No event in the ancient world can be compared to the Olympic Games, held every four years and without interruption for nearly 12 centuries. The games drew tens of thousands of people from Greek colonies along the length of the Mediterranean and the shores of the Black Sea when Greek culture and influence were at their height. THE REAL OLYMPICS explores the dramatic contrast between ancient reality and modern mythology. This two-part program airs on PBS Tuesday-Wednesday, August 3-4, 2004, in one-hour segments. The games were almost 800 years old when Jesus Christ was born, and it took a special Christian edict to stop them, four centuries after his death. Abandoned and long forgotten, they would return in the modern age as the inspiration for the most prestigious sport event on earth. THE REAL OLYMPICS features a reconstruction of the major events of the ancient Olympic Games - from chariot racing to combat sports. Leading experts from universities around the world acted as historical advisors; stunt men, horse wranglers, 40 young athletes and hundreds of extras were involved in the staging. The first episode, "Death or Glory," reveals how the ancient games have been appropriated and reinvented in the modern era by ideologues of all stripes and persuasions, including the Victorian upper classes and the Nazis. The program then uncovers the real story of these games in all the rich detail provided by ancient sources. The second episode, "Playing to Win," makes the opposite point. Although the ancient and modern games were conceived in different societies, respecting different gods and separated by almost three thousand years of history, there are powerful human connections, linking past and present. The most astonishing discovery of all is that the more the modern games have developed, the closer they have come to the ancient.
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