单项选择题

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In ancient Greece athletic festivals were very important and had strong religious associations. The Olympian athletic festival held every four years in honor of Zeus, king of the Olympian Gods, eventually lost its local character, and became first a national event and then, international.
The Games took place in August on the plain by Mount Olympus. Many thousands of spectators gathered from all parts of Greece. Slaves, women and dishonored persons were not allowed to compete. The exact sequence of events is uncertain, but events included boy’s gymnastics, boxing, wrestling, horse racing and field events.
On the last day of the Games, all the winners were honored by having a ring of holy olive leaves placed on their heads. So great was the honor that the winner of the foot race gave his name to the year of his victory. Although Olympic winners received no prize money, they were, in fact, richly rewarded by their state authorities. How their results were compared with modern standards, we unfortunately have no means of telling.
Nowadays, the Games are held in different countries in turn. The host country provides vast facilities, including a stadium, swimming pools and living accommodation, but competing countries pay their own athletes’ expenses.
The Olympics start with the arrival in the stadium of a torch, lighted on Mount Olympus by the sun’s rays. It is carried by a succession of runners to the stadium. The torch symbolizes the continuation of the ancient Greek athletic ideals, and it burns throughout the Games until the closing ceremony. The well-known Olympic flag, however, is a modern conception: the five interlocking rings symbolize the uniting of all five continents participating in the Games.
In the early days of ancient Olympic Games______.