give us hints about the origin of some types of modern multisport contests.
In the peaceful games of Olympia, weapons were prohibited.
For example, instead of a battle spear they would throw a hunting dart.
But where did such a strange projectile as the discus come from?
The following hypothesis exists:
How was one to pass along to the besieged the message that they should surrender?
A reliable method of communication
could have been a round, flat stone which could perfectly cleave the air.
With the same stone,
an answer could also be sent.
The most amazing mystery of Hellenic sport
remains the long jump.
With the help of weights,
the athletes covered distances
almost double the current world records.
Perhaps they recorded the sum of a triple jump?
But here is how an ancient historian describes the jump of the famous Phayllos:
"This man
flew a length of 55 Delphic feet
(16 metres, 30 centimetres)
and, landing onto solid ground,
broke his left leg."
Legendary became the name of the fighter Milo of Kroton
The Greeks compared him to Heracles.
A shepherd's son,
he once nursed a sick calf in childhood,
successfully. The calf began to increase in weight.
And the heroic strength of Milo also increased.
He attained his first victory at the 60th Olympiad
and afterwards, kept the title of Olympian for no less than a quarter century.
Six Olympic games in a row.
Such athletic longevity is unique in history, even now.
But not only through this did the great man from Kroton attain fame.
A disciple of Pythagoras,
he was also the author of scholarly works.
And Milo was not an exception -
Pythagoras himself was an Olympic champion.
Many great Hellenes were outstanding athletes.
Aristotle and Plato,
Aeschylus and Sophocles,
Euripides, Socrates,
Herodotus, Demosthenes, Hippocrates.
They personified the ideal of Man -
harmonious combination of intelligence with physical strength.
But there was also another side.
The Games were not just beauty and the joy of movement.
For the public it was also a spectacle -
an exciting, sometimes cruel spectacle.
One time, the ranks of Olympians
were joined by the Roman Emperor Nero,
who wished to personally participate in the games.
Hail the Caesar!
He invited the best sportsmen of the time to the contest.
Of course the emperor came in first,
supplementing his fame as a singer with the glory of being an unbeatable sportsman.
The Romans introduced circus performances into the Olympic Games:
the famous gladiator fights
during which rivals fought to the death.
The arrival of the Roman legions
concluded the downfall of the Olympiad.
Having existed for 12 centuries,
it vanished into oblivion.
But the flame that had been lit by the first Olympians did not go out.
After one and a half thousand years,
the noble ideals of the Hellenic games were raised from the ruins.
A new Olympic era was beginning.
"Healthy body, healthy mind"
"Faster, Higher, Stronger!"
Subtitles - Niffiwan (Oct. 2021) www.animatsiya.net