INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

All the above examples show that the meaning of the “record”, in
antiquity, was not the higher achievement of faster time or greater
length in sports of sprint, throws or jumps, as nowadays, but the
selection of the greatest possible combination of victories in duration
of time or in number of different sports. Ancient Greeks created
winner-lists for all various sports in the Panhellenic and local games
(Olympic Games, Panathenian Games, Nemean Games, etc.) but not
catalogues of the athletes’ performances, which were not able to be
measured (lack of chronometers, different systems of measuring
length in the various city-states).
This significance that Young gives to the ancient Greek “record”
is not foreign towards sports as we know them today. In 1984, C.
Lewis broke J.C. Owens’ record by winning during the Olympic
Games of Los Angeles four gold medals. He stated that he was not
interested in breaking the world record in long jump but he wanted to
win as many possible victories in different track events. In 1996, in
Atlanta, M. Johnson declared that many athletes possessed records in
the 200 m. race and he tried to make history not by breaking the world
record of 200 m race but by winning at the same time in the 200 m
and 400 m. races. And he truly did it, by winning these two gold
medals, something that nobody had achieved until then and will be
very difficult to achieve again in the future!
II. The history of ancient sports, through the ancient writers, gives
a great number of ancient athletes, who remained famous for their
achievements and records. Many of the reported records appear
excessive and for certain do not correspond to reality, because they
exaggerate the capabilities and stamina of the human body. Besides,
many athletic achievements are attributed to individuals, who, later
on, did not excel as athletes and were not Olympic champions; and
these achievements were committed neither in athletic places (e.g. in a
stadium), nor under the presence and the control of official judges.
That is why we have to be very skeptical about these.
There are many examples:
Ladas from Argos was running so fast and so light that he did not
leave traces. Ageus from Argos and Drymos from Epidauros each
covered the distance from Olympia to his homeland in a few hours.
Lasthenes from Thebes ran faster than a horse from Thebes to
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