.... it's in honour of Hera, though Her name is not mentioned.
"... The pre-'Olympic' games of Greece were Hera’s games, held at Her Heraion/temple. The winners were 'heras' – gaining the status of being like Her. In the earliest of times Hera was not the bickering, jealous wife of the Olympian pantheon – She was Sovereign, the native/indigenous Queen. Hera, in the most ancient of stories was commonly identified with Gaia. Marija Gimbutas tells that Hera was called the ‘origin of all things,’ by a Greek writer of the sixth century B.C.E.; that 'Her name is cognate with Hora, season,' and that Hera created and restored life. In recent research Marguerite Rigoglioso develops the theme of Hera’s parthenogenetic capabilities and points to strong indications of a priestesshood (parthenoi) devoted to divine birth at Hera’s sanctuary at Olympia: that the famed Olympic torch is 'the burning flame of Hera Parthenos and her holy parthenoi that is carried around the world and guides the games until their safe conclusion.'..."
A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony, Glenys Livingstone Ph.D., (p.214-215 where there are all the references)
...I think that the Olympics has gotten too big for its britches.
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