<P> Apparently starting with just a single foot race, the program gradually increased to twenty - three contests, although no more than twenty featured at any one Olympiad . Participation in most events was limited to male athletes except for women who were allowed to take part by entering horses in the equestrian events . Youth events are recorded as starting in 632 BC . Our knowledge of how the events were performed primarily derives from the paintings of athletes found on many vases, particularly those of the Archaic and Classical periods . </P> <P> The only event recorded at the first thirteen games was the stade, a straight - line sprint of just over 192 metres . The diaulos (lit . "double pipe"), or two - stade race, is recorded as being introduced at the 14th Olympiad in 724 BC . It is thought that competitors ran in lanes marked out with lime or gypsum for the length of a stade then turned around separate posts (kampteres), before returning to the start line . Xenophanes wrote that "Victory by speed of foot is honored above all ." </P> <P> A third foot race, the dolichos ("long race"), was introduced in the next Olympiad . Accounts of the race's distance differ, it seems to have been from twenty to twenty - four laps of the track, around 7.5 km to 9 km, although it may have been lengths rather than laps and thus half as far . </P> <P> The last running event added to the Olympic program was the hoplitodromos, or "Hoplite race", introduced in 520 BC and traditionally run as the last race of the games . Competitors ran either a single or double diaulos (approximately 400 or 800 metres) in full military armour . The hoplitodromos was based on a war tactic of soldiers running in full armor to surprise the enemy . </P>

What were the games in the ancient olympics