A bit of serious correction needed: 1. The sacred site of Olympia was originally dedicated to Hera, not to Zeus. 2. The origins of the Olympic Games lie historically speaking in the running contest that was held in honour of Hera, during which a new priestess was chosen amongst the girls competing in the running contest, which ended in front of the altar of Hera, just to the East of her temple. Mythologically, the origins lie in the myth of Pelops and Hippodameia. 3. Olympia, just like all other sacred sites in Ancient Hellas, was not destroyed by natural phenomena such as earthquakes, but by the religious extremism of emperor Theodosios II and his wife, who sent out his army to plunder all temples, smash all artefacts and statues of gods and goddesses, burn all libraries and their books, destroy all scientific laboratories, hospitals, and academies, and kill all those who refused to convert to the "new religion", thus setting back European civilisation more than a millennium and a half by destroying what had been learnt during the previous three. 4. Never ever was the Olympic flame lit in Antiquity, and certainly not in the temple of Hera. The whole idea of lighting the Olympic flame is a new one, dating to the New Olympic Games of Amsterdam in 1928. In fact, there was an "eternal fire" in Ancient Olympia, more precisely at the altar of Hestia in the Prytaneion, just NW to the temple of Hera, a fire that remained lit for eleven centuries, until the troops of Theodosios II came... 5. Only Hellenes could participate in the Olympic Games, i.e. citizens from any Hellenic city state. This changed in Roman Times, just like so many other things that the Romans thought they could do better (like abolishing the participation of women in the Games and preventing women from being part of the public). 6. Like I explained in paragraph 2, the temple of Zeus was not destroyed by an earthquake or by any natural force. It was destroyed by the troops of the extremist christian emperor Theodosios II, its wooden roof burnt, its columns deliberately pulled down, and its famous statue (created by Pheidias and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world) stolen and taken to Konstantinopolis where it is supposed to have perished in a fire.
