The games were held every fourth year, with the four year span being called an Olympiad. From what we know of them they were brutal spectacles, with few rules and a strong emphasis on proving the participants' masculinity. Women were not even allowed to be spectators, and the penalty if they were caught was to be thrown off a nearby cliff!

Athletes competed in the games as individuals, not as members of a national or city-state team, and evidence suggests that the highly individualistic and heroic ethos of Greek culture encouraged a sizeable number of the participants to cheat. Those competitors or event officials who were caught cheating or accepting bribes were heavily fined and the money was used to build statues of Zeus, called the Zanes (eventually there was a row of 16 of them).

At first most competitors were drawn from the wealthiest, aristocratic class of Greeks since the time required for training precluded participation in everyday work. As time went on the Olympics became less exclusive, and poorer athletes were able to find 'sponsorship' in order that they might also compete.