The Olympic Athlete

Part I of Essay
I always have respected Olympic athletes, for they spend all their time training. Victorious athletes were professionals in the sense that they lived off the glory of their achievement ever afterwards. Their hometowns might reward them with: free meals for the rest of their ....

Part II of Essay
.... Greek world, and the site of controversies, boasts, public announcements and humiliations. Ancient athletes competed as individuals, not on national teams, as in the modern Games. The emphasis on individual athletic achievement through public competition was related to the Greek ideal of excellence, called "arete". Aristocratic men who attained this ideal, through their outstanding words or deeds, won permanent glory and fame. Those who failed to measure up to this code feared public shame and disgrace. Olympia was one of the oldest reli ....