Naked athletes and controversial sausages: Busting myths over the history of the Olympics

With the Paris Olympics in full swing, many Australians are caught up in a very once-every-four-years (or in this case, three years) giddiness.

But stepping back from the world records, comeback stories and moody vocals of a semi-naked blue Frenchman, there are some Olympic myths that need busting.

Olympic historian Wray Vamplew, an Emeritus Professor at the UK’s University of Stirling and author of Games People Played: A Global History of Sport, helps sort the facts from the fiction.

The marathon was part of the ancient Olympics: FALSE

One of the most iconic Olympic events is the marathon — a chance for the city to show off its neighbourhoods and vistas, while giving a nod to the ancient Olympics in Greece.

Except it’s a bit of a messy tribute.

The ancient Olympics, held by the Greeks from 776 BCE to about 393 CE, didn’t feature the marathon.

“The marathon came with the modern Olympics,” Vamplew tells ABC RN’s Late Night Live.

When the modern Olympics began in Athens in 1896, organisers wanted an event which recalled the glory days of classical Greece.

So they were inspired by the ancient story of Greek soldier Pheidippides, who is believed to have run about 40km from Marathon to Athens with news of the Athenian victory over the Persians there. He then supposedly dropped dead.

But it’s unclear if the run actually happened, as the first accounts were written five centuries after it allegedly took place.

“Myth and reality mixed in Greek life, and I think this is one example of it,” Vamplew says.

When the marathon was run at the 1896 Olympics between Marathon and Athens, it was — appropriately — won by a Greek athlete Spyridon Louis.

Incidentally, there’s also nothing Greek about the torch relay.

“It was invented for the Nazi Germany Olympics [in 1936] because it looked good,” Vamplew says.

The torch relay echoed the use of fire and light used in other Nazi propaganda.

Ancient Greek Olympians competed naked: TRUE

This one is actually true. When competing, the ancient Greeks bared all.

One reason for this was athletes could show how upper class they were.

“It distinguished the people who could train all the time from people like farmers who worked clothed, but then had very tanned arms when they stripped naked,” he says.

And not only were they naked, they were also oiled up.

Different oils were used by different athletes, with the winner’s oil getting good publicity.

“[These oils] could sell at expensive rates afterwards … It was a bit of product endorsement in the early Olympics,” Vamplew notes.

Hosting the Olympics is a great investment for a city: FALSE

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), which is responsible for organising the Olympics, waxes lyrical about how the event can be a financial boon for the host city.

The reality is that cities hosting the Games almost always make an accounting loss.

Vamplew says the only recent instance of the Olympics being a sound investment was Barcelona in 1992.

So is it a case of wasted public money?

“It can create employment. But the question is, could [that public money] have been used more effectively?” he asks.

“Does it leave a tax burden on the population? Do they borrow the money?”

But what about the intangible benefits, the once-in-a-lifetime memories created, like being in Sydney in 2000 when Cathy Freeman won gold or when Midnight Oil sang bangers to the whole world at the Closing Ceremony?

“There’s an awful lot of evidence that economists have done measuring happiness. And the Olympics bring happiness. There’s no doubt about that,” Vamplew says.

“But that happiness is ephemeral. It lasts a year, or two years, and that’s it.”

And many recent Olympics have left cities with white elephant venues. ESPN reported that in the year after Rio de Janeiro 2016, only 15 of the original 27 venues hosted some sort of event.

But in a shift, the IOC is now encouraging host cities to “prioritise existing venues, then consider temporary venues”.

Everyone wants to host: FALSE

As recently as the early 2000s, there was a strong demand to host the Games, but that has declined.

While there’s much to celebrate about Brisbane winning the right to host the 2032 Olympics, it was the only city on the ballot.

“I think people are waking up to what it costs the inhabitants,” Vamplew says.

That doesn’t mean the Games will be ending any time soon. Instead, he predicts there will be a shift in who is hosting.

“They’ll always find someone, particularly some of the more emerging countries,” he says.

“When you look at Brazil, Russia and China, they did it just to put themselves on the world map, so to speak. And I think countries like that will want to do it.”

The Olympics are untainted by profit motive: FALSE

Each Olympiad, sponsorship deals and media contracts can be very lucrative.

“There’s a lot of money to be made and it doesn’t always go to the sport and it doesn’t always go to the government,” Vamplew says.

Vamplew argues that the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics signalled the “full acceptance of commercialism” by the IOC, with the TV rights sold for a whopping amount, along with dozens of commercial “partners”. That said, the Opening Ceremony did include a literal rocket man.

And over the years, some have gone to extraordinary lengths to privilege sponsors.

For example, in the lead-up to the London 2012 Olympics, there were certain restrictions employed to help sponsors get the best exposure.

At these Olympics, sailing events were due to be held in the town of Weymouth and a local butcher made a sign which featured the Olympic rings as sausages. He was told to take it down.

The butcher later remade the sign — featuring sausages in the shape of five squares instead of rings.

But Vamplew does point out there hasn’t been a total commercial takeover of the Games, as we’re yet to see a “Coca-Cola 100 metres” or a “Nike marathon”.

And unlike many other major sporting events, the Olympic competitors and venues aren’t totally awash with advertising.

Sydney 2000 was the best Olympics: DEPENDS WHO YOU ASK

Twenty-four years after Sydney 2000, many Sydneysiders will still agree with then-IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch’s declaration that it was “the best Olympic Games ever”.

After all, as memorable as Mr Bean cameos and swimming in the Seine have been since, arguably nothing can top the gravitas and grace of Fatso the Wombat.

Yet, Vamplew has another view: “I’d say Melbourne in 1956.”

He points to one of the most political moments in the history of the Games — the “Blood in the Water” water polo match, which took place between Hungary and the USSR in the fallout of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

And he says it was the first great “long-distance” Games, with more than 3,000 athletes travelling thousands of kilometres to compete.

Good news for Sydney’s perennial rival.