My favourite Olympic Games story comes not from Rio in 2016 but from Persepolis in 492 BC.
The setting was the court of King Darius I, who styled himself Darius the Great. His Persian empire was vast, but there were problems: the Greek Ionian states had revolted, and although they had been ruthlessly put down, the root cause remained – Greece itself.
So he sent a trusted general, Mardonius, to finish off the Greek mainland. Mardonius’s troops smashed through Thrace and Thessaly with little serious resistance; but then something strange happened. Suddenly there was no resistance at all.
When this was relayed to Darius the king suspected a trick, and called one of his Greek captives to explain. Well, said the Greek, it was simple: this was the time of the games at Olympia, when every four years the young men of Greece abandoned war to compete in various sporting contests.
Incredulous, Darius asked what could draw them to these games; the winners must surely receive huge fortunes. Well no, actually, replied the Greek; all the winners received was a wreath of olive branches.
The courtiers rocked with mirth and derision: what gullible fools these Greeks must be. But Darius was wiser. If these Greek will do so much for honour alone, he mused, what will they do when their homes and families are threatened? And at the battle of Marathon the Persians found out.