That Wasn’t the First Time a Corpse Won a Competition
Pankration is the ancestor of modern Mixed Martial Arts. A Greek word that means “all force”, pankration combined wrestling and boxing. Nearly everything was permitted except for gouging and biting, or attacking an opponent’s genitals. Arrhichion of Phigalia (died 564 BC), was ancient Greece’s most famous pankratist, and champion in the 572 BC and 568 BC Olympiads. He again competed in the 564 BC Olympics, seeking a third championship. Arrhichion advanced through the early rounds and reached the title fight. There, perhaps with age catching up with him and slowing him down, he got into trouble. His opponent outmaneuvered Arrhichion, got behind him, and with legs locked around his torso and heels digging into his groin, applied a chokehold.
Arrhichion feigned loss of consciousness, to trick his opponent into relaxing a little. When he did, the wily title holder snapped back into action, and snapped his opponent’s ankle while shaking and throwing him off with a convulsive heave. The sudden excruciating pain induced his opponent into the ancient Greek equivalent of tapping out, and he made the sign of submission to the referees. However, in throwing off his opponent while the latter still had him in a powerful chokehold, Arrhichion ended up with a broken neck. His opponent having already conceded, the dead Arrhichion’s was declared the title bout’s winner. It was probably the only time in Olympics history that a corpse was crowned champion. Arrhichion thus added a wrinkle to the athletic ideal of “victory or death” by simultaneously gaining victory and death.