While the ancient Greek Olympics featured events similar to modern Olympics, there were significant differences. Imagine that you were a citizen of Athens in ancient Greece. What would you have to do to compete in the Olympics?
While the ancient Olympics did not feature as many events as their modern counterparts, there were several events which a young man might enter. There were various footraces, boxing, wrestling, and the pancratium, a sort of combination of boxing and wrestling. Contestants also had the opportunity to show how well they could throw the discus and hurl the javelin.
Women could not compete in the Olympic events, but they could enter a team of horses. The owner of the victorious horses won the prize, not the charioteer.
Training for the Olympics began early in life. If you wanted to become an Olympic star, you would have to frequent the palaestra (the place where young men exercised in ancient Greece).
Prospective Olympic contestants had to be citizens in good standing. Criminals were not allowed to compete in the Olympics. However, body-building steroids were not a problem. The ancient Greeks knew nothing about them. So such cheating was conspicuously absent from the Greek Olympics.
Prospective Athenian contestants had to practice their event vigorously for at least ten months. The city of Athens would not send anyone to the Olympics unless he swore that he had done so.
A coach customarily guided an Athenian youth as he practiced his event. A flute player accompanied his physical exertions. The music served as inspiration.
If the city of Athens chose someone to compete in an event, he had to journey to Elis in the western Peloponnesus. He had to arrive early because all participants had to train there for a month.
The Olympic Games took place at Olympia, a city in Elis. When the dust settled, poets would commemorate the exploits of the victors. Pindar wrote the most famous of these.