Kosta
Banned
Why, though? There is no real way to eliminate the pagan rituals behind the Olympics, it's in the name. If they really wanted some sort of national sporting competition, they would make their own. Though that does beg the question; did Byzantine nobles and royalty have some sort of standardized pastime in the same way as jousting and hunting became in late medieval Europe?
Yes, the Romans had tzykánion, which is like polocrosse, and hunting was just as popular for Roman elite as it was for the Western elite.