You hear a gunshot, and you take off, looking at the ground, running faster than you ever have before. When we asked Lyla Hildenbrand, a member of the track team, about her opinion on the iconic gunshot that begins every race, she said, “It’s such a great experience having adrenaline pumping right before the race, and the gunshot sounding 10x louder in your head as you blast.” You take the risk of looking up and glancing at the finish line 80 meters away. A competitor is running next to you and catching up, but your coach always reminds you not to worry about the competition. In just a span of a few seconds, you have already reached the finish line, and you lean forward to get that extra 0.1 second taken off your final time. You look at the finish board to your left, and it says you came in second by just 0.2 seconds. This makes you consider those 0.2 seconds and their significance; it also makes you wonder whether those 0.2 seconds would have mattered in the ancient Olympics and if they could even accurately say who the winner was when margins were small. How much has changed in track and field?

In the valley of Olympia on the southwest coast of the Greek peninsula, in 776 BCE, the only track event was the “stadion,” a 200-meter race. The ancient Olympic Games, which were held every four years, eventually expanded, adding events such as the broad jump, javelin, and discus. At Rowland Hall track meets, we still honor these traditions by competing in similar events, such as the 200-meter race, one of the most competitive races that features a sprint with high stamina. Another major competitive event is the javelin, which was originally a hunting weapon in ancient Greece but is now used at track meets worldwide, including those Rowland Hall students compete in.

Although there are many similarities between present-day and ancient track and field, there are even more differences. The most glaring difference is that they used to compete naked—yikes! Another obvious issue is that women were not allowed to compete in ancient times, and most women were banned from even watching the competitions. This rule was held in place until the 1920’s when women were allowed to compete in track in the Olympics. Even after this big change, however, girls weren’t welcome to compete in high school track until 1972’s passage of Title XI; at that point, only 1 in every 27 girls played varsity sports. Going back to Greece, anyone could compete, ranging from farmers to soldiers to aristocrats, as long as they were free Greek men. Today, anyone can compete in track, regardless of their origin or gender (except that in many states, including Utah, you currently must compete with the gender that you were assigned at birth). Regardless of gender, there is always a winner; in ancient Greece, the winners of these events were presented with an olive wreath, and some were given large ceramic jars filled with olive oil. The jars were decorated with the goddess Athena on one side and an image of an event on the other. Today in track and field, the prize for winning is a medal, which may not be as elegant as a ceramic jar, but is more rewarding in the present day.

While there are many similarities between track and field today at Rowland Hall and the ancient Greek games, there are even more differences. From the ancient stadium being more incorporated with nature and being more detailed while modern day stadiums focus on efficiency and safety to ancient competitors running naked while modern competitors wear singlets and shorts, there has been a significant change in two-and-a-half centuries. This transformation over 2700 years is important because it laid the groundwork for many modern sports, especially modern track and field. The expansion of events, such as adding the 1oom dash and shot put, continue to shape our track and field meets and practices today. In a way, all of his history led up to that gunshot of the race that you would win by 0.2 seconds.