In the competition the athletes were always nude. The beauty of the naked body was considered to reflect internal beauty and to illustrate harmonious balance between body and mind. There were three conditions for athletes to participate: be a male, of Greek origin and a free man. Later Romans were allowed for the game. Prior to the game both athletes and judges take an oath where they promise to take part in the competition in an honorable way abiding by the rules. Anyone cheating has to pay fines, these fines were used to erect status of Zeus with the name of the cheat inscribed on its base. Torch relay is an event that shows the sacredness of fire. It was a religious ritual celebrating the precious gift Prometheus gave to Human race stealing from Zeus.

All Olympic sports were individual sports. Married women were not allowed among the spectators. The ceremony starts and ends with animal sacrifices on the altar of Zeus. Some famous games were: running, jumping, discus throwing, javelin throwing and wrestling. The winner in these games was rewarded with a wild olive leaf crown. The ancient Greeks considered that it was gods who decided to grant victory to an athlete. Victory was often represented in the form of a winged female character known as Nike, which means victory in Greek.

It was the emperor Theodosius I, a convert to Christianity, who decided to abolish the Olympic Games in 393 AD, after more than 1000 years of existence. He was thinking it is too pagans. Later on the site of Olympia was destructed by fire and earthquake and buried deep into earth. Only in 18th century, research work started, and in the 19th century, archaeological digs finally revealed the ruins of Olympia.

The Present
In 1896 Olympic returned starting from Athens. The new creator was Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a French educator. Some of the sayings of de Coubertin: "For me sport was a religion... with religious sentiment.", "In the Olympic Oath, I ask for only one thing: sporting loyalty.". Modern Olympics mimicked the ancient rituals except the Zeus- as god- was replaced by "Sport" being the new god. Women started to flow at Olympics not only as spectators but as participants. The Oath and  Torch relay are present as well. This Athens 2004 Olympic made the ancient Greek mythology alive in mind. Billions of spectators around the Globe watched live the symbols of paganism in Ancient Greek.

What Islam Says?
The Roman emperor Theodosius I -being a loyal Christian, found it an obligation on him to abolish this festival which contradicts with the teachings of Jesus. There is no room for pagan festivals in Islam. Shirk (associating deities with Allah) is the greatest sin in Islam.

The Olympics is a religious festival. It was religious when it started in Ancient Greece. And it became religious when it was revived in the modern Greece. The god Zeus was clear in ancient rituals, and he is hidden in the modern rituals. An oath is taken not in the name of Allah or Yahweh or even Jesus. The oath is taken in the name of all competitors. So, these are the new gods in modern Olympics.

When the modern Europe separated from Church and all religion, it realized that it created a great vacuum in the heart of human being; the great need of a religion. So, it started to search for new ways to fulfill this great urge of worship which is in the heart of every person. Modern Science and technology was used in search for a new god. Archeologist un-Earthed Olympia. It was a great opportunity to un-Earth with Olympia the religion of Olympia: paganism. It was difficult to announce that at a time where people were still accustomed to monotheism.

Athens 2004 was a great opportunity to celebrate the Ancient Greek Paganism. With the help of satellite and modern information technology now every man-woman and children are exposed to the pagan culture. The opening ceremony of Athens 2004 depicted clearly the pagan culture of ancient Greek.

Islam encourages sports like: Swimming, horsemanship, archery, etc. These sports build power and help in Jihad. However, all these sports must be free from Islamic dress-code violation and free from any kind of gambling. These sports must not lead to excessive wastage of money and time. These sports should be means for a noble objective and not objectives by themselves.

Even, if we look at modern Olympic games without linking it to paganism -for the sake of argument- we could see lots of problems. The participation of women in the game exposing their bodies in public is a great violation to the Divine teachings. It is very surprising that sports men wear long trousers in athletics whereas women wear very short! Any explanation fails except the one that advocates a deliberate challenge to Divine instructions. Apart from women issues, look at the billions of dollars spent in these days for a bunch of people having fun, whereas billions of people are staying far beneath the poverty line.

Olympia was a place of wrath and anger of Allah. It was a place of Shirk and paganism. Fire and Earthquake brought this city under earth where it remained there for centuries. The modern civilization followed the trend of reviving the ancient cultures which were subject to Allah's wrath. Ancient Egypt, dead sea, Olympia are few examples. Now, the question is: When is the second destruction of Olympia?

Reference:
Official Website of Athens 2004
Some quotes of Pierre de Coubertin