The year is 776BC. A naked man soaked in olive oil is being flogged senseless after false starting in the pentathlon.
Two millennia later, in a sleepy corner of Oxfordshire, civilised adults are clubbing each other to death in the name of Olympic revival.
From contestants eaten by wolves to Eric the Eel, this is the unhinged 3,000 year history of the Olympic Games…
Links from the pod:
Eric the Eel at Sydney 2000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0ZePJy_nZw
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The Upshot