What are the Pentathlon Events and How Did They Come to Be?
Pentathlon events consisted of discus, wrestling, javelin, running, and long jump events. These events required strength and speed, so the Pentathlon events were considered the events that required the most skill. These events all happened in one afternoon.
For the discus event competitors had to throw a discus made out of bronze, stone, iron, marble, or lead. The sizes of the flying saucer shaped objects varied. Today discusses only weigh 2 kilograms, but in Ancient Greece they weighed over 6 kilograms.
Wrestlers in Ancient Greece were not allowed to bite or break their opponents fingers. Other than that they could to whatever they wanted. Some wrestlers shaved their head so their competitors couldn't yank on their hair. They also oiled their bodies so there opponent would have trouble getting a hold on them. You could win by either knocking your opponent to the ground 3 times, or for a different type of wrestling you would wrestle until one player surrenders by waving a finger. Personally, I think wrestling was a very ignorant sport.
The javelin event was similar to today except that the javelin had a loop tied around the middle where the javelin throwers threw the javelin. The javelin was also made out of elderwood. The greatest throws in Ancient Greece soared over 100 meters.
There were a few different races runners ran. One of them was a sprint that took up the length of the stadium. This was called the stade and was the most famous race. Another race was also a sprint that took up 2 lengths of the stadium. This was the longer sprint called the diaulos. Lastly, there was the long distance run that took up 20-24 lengths of the stadium. This run was called the dolichos.
Last, there is the long jump. To help the competitors they wore weights weighing up to 4 kilograms on each of their hands. This helped them swing forward. The best jumpers jumped over 16 meters and today jumpers only jump about 8 meters and they don't use weights. I don't understand why people today don't use weights because it obviously worked.
Now the question is, how did these events come to be?
No one really knows, but there is a legend that a guy named Jason decided to combine these events. For more information read The Original Olympics, by Stewert Ross and click here to see a website I got a lot of information from. Also try this website and click here for another website!
Pentathlon events consisted of discus, wrestling, javelin, running, and long jump events. These events required strength and speed, so the Pentathlon events were considered the events that required the most skill. These events all happened in one afternoon.
For the discus event competitors had to throw a discus made out of bronze, stone, iron, marble, or lead. The sizes of the flying saucer shaped objects varied. Today discusses only weigh 2 kilograms, but in Ancient Greece they weighed over 6 kilograms.
Wrestlers in Ancient Greece were not allowed to bite or break their opponents fingers. Other than that they could to whatever they wanted. Some wrestlers shaved their head so their competitors couldn't yank on their hair. They also oiled their bodies so there opponent would have trouble getting a hold on them. You could win by either knocking your opponent to the ground 3 times, or for a different type of wrestling you would wrestle until one player surrenders by waving a finger. Personally, I think wrestling was a very ignorant sport.
The javelin event was similar to today except that the javelin had a loop tied around the middle where the javelin throwers threw the javelin. The javelin was also made out of elderwood. The greatest throws in Ancient Greece soared over 100 meters.
There were a few different races runners ran. One of them was a sprint that took up the length of the stadium. This was called the stade and was the most famous race. Another race was also a sprint that took up 2 lengths of the stadium. This was the longer sprint called the diaulos. Lastly, there was the long distance run that took up 20-24 lengths of the stadium. This run was called the dolichos.
Last, there is the long jump. To help the competitors they wore weights weighing up to 4 kilograms on each of their hands. This helped them swing forward. The best jumpers jumped over 16 meters and today jumpers only jump about 8 meters and they don't use weights. I don't understand why people today don't use weights because it obviously worked.
Now the question is, how did these events come to be?
No one really knows, but there is a legend that a guy named Jason decided to combine these events. For more information read The Original Olympics, by Stewert Ross and click here to see a website I got a lot of information from. Also try this website and click here for another website!