Phayllos of Croton, athlete and military hero, won three victories at the Pythian Games, although it is unclear what he won at Olympia.

He reportedly jumped over the entire 15.2m sandpit at the long jump competition, registering 16.2m. It is physically impossible to jump that far (the men's...

Diagoras of Rhodes was the winner in the 79th Olympiad in 464BC. He was 2.2m tall and thought to be the son of a god. He never swayed out of the way of his opponent's punches.

Diagoras died on the same day that his sons won their own Olympic titles. First, his one son claim...

Milon of Croton was a six-time Olympic champion. He was a huge, greedy person. As part of a sacrifice during each Game, Milon carried a cow on his back into the sanctuary, killed it and ate the whole cow in one day. He reportedly once downed nine litres of red wine in one go.

Kyniska of Sparta won the four-horse race in 396BC and 392BC.

From an early age, the daughter of the king of Sparta wanted to partake in the Games. Despite women not being allowed to compete, custom permitted the owner of a chariot to do so, allowing Kyniska to set the way ...