Moderna olimpijska tekmovanja – odmev antičnega atleta?

By the end of the 4th century AD, the ancient athletic competitions at the sanctuary of Olympia had been outlawed and relegated to history. Over the centuries, the shrine was demolished and buried by earthquakes. However, the Renaissance and humanism saw a gradual return of the notion of ancient gymnastics into European intellectual discourse, as well as increasing knowledge of the ancient Greek competitions at Olympia, which had been culturally separated from the Roman ludi and gladiators and now formed a historical example for modern sports. In Ljubljana, for example, the Sokol gymnasts stated in 1863 that gymnastics was an “art” rooted in ancient Greek history, and stressed the competitions of Olympia. In keeping with the development of gymnastics and sport and the increasing knowledge of ancient contests, Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin called in 1894 for the introduction of international sport competitions based on the Greek example