Sport in Democratic Athens

Summary

The Olympic Games were very important in democratic Athens. The classical Athenians swelled with pride when one of their sportsmen won there. They gave Olympic victors their highest public honors. But sports in classical Athens was also much more than the Olympics. Athletics was a traditional part of male education. It was thus in school classes that a young Athenian got the required training for athletic competition. The Athenian state never subsidized this physical education. Consequently, it was only elite Athenians who were trained in athletics and went on to compete in games. In spite of never being sportsmen, nonelite Athenians still saw sports as unambiguously good. Classical Athens was a participatory democracy, in which such poor citizens set the state’s priorities. This made it possible for nonelite Athenians to translate their high regard of athletics into pro-sports policies. They thus created classical Greece’s largest program of local games, spending on it annually a staggering 2.6 tons of silver. The main reason for their pro-sports stance was the close association of sports and war. The classical Athenians in general considered war to be a glorious activity that brought huge public benefits. Athletics being associated with war thus raised the general standing of sports. Nonelite Athens also thought that athletic competitors were as courageous as they were when fighting wars. The result was that they felt a strong personal connection with what athletes endured at the Olympics or other games.