Vol 9 Chapter 211: Out of the ordinary race (1)

The bronze round basin on the altar was already filled with olive oil, and the torch touched it, immediately igniting a raging flame, emitting heat waves around.
Amidst the cheers of the audience, Max seemed to see the familiar faces through the hot fire. They smiled at him one by one, shouting loudly and powerfully: "Yes, Captain!" Under his leadership, he shouted the name of Hades and killed the fleeing enemy...
Two lines of tears rolled down Max's cheeks.
With the support of the two teenagers, Max walked to the exit of the arena, and his mood recovered, and he hurriedly thanked the two teenagers.
But a teenager waved his hand and said, "Uncle, no thanks! My name is Christod, and Croto Catacs is my father."
And another teenager immediately said: "I... my name is Enon and Adoris is my father!"
"Commander-sir?!... Captain?!..." Maxton was stunned. It seemed that he had the will of himself, and once again brought his thoughts back to the battle. Emotionally tumbling, he hugged the two teenagers and cried loudly...
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At this time, in the arena, the head of the refereeing team, Calcidis, passed through the team of athletes and came to the front of the altar. Facing the scrutiny eyes of the athletes, he solemnly said: "Gods are here, I, Karl Sidi Si, as a referee of this games, is willing to swear to you in front of thousands of spectators, to treat every athlete fairly and fairly in the games, and to host every competitive event in strict accordance with the rules of the games , Handle every dispute carefully and responsibly...If you violate the oath, please punish you!"
As soon as his voice fell, more than 200 priests of the entire referee team began to swear in unison. The voices of more than 200 people gathered can basically be heard by the audience in the nearby stands.
Many spectators from the Greek city-states were stunned after listening to the vows. Although the Dionian Games had the same vows as the previous Greek Games, there were obvious differences: First, whether it was the Olympia Games or the Pitia Games. , The Corinthian Games, the Nemean Games... They are all swearing to a god, how can they swear to the gods like they are now? This seems to be some kind of trifling matter. Then there will be a problem. Which will come? What about God's punishment?
Secondly, athletes swear oaths in all previous sports games. The priests as referees do not need to swear, because they are the spokespersons of the gods in the world and are respected. How could it be possible for the priests to cheat in the games. Examples of city-state bribery and openly tampering with the results of competitions have occurred from time to time. However, the priests took the lead in swearing at the Dionian Games, showing the great importance of the Kingdom of Dionian to the Games and its determination to rectify cheating in the Games.
Again, in previous sports games, athletes swear to gods in the temple under the guidance of priests, which is relatively private to the audience. But this time the sports meeting was sworn in the middle of the arena, and the oath clearly mentioned that "the audience outside the stadium should be used as witness", which can please the people even more. After all, the punishment of gods is vain, and the people His anger can be directly expressed.
In any case, the novel way of swearing at the Dionian Games successfully aroused heated discussions among the audience.
At this time, Turiyi athlete representatives once again led all the athletes to swear solemnly with a similar oath in the stadium. The powerful sound formed by thousands of people spread throughout the venue and caused a greater sensation.
Amid the heated discussions among the audience, the opening ceremony of the Dionian Games finally came to an end, and the referee team and the athlete team began to exit in order.
In this regard, most of the audience felt unsatisfied. Even the most critical representatives of Olympia, Delphi, and Corinth thought that the games of their city-states were more sacred, but they had to admit that their opening ceremony was too short and not lively enough. , And too private, far less than the opening ceremony of the Dionian Games to attract the attention of the insightful audience.
"Your Majesty, just like what you said in the invitation letter before, the opening ceremony of this sports meeting is indeed magnificent and novel. It opened my eyes and feels as if I haven't seen enough!" Plato sincerely praised.
Xenophon came up with a retort, but after all he did not say it.
Davers laughed and said, "This opening ceremony has been going on for several hours, and now it’s noon. According to Dionian habits, it’s time for lunch. It’s okay if you haven’t seen enough, the good-looking ones are still to come. We ate lunch and continue to watch the next game."
The Dionian Games did not only arrange the opening ceremony on the first day, after which there will be a 100-meter race.
This is Davers’ proposal. He intends to use this set of combo punches to clearly tell those who are full of doubts about whether the Dionian Games can be done well: Not only is the opening ceremony of the Dionian Games beautiful, but the competition is also very good. wonderful! "So as to inspire the enthusiasm of all native and foreign people in Turii to watch the games.
During lunch, Xenophon raised his doubts: "Davers, when I entered the arena, I saw your announcement on the wall of the entrance. In addition to this opening ceremony, there will be a hundred In the qualifiers of meters, does this 100 meters refer to 100 meters? Did you change the distance of the running race in the traditional Greek Games?"
The weights and measures implemented by the Kingdom of Dionia at the beginning of the founding of the country were very different from those of other Greek city-states. As the country’s strength became stronger and the trade exchanges with other city-states became more frequent, Dionia’s weights and measures were more systematic and More sophisticated and easier to operate, it was gradually accepted by Gentile merchants. When the Greek Alliance was established and Dionian became the overlord of Greece, in the past few years, Dionian’s weights and measures have gradually replaced the Greek city-states. Confusing traditional weights and measures... So Xenophon and Plato are familiar with the concept of "meter".
Daves drank a sip of cold water and explained calmly: "The research of Dionian Academy proves that the distance that we humans can sprint with all their strength is about 100 meters, and with the distance Gradually lengthen, endurance will replace explosive power, so the 100-meter race is to test the speed limit that our adults can reach under the condition of full sprint."
"In this way, the shortest distance (approximately 192 meters) for running competitions in previous sports games is... a test to show athletes' physical endurance to maintain this high speed after sprinting at all levels?" Plato was thoughtful.
"Yes." Davers nodded and responded: "The 200-meter race in the Dionian Games and the shortest distance running race in the previous games are all for this purpose, and the meter race is more focused on the endurance test "
"What about the marathon?" Xenophon interrupted him and asked, "Is it to completely test the speed and endurance of adults? Davers, how did you think of using it as a competition event?"
Although Xenophon and Plato are not interested in the current Athens government, they are all Athenians after all, and they are also proud of the glorious history of Athens. Davers knows this well, so he solemnly said: "Marathon It is of great significance to all Greeks. Playing the game in its name will undoubtedly make the Greeks and even the entire Mediterranean people long-term memory of the past history.
As far as the competition is concerned, the marathon is not just a test of the maximum endurance of the runners, it is also a test of their willpower, let alone winning the championship, it is not easy to be able to persist in running the course. "
"Yes, even if the Scud Filipitz was excited by winning the battle, UU Reading www.uukahnshu.com ran the whole course without stopping, but in the end it was exhausted, which shows the marathon. It's a very dangerous project!" Xenophon said with a solemn expression.
"But even so, there are still a lot of Athenians signing up for this event. They obviously want to bring the glory of the marathon champion back to Athens." Plato said.
"Then they will face the competition from Dionia's best long-distance runners." Daves smiled and said seriously: "However, don't worry too much. We have considered the dangers of this race, especially in the whole The marathon is equipped with medical staff. Once an abnormality is found, emergency rescue will be carried out immediately. Moreover, we also have special regulations for this race. The runners participating in this race must do what they can. When the physical condition is not good, Allow him to retire halfway..."
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When Davers and his two friends were chatting about the sports meeting in the royal stands, the audience was not idle. The Dionians have watched ball games for many years and are very experienced. Because they know that they will spend a day in the arena today, most of them have brought lunch in advance and have already dine with the family at their seats.
Although the Gentile audience did not have the habit of eating lunch, they cheered and applauded non-stop this morning and consumed a lot of energy. When seeing the Dionian audience next to them all chewing food, they felt hungry. At this moment, many hawkers appeared in the passage between the auditoriums in time, peddling bread, salted fish, bacon, dried fruits, syrup... and soon sold out.
The audience was eating, talking excitedly about the opening ceremony just now, while watching the scene in the stadium curiously, guessing how the next game will proceed.