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Born | Sparta, Laconia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event | Stadion & Diaulos | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Chionis of SpartaorChionis of Laconia (Χίονις; /ˈkaɪoʊnɪs/; fl. 7th century BC) was an ancient Greek athlete who won multiple events at the ancient Olympic Games representing the city of SpartainLaconia.[1] Eusebius of Caesarea lists Chionis as victor in both the stadion and diaulos races at the 29th, 30th and 31st Olympiads (conventionally dated 664–656 BC).[2] Pausanias' Description of Greece credits Chionis with a fourth stadion victory in the 28th games of 668 BC, which Eusebius assigns to Charmis of Sparta.[3] Pausanias says that Chionis was an oikistatBattus of Thera's foundation (631 BC) of Cyrene, Libya.[2] Paul Christesen suggests that claim may, on the one hand, date from much later heroization of Chionis by Sparta's Agiads seeking an alliance with Cyrene,[4] but, on the other hand, may have some basis in fact.[1]
Chionis' record number of Olympic victories was not matched until 480 BC, when Astylos of Croton (representing SyracuseinSicily) won his third stadion–diaulos double and added a seventh victory by winning the hoplitodromos, a race run in hoplite armour.[5] Pausanias says that in response to Astylos' memorial steleinOlympia, the Spartans amended the inscription on Chionis' stele to point out that there was no hoplitodromos event in his time.[6] Christesen suggests the Spartans may have conflated Charmis with Chionis to inflate Chionis' victories and match Astylos' total,[7] and that this reflected contemporary discord between Sparta and Syracuse under Hiero I.[8] Around this time the Agiads commissioned from Myron statues of Chionis placed at Sparta and Olympia.[9]
Eusebius, probably quoting Sextus Julius Africanus, says Chionis could jump a distance of 52 podes (feet).[10] Frank Zarnowski gives the Olympic foot a value of 32.05 cm, so that Chionis's mark of 16.66 metres (54.7 ft) is longer that the 55 podes achieved by Phayllos of Croton at the Pythian Games — 16.30 metres (53.5 ft) with a Pythian foot of 29.65 cm.[11] In the ancient Olympics, the jump was one of the five components of the pentathlon, an event which Chionis presumably did not win.[12] His alleged distance, nearly double the modern long jump world record, has been variously interpreted as a heroic exaggeration, or relating to something like a triple jump rather than a single jump, or a misreading of the Greek numerals for 22 podes (7.05 metres (23.1 ft)).[13]
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