Why Olympic events were conducted in the nude

[snopes]

Comment: The Olympics

Story goes that during one of the first Olympics a runner lost their shorts and
was exposed as a woman. All Olympic events after were conducted in the
nude.

This is not new but looking for facts.

I can find no reference; women did not compete against men, she was taking
her son's place or something like that.

[RivkahChaya]

Shorts?




characters

[Towknie]

I'd always heard that they were conducted in the nude so that the social class of the athletes wouldn't be so apparent.

[AnglRdr]

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: The Olympics

Story goes that during one of the first Olympics a runner lost their shorts and was exposed as a woman. All Olympic events after were conducted in the nude.

This is not new but looking for facts.

Their shorts? In ancient Greece?

[What Rivkah said, I mean.]

[Seburiel]

I was under the impression it was so that the observers could revel in the beauty of the human body. (well, shows ME! )
-s.

[Ariadne]

Originally Posted by Seburiel

I was under the impression it was so that the observers could revel in the beauty of the human body. (well, shows ME! )
-s.

That was my understanding as well. After all, the Greeks did love a nude body, and there were even beauty contests in some of the Panhellenic games (though I don't think they were part of the Olympics).

[Andrew of Ware]

Not all Olympic events from Ancient Greece were conducted in the nude. I believe there was a running in armour race, for example. In addition there were also Olympic events in the arts (such as poetry) and I doubt if these were done in the nude (although it might make the contest more interesting).

[Ravenhull]

Originally Posted by Andrew of Ware

Not all Olympic events from Ancient Greece were conducted in the nude. I believe there was a running in armour race, for example. In addition there were also Olympic events in the arts (such as poetry) and I doubt if these were done in the nude (although it might make the contest more interesting).

Well, depending on the genre of poetry, having the judges in the nude might have aided in the scoring.

I got it...

[Der Induktionator]

Googling on this topic is not particularly helpful. Wikipedia:gymnasium is a little helpful.

I seem to remember that nudity was pretty much no big deal, and sports were often nude as a matter of course. I also remember something about ancient Greeks vs. those who practiced circumcision, but I can't remember what it was, and I won't even attempt google with that topic.

[Chloe]

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: The Olympics

Story goes that during one of the first Olympics a runner lost their shorts and
was exposed as a woman. All Olympic events after were conducted in the
nude.

And since then, all popes wrestle nude for the same reason.

[Andrew of Ware]

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: The Olympics

Story goes that during one of the first Olympics a runner lost their shorts and
was exposed as a woman. All Olympic events after were conducted in the
nude.

In her book Sports and Games in the Ancient World Vera Olivova says,

In the oldest times Olympic runners were clad in loincloths. During the fifteenth Games in 720 B.C., however, one of the contestants lost his loincloth in mid-race; he ran on regardless and won. From that time on nudity was increasingly favoured and at some point in the sixth century B.C. it became general behaviour.

Elsewhere in her book Ms Olivova mentions how the Greeks looked on the Games (not just the Olympics, but other games - such as the Nemean and Isthmian Games - as well) as showing who the gods honoured. They thought bodily beauty, as well as sporting prowess, was bestowed by the gods. Thus competing in the nude was another way of judging the gods' favour.

At the Olympic Games there were sporting events for men and boys and these were usually - but not always - done in the nude (apart from races in armour). There was a single race for girls, but this was held outside the main Olympic area because this area was just for males. Girls wore tunics.

There were some events for women (but I can't find any reference to women - as apart from girls - competing at the Olympic Games). Women, like the girls at the Olympics, wore tunics.

[Richard W]

It seems like a lot of athletes would be "in the nude" today if not for the need to contain bits flapping around, or just to avoid embarrasment. The ideal costume for a lot of sports certainly seems to be as smooth and tight-fitting as possible, and ancient Greeks wouldn't have been able to make skintight lycra-equivalents, so naked would be a decent compromise for athletic purposes - I assumed that was the reason...

Supposedly ("according to legend"), Mongolian wrestlers wear an open-fronted vest or Jodag to prevent women entering, after a woman once secretly entered, beat all the men and then took her shirt off. So clearly sneaky but talented women are a legitimate threat to all our masculinities.

[haakonsson]

Originally Posted by Der Induktionator

Googling on this topic is not particularly helpful. Wikipedia:gymnasium is a little helpful.

I seem to remember that nudity was pretty much no big deal, and sports were often nude as a matter of course. I also remember something about ancient Greeks vs. those who practiced circumcision, but I can't remember what it was, and I won't even attempt google with that topic.

Googling w/ that as a topic wasn't that bad. Some references about circumcision and the Greeks would be journal article, reprint of article cited above, or or here in brief about recreation of the prepuce.

keren

[Troberg]

I think there are several very logical reasons:

* The clothes at the time were quite hindering and/or chafing.
* Nudity wasn't a big issue. Entire families often lived in a single room house, so seeing people nude or even kids seeing their parents making more kids was perfectly normal.
* If you want to impress the ladies, show your stuff.

[Syllavus]

I think a better question is, "Why aren't the Olympic events still conducted in the nude?" I suppose we'll just have to be satisfied with the tiny bathing suits.

[SatansHobbit]

Those ancient 100m hurdlers must have nerves (or scrotums) of steel!

...and I don't even want to think of the potential for disaster in the pole vault.

[Nick Theodorakis]

Originally Posted by SatansHobbit

Those ancient 100m hurdlers must have nerves (or scrotums) of steel!

...and I don't even want to think of the potential for disaster in the pole vault.

Neither or those were events in the ancient Olympics.

Nick

[SatansHobbit]

"I'm obviously constipated", ejaculated the doctor. (2,4, 6)(sorry, wrong thread)

Nick is a synonym for nude, and your surname is as Greek as Greek can be. I won't look at your cite, you probably competed.

But hey, now you don't suspect Thorpey of having a winged keel, why don't we hold the modern Olympics in the nuddy.

• No more controversy about underage Chinese gymnasts.
  
• Usain Bolt can crack another erection when he realizes he's won, and shave even more nanoseconds off the WR.
  
• The Greco-Roman wrestlers could compete the to the music of the Village People. What happens, happens. Not that there's any wrong with that.
  
• You's never see coxless fours
  
• The hurdlers mantra; "Run fast, retract, jump..Run fast, retract, jump..Run fast, retract, jump.." It wasn't a problem during the winter Olympics.
  
• There'd be no reason to watch beach volleyball.
  
• And I bet you girls would love to see the male gymnasts compete in parallel bars

[SatansHobbit]

My previous post has nothing to do with my shameful lusting for Samantha Rice...but who would blame me?

Maybe Phelpsy should start taking Viagra if there's no space left to hang medals off his neck.

[Towknie]

Why am I not only not surprised but also somewhat comforted by the fact that SatansHobbit is actively participating in a thread about nudity? Judging by his many entries in the Snopes photo contest, I bet his ancestors were active participants in athletic events.