Let's just remember what the Olympics were to the classical Greeks: a society that venerated excellence and achievement above anything else. It was about striving for perfection: about emulating godliness. The point of the competition wasn't to prove that you were better than anyone else: it was about proving you were the best. Those may sound like the same thing, but they're not.
The embodiment of virtue to the Classical Greeks was to push past any obstacle, overcome any hardship, in order to become the best you could be. The ultimate achievement, the ultimate contribution an individual could make to his community was to become the example that everyone else chose to emulate. Men were expected to spend their lives in the pursuit of that goal: it was unthinkable to do any less.
That is the spirit of the Olympics. Or it was, anyway.
Let's just remember what the Olympics were to the classical Greeks: a society that venerated excellence and achievement above anything else. It was about striving for perfection: about emulating godliness. The point of the competition wasn't to prove that you were better than anyone else: it was about proving you were the best. Those may sound like the same thing, but they're not.
The embodiment of virtue to the Classical Greeks was to push past any obstacle, overcome any hardship, in order to become the best you could be. The ultimate achievement, the ultimate contribution an individual could make to his community was to become the example that everyone else chose to emulate. Men were expected to spend their lives in the pursuit of that goal: it was unthinkable to do any less.
That is the spirit of the Olympics. Or it was, anyway.