Ancient Olympics: Let the Games Begin (2004)
• January 1st, 2004 • 0h 52min
Documentary, History
Overview
Come back with us to Ancient Greece, 2,500 Years ago to the original Olympic Games. The ancient Games, like our modern Olympics, included champions and cheaters, glory and scandals, bitter rivalries and contests of strength, speed and savage combat. Set in 448 BC when the pounding of horse's hooves and the brutal hand-to-hand combat could be heard and seen by the crowds that filled the Olympic stadium. This one-hour special event follows the glory and corruption of the arc of a single, five-day Olympiad. The competitions include chariot racing, running, jumping, discus, javelin and two man-to-man combat finals-boxing and pankration, a form of extreme fighting in which death was not uncommon. With the help of sports historians and great athletes such as George Chuvalo and Olympic medallists Donovan Bailey and Angela Schneider, viewers travel back to a very different life-in a very different world.
Make sure to check your pop-up blocker!!
Trailer
Similar Movies
World Debut: From Outsiders to the Olympics
Released on: 2021-07-07
Documentary
What were once lifestyle fads have evolved into some of the world's fastest-growing sports and are n...
Athens 2004: Olympic Opening Ceremony (Games of the XXVIII Olympiad)
Released on: 2004-08-13
Documentary, TV Movie
With the Olympics returning to Greece, the opening ceremony of Athens 2004 sought to show the entire...
FPS: First Person Shooter
Released on: 2023-06-01
Documentary
This documentary takes a game-by-game deep dive into the history and evolution of a genre that has g...
Pleasure Machines: The History of Pinball
Released on: 1998-02-13
Documentary
Pinball historian Richard Bueschel hosts an hour-long look at the arcade favorite's illustrious hist...
Untold: Caitlyn Jenner
Released on: 2021-08-24
Documentary
Caitlyn Jenner's unlikely path to Olympic glory was inspirational. But her more challenging road to ...
Hitler's Games, Berlin 1936
Released on: 2016-08-23
Documentary, History, TV Movie
Summer 1936 - The Berlin Olympics, organized by the Nazi regime on the eve of World War II, acted as...
The Last Days of Jesus
Released on: 2017-04-04
Documentary
For almost two thousand years, the story of Jesus’ final days has been celebrated by Christians the ...
Ben-Hur
Released on: 1959-11-18
History, Drama, Adventure
In 26 AD, Judah Ben-Hur, a Jew in ancient Judea, opposes the occupying Roman empire. Falsely accuse...
Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations
Released on: 1938-04-21
Documentary
Starting with a long and lyrical overture, evoking the origins of the Olympic Games in ancient Greec...
Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty
Released on: 1938-06-02
Documentary
Part two of Leni Riefenstahl's monumental examination of the 1938 Olympic Games, the cameras leave t...
Spartacus
Released on: 1960-10-13
History, War, Drama, Adventure
The rebellious Thracian Spartacus, born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus. A...
Fight Without Hate
Released on: 1948-12-31
Documentary
A documentary covering the 1948 Olympic Games in St. Moritz.
XIVth Olympiad: The Glory of Sport
Released on: 1948-09-19
Documentary
A documentary covering the 1948 Olympic Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and London, England.
The VI Olympic Winter Games, Oslo 1952
Released on: 1952-10-30
Documentary
A documentary covering the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway.
Where the World Meets
Released on: 1952-11-28
Documentary
A first part of a documentary on the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki.
Gold and Glory
Released on: 1953-03-19
Documentary
A second part of a documentary covering the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki.
White Vertigo
Released on: 1956-12-31
Documentary
A documentary covering the 1956 Olympic Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
Olympic Games 1956
Released on: 1956-12-31
Documentary
A documentary covering the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne and Stockholm.