Events at the Olympics
Olympiad Year Event first introduced
1st 776 BC Stade
14th 724 BC Diaulos
15th 720 BC Long distance race (Dolichos)
18th 708 BC Pentathlon, wrestling
23rd 688 BC Boxing (pygmachia)
25th 680 BC Four horse chariot race (tethrippon)
33rd 648 BC Horse race (keles), pankration
37th 632 BC Boys’ stade and wrestling
38th 628 BC Boys’ pentathlon (Discontinued same year)
41st 616 BC Boys’ boxing
65th 520 BC Hoplite race (hoplitodromos)
70th 500 BC Mule-cart race (apene)
71st 496 BC Mare horse race (calpe)
84th 444 BC Mule-cart race (apene) and Mare horse race (calpe) both discontinued
93rd 408 BC Two-horse chariot race (synoris)
96th 396 BC Competition for heralds and trumpeters
99th 384 BC Tethrippon for horse over one year
128th 266 BC Chariot for horse over one year
131st 256 BC Race for horses older than one year
145th 200 BC Pankration for boys
Apparently starting with just a single foot race, the program gradually increased to twenty-three contests, although no more than twenty featured at any one Olympiad. Participation in most events was limited to male athletes, except for women who were allowed to take part by entering horses in the equestrian events. Youth events are recorded as starting in 632 BC. Our knowledge of how the events were performed primarily derives from the paintings of athletes found on many vases, particularly those of the Archaic and Classical periods.
Competitors had access to two gymnasiums for training purposes: the Xystos for the runners and pentathletes, and the Tetragono for wrestlers and boxers.
For most of its history, Olympic events were performed in the nude. Pausanias says that the first naked runner was Orsippus, winner of the stadion race in 720 BC, who simply lost his garment on purpose because running without it was easier. The 5th-century BC historian Thucydides credits the Spartans with introducing the custom of “publicly stripping and anointing themselves with oil in their gymnastic exercises. Formerly, even in the Olympic contests, the athletes who contended wore belts across their middles; and it is but a few years since that the practice ceased.”
Source: Wikipedia
