Reconstruction of the Ancient Greek Long Jump - an Opportunity for Multidisciplinary Collaboration

Abstract

The Games of the XXXI Olympiad – the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (5 August to 21 August, 2016) – continued the long tradition of Olympic sports, which began in ancient Greece (circa 776 BCE), and were heavily modified in their re-creation by the International Olympic Committee (starting in 1896; cf. Young 2002). An event that both Olympics hold in common, however, is the long jump – the ancient Greek halma, It was held only as part of the ancient pentathlon (from 708 BCE onwards) but is staged in the modern Games as a separate event (since 1896) and as part of the men’s decathlon (since 1912; though a similar “all-around” event was held at St. Louis in 1904) and women’s heptathlon (since 1984).

Keywords

• sport
• interpretation
• tools
• bronze age
• iron age
• newest era
• usa