The ancient Olympic Games (1) _____ part of a religious festival in honour (2) _____ the Greek god Zeus, the father of all Greek gods and goddesses. The festival and games (3) _____ in Olympia, a religious Sanctuary. In the ancient games, athletes received prizes worth large amounts of money. In fact the word “athlete” is an ancient Greek word, (4) _____ “one who competes (5) _____ a prize”. The marathon was not an event of the ancient Olympic Games. The marathon is a modern event that was first (6) _____ in the Olympic Games in 1896. It was (7) _____ a village called Marathon (8) _____ the Persians (9) _____ by a small Greek army. The news of the victory was brought to Athens by a soldier, who ran the 26 miles from the village of Marathon to the capital. 26 miles was (10) _____ adopted as the distance of the modern marathon race.