Games of the XXXI Olympiad have ended

After a raucous final ceremony in Rio de Janero, Brazil, the 2016 Olympic Games have come to a close with Japan being introduced as the host of the 2020 games, set to be held in Tokyo.

For those not up on their ancient Greek history, an Olympiad is a unit of measure, being the four years that the original Olympics waited between each of their competitions.

The Olympics started at a religious festival to honor the ancient pagan god, Zeus. In the first known Olympics in 776 B.C., there was one event, the “stade,” a footrace roughly 200 meters. Incidentally, the word stadium came from this event, which was held on a 200 meter tight oval (very sharp curves) which was in the center of a facilty built for it.

A few Olympiads later, the 400, 1,500 and pentathalon were added. The pentathlon was a five-event contest which included a foot race, a long jump, discus, javelin and wrestling. These were the basic events that were a part of a Greek soldiers training.

The games were run by the Greeks for several hundred years until the Romans conquered the whole of the area and took over the management of the games. At this point, the games lost a lot of their luster with celebrating become more important than the events. Odd things happened, like Emperor Nero entering the chariot race, losing said race, but declaring himself the winner anyway. FInally, the games were ended in the 4th century by Emperor Theodosius who had become a Christian and disliked what had become a pagan party.

So after 1,200 years, the games were over until they were revived by the French Baron Pierre de Coubertin with the first modern games held in Athens in 1896.

With no competitions in 1916, 1940 and 1944 due to world wars, there now have been 31 modern Olympics. From one event in the beginning, to now 46, attracting thousands of athletes from hundreds of nations.

Fast forward to 2016, and much like the 1896 games, the United States is the dominant force in the medal count. The USA won 121 medals, far outdistancing the second most medals (70) which was won by China while Britain was a surprising third.

There were a lot of highlights for the U.S., with the men’s and women’s basketball teams cruising to gold medals. There were disappointments with women’s soccer and volleyball teams suffering upsets but with most of the medals won by the American women, our feminine side did quite well.

For me, the most interesting part of the Olympics are the stories it originates.

Swimmer Michael Phelps not only won his 22nd gold medal, he also won his 13th individual gold medal to break a record that was in existence for over 2,100 years.

The most individual first places in Olympic history was a mark held by Leonidas, the warrior king of Sparta. For those who have seen the movies “300” or “300 Spartans” or who know the history of the war between Persia and the Greeks over 1,000 years ago, Leonidas is the man who led 300 men to hold off 10,000 Persian invaders in an epic battle that led to ultimate Greek victory.

That battle was the Greek version of the Alamo, a small band of men who battled enormous odds to allow their country the time to organize and repel the invaders. The Persians invaded during an Olympiad when the Greek city states were concentrating on their celebrations and were likely unprepared for defense.

Leonidas won three events in four consecutive Olympiads. His events were the 200, 400, then a 400 wearing a complete suit of armor.

Eighteen-year-old Simone Biles won a record four gold medals in gymnastics in her first Olympiad and the American female sprinters winning both relay events.

For me, the most interesting thing to see was the appearance of Nigeria’s Antwon Hicks who reached the semi-finals of the men’s 110 high hurdles.

Hicks is a Hot Springs native whom I met when he was an elementary athlete in the AAU program. Hicks was a guest in my house when he came to northwest Arkansas to compete at the UA.

He was a many time national champion in hurdle and high jumping events, clearing 7’0” as a sophomore in high school and having a best of 13.2 in the hurdles. He has been ranked in the top 10 in the world for much of the past 10 years and has been a professional track athlete since graduating Ole Miss.

He lives in Chanute, Kan., where he coaches in the “Coach Up” program when he is not in training. I wondered how a Hot Springs native living in Kansas gets to be on the Nigerian National Olympic Team.

More on that later.