Not just anyone could be in the Olympic Games. One had to have been a male "'free born' Greek without taint or suspicion of sacrilege (desecration, theft or misuse of something sacred) against the Gods." (Kieran and Daley, 1969, pg. 13) They performed religious duties in their home towns. The competitors had to swear that they trained for a period of ten months before they came to Olympia. Once they arrived, they had to endure another strenuous training for thirty days with all of the other athletes who were going to compete. During the thirty days, each athlete was fed only fresh cheese and water at each meal and they were to follow strict rules under the scrutiny of the instructors.

For an athlete to be able to afford to not work for the ten months that he trained, either the athlete or his family had to have a lot of money. The family also had to pay for the man to have a trainer, the journey to Olympia (Athletes could come from anywhere in the region and sometimes had to travel long distances like from the colonies in Ionia, Italy, Sicily, Egypt, Libya and the far corners of the Mediterranean so that they could compete.), the equipment that they had to use, and a feast if that athlete won. The feast was in honor of Zeus for having looked upon the athlete, his family and town with great favor. A feast like this had everyone in attendance who was at the games.

During the first 14 Olympic games, athletes wore shorts called zomas. However, in the 15th Olympics, some say a Spartan named Acanthus started the trend by competing naked. Others say that in those same games, another athlete named Orsippus let his zoma drop so that he was able to run more freely.

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