Ancient Olympic Games Ancient Olympic Games The ancient Olympic Games were originally a festival, or celebration of and for Zeus; later, events such as a footrace, a javelin contest, and wrestling matches were added. The Olympic Games (, "Olympia", "the Olympics"; also , , "the Olympiad") were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and one of the Panhellenic Games of ancient Greece. They were held in honor of Zeus, and the Greeks gave them a mythological origin. The first Olympics is traditionally dated to 776 BC. They continued to be celebrated when Greece came under Roman rule, until the emperor
2006 Winter Olympics torch relay 2006 Winter Olympics torch relay The 2006 Winter Olympics torch relay took part as part of the build-up to the 2006 Winter Olympics hosted in Turin, Italy. The route covered around and involved 10,001. Stefania Belmondo lit the cauldron at the opening ceremony. The torch was a modern interpretation of the traditional wooden torch, in which it is the metal that seems to catch fire and burn. The flame envelops the body of the torch rather than exiting from a hole on the top, like earlier torches. A dynamic, innovative shape was created to develop this concept, which recalls the