What’s Greek for women athletes?

Coral Wilson

Male Greek athletes have been idolized since their days of glory in

ancient Greece. But Greek women athletes, or Athletries, were reduced

to a mere myth in the modern world.

For two authors, the existence of Athletries became an

irresistible mystery. Playing detectives, they set out to discover

the truth and set the record straight at last.

Anne Reese of Costa Mesa and Orange Coast College professor Irini

Vallera-Rickerson, giggled with delight as they described the series

of adventures that led them to write the first book of its kind,

“Athletries: The Untold History of Ancient Greek Women Athletes.”

“Oh no, there’s no women,” Vallera-Rickerson said she was told

repeatedly in Greece and in America. “When it came to athletics, it

was absolutely unheard of that women would be a part of sports.”

But the names of women recorded in ancient sources proved

otherwise.

“We found inscriptions together with the inscriptions of male

winners, so there was no way they didn’t see the name of a woman,”

Vallera-Rickerson said. “But I think purposely they would ignore it

because it was not important, it was a woman.”

While Greek men are well-known for their athletic endeavors,

through the selective recording of history, the names of women were

ignored and eventually forgotten. In the Victorian era, the only part

women played in athletics was to clap their hands, the women said.

Even today, people initially laughed at the thought of ancient

Greek women athletes. But as more evidence was collected,

intellectuals started to believe.

“Sometimes, [scholars] are so busy in their academic ideas that

they are not willing to hear new ideas,” Vallera-Rickerson said. “And

this happens quite often in the academic world.”

Over the course of seven years, people from universities,

libraries, museums and newspapers joined in on the search. They

played a crucial role in collecting, translating and interpreting

information.

“You couldn’t write a book like this without the support from a

lot of other people,” Reese said.

Recalling countless stories of Greek hospitality, Reese and

Vallera-Rickerson said that while conducting research in Greece, they

were taken out to lunch, invited inside homes and escorted around the

city by taxi drivers and local people. They never paid to enter

museums. One day, when they were out of cash and couldn’t find an

ATM, the taxi driver even offered to lend them the money.

“It was the craziest thing I have ever heard,” Reese said. “I have

never been anywhere where anyone said, ‘I’ll lend you the money. Just

send it back.’”

The Greek people take their heritage seriously and are

enthusiastic about academic research, Reese said.

“They wanted to show us everything they could possibly think of

because they wanted it to be documented for people to know and

learn,” she said. “They were all into the academics, even the cab

drivers. They were all into promoting the heritage.”

The authors found that women competed in bull-jumping, wrestled in

the nude alongside men and competed in full armor in chariot races.

In Sparta, the women were expected to have fit bodies and excel in

athletics, with the idea that they would raise healthy babies, Reese

said.

With the upcoming 2004 Olympics to be hosted in Greece, the

discoveries may have redefined the history of the games. But Reese

and Vallera-Rickerson, friends for 24 years, said most of the time

they were just having a lot of fun.

“Every time we found one name, we got so excited and we were

jumping up and down,” Vallera-Rickerson said. “I think if you want to

do something that becomes successful, you need to have fun with it,

too.”

The women said they documented and double-checked every fact in

the book. Fluent in Greek and English and a native of Athens,

Vallera-Rickerson said that since information is often lost and

misinterpreted in translations, it is essential to consult with

original sources.

Mission accomplished -- the book was published in Greece in 2001

and was just released in America. It received high reviews in both

countries.

Reese and Vallera-Rickerson have reveled in personal satisfaction

after solving the mystery that consumed them for years. Expecting

that many more names of women athletes will be revealed with time,

they said their research will begin the process of redefining history

and revolutionizing a worldwide misconception.

Recalling a previous comment made on a TV appearance in Greece,

Vallera-Rickerson said the same double standard of the past is still

prevalent today.

“When a man does something extraordinary, they call him a hero,”

she said. “And when a woman does something extraordinary, they call

her a goddess -- she couldn’t be a human.”