Click to Start

At the Panhellenic Games of ancient Greece, as early as the fourth century B.C., runners would crouch and lean forward at the ready, their naked bodies glistening with oil. Two cords stretched tight across the starting line restrained them against a premature start. One cord held them at their waist and another at their knees.

At the cry of "apite," for "take off," the cords fell forward and the runners broke, sprinting down the track to the cheers of spectators in the stadium. This was the way the highly competitive foot races of Greece began at least as early as 340 B.C., long before there were starting pistols.