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| | Guardian | Olympian heights |
 | | By 708 BC, the pentathlon was a major feature, the five events being the military skills of javelin and discus throwing, wrestling, jumping and running. |
 | | For several centuries all the events took place on a single day, but in 472 BC they were spread for the first time over several days, with a grand ceremony at the end during which victors were given their prize, a wreath of olive leaves from the sacred grove of Zeus. |
 | | In a play by Aristophanes, set in the 420s BC, a man asks his son to read him a Pindaric ode, and the boy chooses one that celebrates a victory 40 years earlier. |
| www.guardian.co.uk /print/0,3858,4027549-105268,00.html (1532 words) |
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