The Dope Olympic Games, 776BC

“The virtues of hemp, it is said, are so great, that an infusion of it in water will cause it to coagulate: hence it is, that if taken in water, it will arrest looseness in beasts of burden. A decoction of the root in water, relaxes contractions of the joints, and cures gout and similar maladies.”

-Pliny the Elder (77 AD)

Wall fresco of Roman prostitutes and customers – Pompeii – pre 79ad

The Dope Olympic Games

I’m a huge fan of the Olympics, a lifetime spent seeking a single moment in time, quite powerful to watch. But its always the untold history that I enjoy reading about…

The Games started as a Pagan festival honoring Zeus held in Olympia, Greece. Starting around the year 776bc and held every 4 years until 394ad, the Olympics became the longest-running recurring event in antiquity…

With an Opening ceremony that would make burning man look like a boy scout jamboree, nudity was a given, animal sacrifices, prostitution and of course drugs were all a part of the crowd experience along with the athletes themselves.

Koroibos, a cook from the nearby city of Elis, claimed the title of first Olympic champion in 776bc. The unlikely hero would win the stadion race, a foot race about 200 yards long.

Original Olympic stadion Track, Olympia, Greece

While there were many different drugs taken at the ancient games, a couple stand out in time…

The word ‘Dope’ comes from the dutch word ‘doop’ referring to a viscous opium based juice.  This drink was popular and drunk by early Olympic athletes and spectators alike.

Just like today, athletes would do anything for an advantage.  Some ancient practices from the games in tale drinking goats blood, eating a diet of sheep hearts or even chewing on raw testicles yum…

But its the fun choices in medicine that strike my curiosity. “Oil blends, herbal infusions and hallucinogenic mushrooms” were all part of Olympic experience for the athletes.

Greek pottery depicting athletes ingesting all kinds of concoctions: “oil blends, herbal infusions and hallucinogenic mushrooms”.

Leading up to and all during the games some athletes would consume liquid potions or teas containing ‘Amanita muscaria'(a hallucinogenic mushroom) to gain focus and clarity while amping up the system.All sorts of oil blends and herbal infusions were used by athletes doctors to both help and heal. Cannabis used in this method of drink was popular at the time.

HERODOTUS (490 – 425-BC), PEDACIUS DIOSCORIEDS – (40 – 90-AD), CLAUDIUS GALEN – (130-200 A.D.) and PLINY the Elder (77 AD) all write about cannabis use in Greek times.

Symposium scene from greek pottery, 420b.c.

The birth of the sports bar…The Olympic games brought many wonders to the world but maybe the most cultural and socially widespread of which was the sports bar.

Coined by Plato as a Symposia or a Symposium, which translated to “to drink together”, these first sports bars were the place to be at the Olympics.

After the day of competition, spectators and athletes alike would meet to drink and discuss the days events, sing and let loose at the Symposia’s.

Entrance to the Olympic field, Olympia, Greece

The Christian emperor Theodosius I ended the Olympic games in 394ad citing the games as an outlawed pagan festival, thank you baby Jesus.

The original stone starting line on Olympic field, Olympia, Peloponnese, Greece 5th century BC

The modern games were reborn in 1896 in Athens, Greece. Organized by the International Olympic Committee, the rebirth of the games would be a much more conservative take on history.Of course there have been the exceptions…

rebirth of the Olympic games.  Athens, Greece 1896

One of my favorite stories of modern Olympics was that of American marathon runner Thomas Hicks.

In the 1904 Olympics held in St. Louis, 32 competitors lined up to take part in the marathon. It was a abnormally hot day with brutal humidity taking out the mental toughness of the athletes even before the opening gun.

Frederick Lorz of the United States would be an early drop out in the brutal race. Being ran down dirt roads in the St. Loius country side, Fredrick Lorz tired and thirsty hitched a ride back to the stadium. The car Fredrick hitched a ride with died just out of sight of the stadium so Frederick chose to jog the rest of the way back.

Appearing back at the stadium he heard a loud cheer from the waiting crowd, understanding the mishap he chose to finish strong to the unsuspecting crowd cheers.  Crossing the finish line first he wasted no time in revealing his ruse.

Thomas Hicks would go on to win the grueling marathon with the help of his trainers… Begging to quit the trainers feed Hicks a steady supply of strychnine, egg white’s followed by shots of Brandy throughout the race…

Thomas Hicks would collapse at the finish line nearly dying from the experience…

Thomas Hicks during the 1904 Olympic Marathon, trainers feeding him strychnine, egg white’s followed by shots of Brandy

At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, Swedish pentathlete Hans-Gunnar Lilijenwall caused a little stir.Before the pistol shooting event he decided to have some beers to ease his nerves.  Shooting good enough for the bronze medal, blood test revealed he was over the alcohol limit and disqualified the team from the event…

Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall at the Olympic Games in Mexico City, Mexico 1968

Of course our friend cannabis makes its presence known in the Modern Games too…In the 1998 Olympic games in Nagano, Japan, after winning the first ever event for the down hill snowboarding, Canadian Ross Rebagliati hands in his post event urine sample.

The sample came back positive for Marijuana, a newly banned substance in the Olympic games. The committee originally took his medal away.

Ross claimed he must have been exposed to the smoke at his going away party before leaving for the games, after admittedly not smoking himself since April of 1997.  He was later given back his medal with the official ruling that marijuana was not a performance enhancing drug at his low levels of thc…

Canadian Ross Rebagliati at the 1998 games

Just a decade earlier at the 1988 Olympic games in Seoul, South Korea, 1,601 athletes were tested to compete at the games. 10 athletes came back positive for cannabis…At the time Cannabis was not a banned substance for the games so no legal actions were taken.

So while cannabis is not a direct sponsor of the Olympics, it always has and always will be there in spirit…