It is hard to imagine participants in the Olympic Games or other sporting events competing in the nude today. That would defy the good sense and sport ethics, as many would say. Such appearance would also draw criticism or boycott from conservative or religious groups.

Perhaps fans only might have another opinion, if ALL athletes performed in Adam’s and especially Eve’s clothes.

And yet more than 2,800 years ago Ancient Greece’s athletes competing to bring homage to Olympic god Zeus were all naked. They were men, of course.

For ancient Greeks, the naked male body was an important symbol of manhood, dominant status, physical strength, and victory. Zeus, the supreme god, was the celestial embodiment of these virtues and in the 8th through 4th centuries BC honoring him in the nude was considered prestigious.

In fact, the modern words “gymnasium” and “gymnastics”, which nowadays define a type of public school and a kind of sport, respectively, derive from the Greek γυμνός (gymnos), which translates as “naked” or “lightly clad”.

Gymnasium during those times was a place where men and teen boys were trained and educated.