Ancient Olympic Games Greek city-state and kingdom were allowed to participate, although the Hellanodikai, the officials in charge, allowed king Alexander I of Macedon to participate in the games only after he had proven his Greek ancestry. The games were always held at Olympia rather than moving between different locations as is the practice with the modern Olympic Games. Victors at the Olympics were honored, and their feats chronicled for future generations. To the Greeks, it was important to root the Olympic Games in mythology. During the time of the ancient games their origins were attributed to the gods, and competing legends persisted
1956 Olympic Flame hoax 1956 Olympic Flame hoax The 1956 Olympic Flame hoax was a hoax during the 1956 Summer Olympics, in which Barry Larkin, a veterinary student from Melbourne, pretended to be running with the Olympic Flame. Larkin and eight other students at St John's College, University of Sydney planned to protest against the Olympic Flame torch relay. One reason for the protest was that the torch relay was invented by the Nazis at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Their plan was for one student, dressed in white shorts and a white top, to carry a fake torch. The fake torch