Peter Jones

How Olympia beat the cheats

Everyone had to train in the same place, under the eye of the official judges – and then compete naked

issue 06 August 2016

What to do about today’s Olympic drug cheats? Since ancient Greeks did not do chemistry, drugs were not a problem. They could, however, be banned from competing on many other grounds. The system worked as follows.

The one-week games, always staged at Olympia, were overseen by a panel of judges from the nearby town of Elis (36 miles away), and it was these judges who determined the eligibility or otherwise of any competitor.

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