Olympics

The ancient Greeks ran naked. Modern athletes get Tinder Gold. Somewhere in between? A lot of weird stuff.

This week on Messy Minded, we explore the strange evolution of the Olympics — from sacred rituals and priestesses to flaming pigeons and suspicious judging. You’ll hear about divine nudity, rigged events, Olympic ghosts, and a marathon so disastrous it involved poison and a guy in a car. Plus: honorable mentions like Abebe Bikila (barefoot legend), Eric "The Eel" Moussambani, and the one guy who literally disappeared mid-race.

International Olympic Committee – https://olympics.com/en/olympic-games/ancient-olympic-games

Kyle, Donald G. Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World, Wiley-Blackwell, 2014

Golden, Mark. Sport in the Ancient World from A to Z, Routledge, 2004

NPR – “That Time the Olympic Marathon Was a Total Disaster” – https://www.npr.org/2016/08/12/489810136/that-time-the-olympic-marathon-was-a-total-disaster

Gynn, Roger. The Olympic Marathon, Human Kinetics, 1996

Smithsonian Magazine – “The Undefeated Life of Jim Thorpe” – https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-jim-thorpes-greatest-battle-was-not-on-the-field-180979000/

National Museum of the American Indian – https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/jim-thorpe

The New York Times – “South Koreans Tell World, ‘We Have Arrived’” – https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/18/sports/the-seoul-olympics-opening-ceremony-south-koreans-tell-world-we-have-arrived.html

USA Today – “The Olympic doves that died for our sins” – https://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/08/doves-olympic-ceremony-1988-seoul-fire-torch

Olympic Channel – “When Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic cauldron” – https://olympics.com/en/olympic-games/atlanta-1996/highlights/muhammad-ali

Biography.com – Muhammad Ali profile – https://www.biography.com/athletes/muhammad-ali

Olympics.com – “Abebe Bikila: Barefoot to victory” – https://olympics.com/en/athletes/abebe-bikila

Team USA – “John Shuster Leads U.S. to Curling Gold” – https://www.teamusa.org/News/2018/February/24/John-Shuster-Leads-US-To-Historic-Olympic-Curling-Goldhttps://www.npr.org/sections/thetorch/2018/02/24/588637936/team-usa-wins-its-first-ever-olympic-gold-in-mens-curling

Japan Times – “The Japanese marathon runner who went missing — for 54 years” – https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2021/07/23/olympics/summer-olympics/olympic-history/shizo-kanakuri-olympics-marathon/

BBC – “Shizo Kanakuri: The man who took 54 years to finish a marathon” – https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/57914191

Also thank you to Dax Shepard and Monica Padman of Armchair Expert, not only for inspiring my new odd interest, but also for years of great podcasting!

Music by AudioCoffee: https://www.audiocoffee.net/, The Battle Between Scorpio And Orion.wav by LilMati -- https://freesound.org/s/507307/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

NikitaKondrashev, Open-Music-for-Videos for "Spark Groove", geoffharvey for "Busy Bees", "Endevour", and "Empire of War", Coma-Meda for "Catch It"

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.