Anticipation builds for the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics on Friday, July 27, at the Olympic Stadium in London. The 2012 Games will run through August 12.
Editor's note: David Potter is a professor of classics at the University of Michigan. He is the author of "The Victor's Crown: A History of Ancient Sport from Homer to Byzantium" and the forthcoming biography "Constantine the Emperor."
(CNN) -- On Wednesday, nine athletes were tested positive for "sophisticated doping" and banned from the 2012 Olympics. This shouldn't surprise anyone. For as long as there have been games, there have been stories of cheating.
Competitive sports -- an open-ended contest for a prize -- started in antiquity. The Olympics, which were held every four years at Olympia, a sanctuary to the god Zeus in the western Peloponnese, became the most prestigious venue for athletics by about 600 B.C. and spawned a whole series of similar events in the next century.
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Managing the Olympics or any other athletic event was never easy. In the first surviving set of rules at Olympia, breaking your opponent's fingers in wrestling was strictly forbidden. Rules like this point to a main worry among the people who ran games in the ancient world -- "performance suppression."
While there were no ancient rules against performance enhancement -- our chief concern today -- there is lot of evidence for both the theory and practice of getting people to do less than their best.
Some forms of performance suppression were more effective than others. The most colorful was to place a curse on an athlete so he would not do his best (or the gods of the underworld would drive him mad). This often involved the burial of a lead tablet containing the curse in some place that mattered -- ancient racing venues have produced a fair number of these items.
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Another method, typical in the ancient and modern worlds, involved hidden payments to athletes to take a dive. In one famous case, the man who promised a bribe to his son's opponent refused to pay because he decided that his boy would have won anyway -- and was stupid enough to say so where people could hear him.
Perhaps there is not a lot here that has changed, as a British paper is reporting that the father of the only woman on Australia's archery team has had a restraining order lifted because he convinced a judge that he had not tried to intimidate one of his daughter's rivals in a qualifying round.
There there's the route of buying an official, a scheme well known up to this day. It's an athletic nightmare that entails a series of dead heats being declared until the favored contestant could win.
Sometimes the open prejudice of management would come into play. One easy way to get to the desired result was to arrange an especially easy draw for the favored athlete so he could reach the final round against an exhausted opponent. This seems to have been so common that one man actually boasted that he had never won through the Roman emperor's favor.
Finally, and most unpleasantly, there was simple dirty play. Some people developed especially violent moves and were not deterred by the cautionary tale about a man who killed his opponent with a vicious blow in a championship fight and lost the title because people thought he was ghastly.
Chariot racing, which was extremely popular in the old days, seems also to have been prone to catastrophes of all sorts as drivers smashed into each other on the long, crowded course. In one Olympic year, things were so bad that not a single chariot finished the race. Athletes would use a reputation for ferociousness to intimidate their opponents.
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Responses to cheating have always involved stripping a champion of a title, and, at least at Olympia, included the requirement that the athlete dedicate a monument recording his shame for all time (it is thanks to these monuments that we can appreciate the range of cheating). This method of embarrassing the cheater, which stressed the memory of what a person had done wrong, seems a bit more effective than the modern practice of merely erasing a name from the record book and trying to forget what happened.
In the next few weeks, as we watch the best athletes from around the world setting new records, don't be surprised if more stories of cheating emerge.
And if we want to reduce cheating in competitive sporting events, maybe it's better to follow the ancient practice of remembering athletes' misdeeds by, say, erecting a public monument that contains all the names of the Olympic cheaters.
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Potter.
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The sun sets behind the Tower Bridge in London hours before the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games on Friday.
South Korean archer Im Dong Hyun celebrates breaking the first world record of the London Olympics on Friday. The two-time gold medalist, who is classified as legally blind and can't see out of his right eye, bettered his own 72-arrow mark in the qualification competition.
Kaori Kawanaka of Japan, Pia Lionetti of Italy and Tetyana Dorokhova of Ukraine retrieve their arrows Friday during the archery ranking round on opening day of the Olympics in London.
Brady Ellison of the United States prepares for the archery ranking round on Olympics opening day in London.
A Belgian cyclist rides during a track cycling practice session ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games on Friday in London.
Competitors inspect targets Friday during the Archery Ranking Round at the Lord's Cricket Ground in London.
Slovenia's Klemen Strajhar gets ready to arch during the Archery Ranking Round at the Lord's Cricket Ground as part of the Olympics' opening day Friday.
The royal barge Gloriana carries the Olympic flame along the River Thames from Hampton Court to Tower Bridge on Friday, the final day of the Olympic torch relay. The grand finale will see the torch enter the Olympic Stadium, the last stage in a 70-day relay around the United Kingdom, and set the Olympic cauldron aflame Friday, symbolizing the beginning of the Games.
Sadio Mane of Senegal leaps over goalkeeper Jack Butland of Great Britain during the first-round men's soccer match between Great Britain and Senegal at Old Trafford on Thursday, July 26, in Manchester, England.
Marvin Sordell of Great Britain battles with Moussa Konate of Senegal during the first-round match between Great Britain and Senegal.
Japanese fans show support for their team during the men's first-round match between Spain and Japan at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland on Thursday.
Great Britain's Craig Bellamy celebrates a goal during the first round Group A Match between Great Britain and Senegal on Thursday, July 26, in Manchester, England.
Uruguay forward Edinson Cavani, right, slips a pass under United Arab Emirates defender Abdelaziz Sanqour, left, in Manchester on Thursday. Uruguay defeated the UAE, 2-1.
Great Britain fans attend the Group A Match between Great Britain and Senegal on Thursday in Manchester.
Gabon's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, right, celebrates after scoring a goal during the men's soccer match against Switzerland on Thursday in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England.
An open double-deck bus carries the Olympic torch down Oxford Street on Thursday in London.
Morocco's Houssine Kharja, right, controls the ball against Honduras' Roger Espinoza during a first-round Group D match Thursday in Glasgow, Scotland.
Ismail Matar, center, of the United Arab Emirates celebrates with his teammates after scoring in a first-round Group A match against Uruguay on Thursday in Manchester, England.
Spain's Juan Mata, left, challenges Hotaru Yamaguchi of Japan during a group D soccer match Thursday in Glasgow.
The ExCeL exhibition center, one of the Olympic venues, is gearing up Thursday on the eve of the Games' opening ceremony.
A Mexican fan watches the men's soccer match Thursday between Mexico and South Korea in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Spain's Inigo Martinez, left, fouls Kensuke Nagai of Japan during the match Thursday.
Spain's Martinez gets a red card and is ejected during Thursday's match against Japan.
Spectators take pictures Thursday at the Olympic Village in London.
Abdelaziz Barrada of Morocco celebrates after scoring during a Group D soccer match against Honduras on Thursday in Glasgow.
Security personnel patrol in front of Olympic Park in London on Thursday, a day ahead of the opening ceremony. Security concerns surfaced when a private contractor failed to provide enough staff. As a result, the government is deploying 18,200 troops to remedy the shortfall.
The Honduras men's soccer team celebrates after scoring a goal against Morocco during a first-round match Thursday.
Honduras' Jose Velasquez, left, gets challenged by Zakaria Labyad of Morocco during Thursday's match.
Police patrol Westfield Stratford City shopping mall near London Olympic Park on Thursday.
Spectators gather as the Olympic torch is carried from Islington Town Hall on Thursday. London cheered on the torch as it made its way past the city's historic landmarks.
Amanda Clark of the U.S. sailing team chats with reporters Thursday during a press conference in Weymouth, England.
Kim Song Hui of North Korea executes a bicycle kick while challenged by Natalia Ariza of Colombia during the first-round women's football competition at Hampden Park on Wednesday, July 25, in Glasgow, Scotland.
Tower Bridge, adorned with the Olympic rings, is seen late Wednesday, two days before the official start of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Hazleydi Rincon of Colombia and Kim Song Hui of North Korea chase the ball in a first-round women's football match.
Brazil's Marta is in action with Cameroon's goalkeeper Annette Ngo Ndom during the first-round women's football competition at Millennium Stadium on Wednesday.
North Korea's Kim Song Hui, in white, vies with Colombia's Natalia Ariza on July 25.
North Korea's Jon Myong Hwa, in white, vies with Colombia's Sandra Sepulveda, in green, and Orianica Velasquez , in yellow, during first-round women's soccer play at Hampden Park on July 25.
South African footballers hold a pennant as they line up before their first-round women's soccer match against Sweden on July 25 at The City of Coventry Stadium in Coventry, England.
North Korean soccer coach Gun Sin Ui, at center in red shirt, waits for his team's match to begin at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland, on Wednesday, July 25. The first-round match against Colombia was delayed.
North Korean official Son Kwang-ho waits for the match against Colombia to begin.
Brazil's Marta, No. 10, is tackled by Christine Manie of Cameroon during the first-round women's soccer match on July 25.
U.S. player Megan Rapinoe jumps on teammate Alex Morgan, No. 13, after Morgan scored during their Group G Olympic women's soccer match against France at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland, on Wednesday, July 25.
American Carli Lloyd celebrates with teammate Amy Le Peilbet after scoring her team's third goal.
Katie Hoyle, left, of New Zealand and teammate Betsy Hassett challenge Karen Carney of Great Britain during their match in the first round of women's soccer in the London 2012 Olympic Games at Millennium Stadium on Wednesday, July 25, in Cardiff, Wales.
Sarah Gregorius of New Zealand reacts after Karen Bardsley of Great Britain saves the ball, barring her from scoring a goal.
Britain's Stephanie Houghton celebrates a goal, adding the first point to the scoreboard, with teammate Ifeoma Diek.
An Olympic lane at the Embankment in London.
France's Louisa Necib, left, is challenged by American Carli Lloyd.
Amber Hearn of New Zealand shoots for a goal.
Casey Stoney of Great Britain goes up against Katie Hoyle of New Zealand.
Britain's Anita Asante kicks off the match with Kelly Smith between Great Britain and New Zealand.
A fan shows his support during the soccer match between Great Britain and New Zealand on Wednesday.
Fans have their choice of Great Britain merchandise before the soccer games begin.
The London Olympics logo in the equestrian arena in Greenwich, London, is seen behind a worker on a lift.
A South Korean news crew reports from in front of the Tower Bridge where Olympics Rings hang.
Badminton player Nathan Robertson poses during the handover of the Olympic Torch at Wembley Stadium two days before the Opening Ceremony.
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