Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that can help answer the question.
Query: Is pankration still an Olympic sport?
At the time of the revival of the Olympic Games (1896), pankration was not reinstated as an Olympic event.
Powers, as an executive producer, has a television special and film under development. Since 2000, he has been active in a non-profit youth development program with the ancient Greek Olympic sport of pankration as its activity platform.
Freestyle wrestling is an international discipline and an Olympic sport, for both men and women. This style allows the use of the wrestler's or his opponent's legs in offense and defense. Freestyle wrestling has its origins in catch-as-catch-can wrestling and the prime victory condition in this style involves the wrestler winning by throwing and pinning his opponent on the mat. American high school and college wrestling is conducted under different rules and is termed scholastic and collegiate wrestling. 
Pankration, from the Greek words "pan" and "kratos" meaning "the one who controls everything", is a world heritage martial art with the distinction of being the only martial sport in the ancient Olympic Games from 648 BC to 393 AD. Modern amateur pankration is a form of mixed martial arts (MMA) that incorporates techniques from multiple systems. Matches are fought with both grappling holds and by striking techniques.
It was one of the most popular events: Pindar wrote eight odes praising victors of the pankration.[63] A famous event in the sport was the posthumous victory of Arrhichion of Phigaleia who "expired at the very moment when his opponent acknowledged himself beaten."[64][65]
In an odd turn of events, a pankration fighter named Arrhichion (Ἀρριχίων) of Phigalia won the pankration competition at the Olympic Games despite being dead. His opponent had locked him in a chokehold and Arrhichion, desperate to loosen it, broke his opponent's toe (some records say his ankle). The opponent nearly passed out from pain and submitted. As the referee raised Arrhichion's hand, it was discovered that he had died from the chokehold. His body was crowned with the olive wreath and returned to Phigaleia as a hero.
In addition to wrestling, Pico also competed in boxing and Pankration. Pico won the national PAL championship in 2008 and was national Junior Golden Gloves champion in 2009, he won ‘most outstanding boxer’ at both tournaments. In Pankration, Pico also was a national champion in 2008. In addition, Pico went to Ukraine in 2010, and won the golden cup European
Pankration championship. During this time Pico also won the California state championships in both sports.
There are also pro tournaments and federations like MFC modern fighting pankration. These competitions are similar to professional mixed martial arts. There are many UFC stars with pankration backgrounds like American UFC 125lb (57kg) champion Demetrious Johnson, Russians Ali Bagautinov, and Khabib Nurmagomedov. Johnson's coach, Matt Hume, is the founder and head trainer at AMC Pankration in Kirkland, WA.
Dioxippus (Διώξιππος) was an ancient Greek pankratiast, renowned for his Olympic victories in the sport of pankration. His fame and skill were such that he was crowned Olympic champion by default in 336 BC when no other pankratiast dared meet him on the field. This kind of victory was called ""akoniti"" (literally: without getting dusted). The most famous story of Dioxippus is his victory over Coragus of the Macedonian army.
Pankration competitions were held in tournaments, most being outside of the Olympics. Each tournament began with a ritual which would decide how the tournament would take place. Grecophone satirist Lucian describes the process in detail:
He had two victories at the Olympic Games. One was in boxing (480 BCE) and the other in the pankration (476). He won three times in boxing at the Pythian Games; nine times in boxing and once in the pankration at the Isthmian Games; and nine times in boxing at the Nemean Games. He also won the long distance race at Argos. He had 1300 other victories in lesser Games. 
The mainstream academic view has been that pankration developed in the archaic Greek society of the 7th century BC, whereby, as the need for expression in violent sport increased, pankration filled a niche of "total contest" that neither boxing nor wrestling could.[4] However, some evidence suggests that pankration, in both its sporting form and its combative form, may have been practiced in Greece already from the second millennium BC.[5]
The World Combat Games are an international multi-sport event featuring combat sports and martial arts. Fifteen Olympic and non-Olympic sports are currently on the programme: aikido, boxing, fencing, judo, ju-jitsu, karate, kendo, kickboxing, Muay Thai, Pankration, sambo, savate, sumo, taekwondo, wrestling and wushu.
By the Imperial Period, the Romans had adopted the Greek combat sport (spelled in Latin as pancratium) into their Games.[9] In 393 A.D., the pankration, along with gladiatorial combat and all pagan festivals, was abolished by edict by the Christian Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I. Pankration itself was an event in the Olympic Games for some 1,400 years.
The name was based on "pankration", a fighting sport in the Ancient Olympic Games. Suzuki and Funaki practised catch wrestling. They based the promotion and its rules on professional wrestling. The promotion's champions were called "King of Pancrase".
The basic instruction of pankration techniques was conducted by the paedotribae (παιδοτρίβαι, "physical trainers"[14]), who were in charge of boys' physical education.[15] High level athletes were also trained by special trainers who were called gymnastae (γυμνασταί),[15] some of whom had been successful pankration competitors themselves. There are indications that the methods and techniques used by different athletes varied, i.e., there were different styles. While specific styles taught by different teachers, in the mode of Asian martial arts, cannot be excluded, it is very clear (including in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics) that the objective of a teacher of combat sports was to help each of his athletes to develop his personal style that would fit his strengths and weaknesses.[5]
There were neither weight divisions nor time limits in pankration competitions. However, there were two or three age groups in the competitions of antiquity. In the Olympic Games specifically there were only two such age groups: men (andres – ἄνδρες) and boys (paides – παῖδες). The pankration event for boys was established at the Olympic Games in 200 B.C.. In pankration competitions, referees were armed with stout rods or switches to enforce the rules. In fact, there were only two rules regarding combat: no eye gouging or biting.[10] Sparta was the only place eye gouging and biting was allowed.[11] The contest itself usually continued uninterrupted until one of the combatants submitted, which was often signalled by the submitting contestant raising his index finger. The judges appear, however, to have had the right to stop a contest under certain conditions and award the victory to one of the two athletes; they could also declare the contest a tie.[5]
The Ancient Olympic Games were religious and athletic festivals held every four years at the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia, Greece. Competition was among representatives of several city-states and kingdoms of Ancient Greece. These Games featured mainly athletic but also combat sports such as wrestling and the pankration, horse and chariot racing events. It has been widely written that during the Games, all conflicts among the participating city-states were postponed until the Games were finished. This cessation of hostilities was known as the Olympic peace or truce. This idea is a modern myth because the Greeks never suspended their wars. The truce did allow those religious pilgrims who were travelling to Olympia to pass through warring territories unmolested because they were protected by Zeus. The origin of the Olympics is shrouded in mystery and legend; one of the most popular myths identifies Heracles and his father Zeus as the progenitors of the Games. According to legend, it was Heracles who first called the Games "Olympic" and established the custom of holding them every four years. The myth continues that after Heracles completed his twelve labours, he built the Olympic Stadium as an honour to Zeus. Following its completion, he walked in a straight line for 200 steps and called this distance a "stadion" (, Latin: "stadium", "stage"), which later became a unit of distance. The most widely accepted inception date for the Ancient Olympics is 776 BC; this is based on inscriptions, found at Olympia, listing the winners of a footrace held every four years starting in 776 BC. The Ancient Games featured running events, a pentathlon (consisting of a jumping event, discus and javelin throws, a foot race, and wrestling), boxing, wrestling, pankration, and equestrian events. Tradition has it that Coroebus, a cook from the city of Elis, was the first Olympic champion.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not list pankration among Olympic sports, but the efforts of Savvidis E. A. Lazaros, founder of modern Pankration Athlima, the technical examination programma, the endyma, the shape of the Palaestra and the terminology of Pankration Athlima, the sport was accepted by FILA, known today as United World Wrestling, which governs the Olympic wrestling codes, as an associated discipline and a "form of modern Mixed Martial Art".[17] Pankration was first contested at the World Combat Games in 2010.[18] The international federation is United World Wrestling. Under UWW the pankration competitions have two styles:
Spartans trained in "pankration", a famous martial art in Ancient Greece that consisted of boxing and grappling. Spartans were so adept in "pankration" that, when it was inducted in the Olympic Games, they were mostly forbidden to compete.
Sostratus of Sicyon (, "Sostratos") was an Olympic athlete and pankratiast from Sicyon in Ancient Greece, known for his style of fighting, bending or breaking his opponents fingers. He won the pankration crown at three successive Olympiads in 364, 360 and 356 BC. Further, he won 12 such victories at the Isthmian and Nemean Games combined, and two more at the Pythian Games in Delphi. According to the extant records, his feat of three Olympic victories in the pankration was equaled by only three others and surpassed by no-one in the over 1000-year history of the ancient Olympic Games.
The pankration was introduced in the 33rd Olympiad (648 BC).[59] Boys' pankration became an Olympic event in 200 BC, in the 145th Olympiad.[60] As well as techniques from boxing and wrestling, athletes used kicks,[61] locks, and chokes on the ground. Although the only prohibitions were against biting and gouging, the pankration was regarded as less dangerous than boxing.[62]
Tradition styles of wrestling exist in most cultures; wrestling can be considered a cultural universal. Boxing contests date back to ancient Sumer in the 3rd millennium BCE and ancient Egypt "circa" 1350 BCE. The ancient Olympic Games included several combat-related sports: armored foot races, boxing, wrestling, and pankration, which was introduced in the Olympic Games of 648 BCE.
The athletes engaged in a pankration competition - i.e., the pankratiasts (παγκρατιαστές) - employed a variety of techniques in order to strike their opponent as well as take him to the ground in order to use a submission technique. When the pankratiasts fought standing, the combat was called Anō Pankration (ἄνω παγκράτιον, "upper Pankration");[n 2] and when they took the fight to the ground, that stage of pankration competition was called katō pankration (κάτω παγκράτιον "lower pankration"). Some of the techniques that would be applied in anō pankration and katō pankration, respectively, are known to us through depictions on ancient pottery and sculptures, as well as in descriptions in ancient literature. There were also strategies documented in ancient literature that were meant to be used to obtain an advantage over the competitor. For illustration purposes, below are examples of striking and grappling techniques (including examples of counters), as well as strategies and tactics, that have been identified from the ancient sources (visual arts or literature).
In Ancient Greece, there was a sport called pankration, which featured a combination of grappling and striking skills similar to those found in modern MMA. Pankration was formed by a combination of the already established wrestling and boxing traditions and, in Olympic terms, first featured in the 33rd Olympiad in 648 BC. All strikes and holds were allowed with the exception of biting and gouging, which were banned. The fighters, called pankratiasts, fought until someone could not continue or signaled submission by raising their index finger; there were no rounds. According to E. Norman Gardiner, 'No branch of athletics was more popular than the pankration.' From its origins in Ancient Greece, pankration was later passed on to the Romans.
Combat athletes usually fight one-on-one. Different sports involve different skill sets and moves. For example, boxing only allows punches, taekwondo largely involves kicks, and both Muay Thai and Burmese boxing allow the use of elbows and knees. There are also combat sports based on grappling, such as both freestyle and Collegiate wrestling. Modern MMA is similar to the ancient Greek Olympic sport of pankration; Both allow a wide range of both striking and grappling techniques.