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The Olympics’ Little Sister
The modern Olympiad is an international festival of sport. And it included women almost from the start; the second modern Olympics, in Paris in 1900, allowed women to compete in tennis, golf, sailing…and croquet. Archery was added in the next games.
But in the ancient games, only free male citizens were allowed to compete. In fact, at one point, women weren’t even supposed to watch, possibly because the athletes traditionally competed completely naked. No doubt some sneaked in, but there were threats to throw them into the river if they did.
Women, though, liked to play sport and that’s how the Olympics got, well, a little sister…and one which not many people know about.
The Heraean Games
We know the Olympics were founded in the 8th century B.C. But by the 6th century there was a record of a parallel event for women, dedicated to Zeus’ wife, Hera. While we aren’t sure, we believe they were held in the same stadium, before the main event, but used a shorter track.
The first Heraean Games contained only foot races and only young, unmarried women were allowed to take part (in theory they were virgins, and there were age categories which may indicate that young teens were participating). Instead of medals they got olive crowns (the men got laurel, so maybe olive trees were seen as more…