As soon as he took his clothes off, all the other athletes dropped out because they all knew they couldn't beat this guy. There is a story of one huge wrestler showing up for training.
While there was no shame in dropping out before the games, athletes who dropped out during the actual games were humiliated. There, they had to submit to a grueling training regime designed to weed out those who weren't up to Olympic standards. They had to appear at the city of Elis a month before the games. How did the athletes prepare themselves for the Games? The first games had just a single foot race, which was won by the cook Koroibos. There were athletic games all over Greece, but because of the sanctity of Zeus, the Olympics quickly became revered.
