“Excuse me” said Anastasia in an angry voice.

Long Long in ancient Greece there was a girl named Anastasia. A few days earlier Anastasia was helping her mother Aikaterine make lunch of bread, beans, fruits, olives, grapes, figs, vegetables, and cake for her father Aither, and 2 brothers Aison and Aias. Anastasia’s father had came from a hard day of practicing for the Greek olympics. Even though Anastasia’s family was really rich and could get almost everything she wanted, her heart was never at peace, but she never knew why.

Aison and Aias are 2 years apart and Aison was 19 and Aias was 17. I was in the middle which means I am 18 and surprisingly I am not married yet because most of my friends and cousins are married at the age of 15 . My father My father Aither was a part of the Greek Olympics. And my brothers Aison and Aias were training to be in the Greek Olympics. Father’s favorite thing to do in the Olympics was Chariot Racing or anything with horses. Aison (the older one) loved boxing,wrestling and Pankration. Aias (the younger one) loved running javelin. Oh yeah by the way I am Anastasia and I love to watch my father in the Olympics but sometimes I wish I could be in olympics but I never had the guts to ask.

A couple days later…

Aias was training in our huge field. My mother told me to give Aias fresh water from the cold stream on the side of our home. I finally had the guts to go up to Aias and ask if I could train with him.

“Hello brother”

“Hello Anastasia’

“Here is some water from the stream”

“Oh thank you”

“Brother I was also wondering if i could train with you?”

“No Anastasia are you crazy? ”

“Why am i crazy for asking you?”

“Because girls don’t play sports because they are not strong enough or masculine.

“Excuse me, let's have a race I will beat you in running ”

“Ok prove it, let’s go”

Couple minutes later ...

I had run as fast as I can but I had to say that Aias was fast but… I was faster. After this Aias gave little more respect but still didn’t think that was really me, he thought it was just lucky because he was tired.

After the race, mother told me to help her make dinner again. I sometimes get jealous that only women have to make food and do work at home and in the field while men go train and have fun doing sports and olympics.

“Anastasia?”

“Whaa What ?” I said. “Oh sorry mother i zoned out and started to to daydream.”

“It’s ok but remember to pick the fruits and vegetables at our garden.”

“Ok mother, but why doesn’t Aison and Aias have to do work at home and help me with all these chores?”

“Anastasia are you crazy ? How could you say that about your brothers ! They work so hard to train and win the olympics.”

“Mother listen to me !!”

“What Anastasia?”

“I beat Aias in running this morning when I gave him water from the stream.”

“Anastasia you have done no such thing so stop lying.”

“Mother but… ”

“I don’t want to listen to your lies Anastasia.”

A little bit later…

Everyone came together and we ate dinner.I was waiting for Aias to tell mother about the race but he kept completely quiet.

“Uhh Aias don’t you have to tell mother something?” I say.

“Huh Uhh no what are you talking about?”

“Uhh remember, on the field…”

“Oh oh yeah thank you mother for telling Anastasia to get me some water.”

“You welcome Aias” said mother.

At this point I was super mad that Aias was not telling mother that I had won the race. After dinner he went into the bedroom where he was laying down on his leather bed which was covered with animal fur. I was outraged that he was just sitting there relaxing instead of feeling bad for not telling mother about the race.

“Aias aren’t you embarrassed of not telling mother about the race that I beat you in ?” I blurted.

“What race ?” Aias asked in a confused tone.

“You know what I am talking about” I yelled, now I was as mad as a bull.

“Well no one else saw us so you have no witnesses !!”

“You are such a bad brother. You will never go to Heaven. ”

“Anastasia !!!” yells mother from the kitchen “Come help me clean up.”

“This isn’t over!!! I am better than every god combined who play sports.”

That was when I realized I should have kept my mouth shut. That was where I felt my stomach churning and having billions of butterflies in my stomach. That was when I heard a huge thud. And I saw the gods and goddesses of Olympian. Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes and either Hestia, or Dionysus.Now my mother, father, Aias, and Aison were in the room and were really shocked, angry, and also confused.

“How dare you say that about us !!! ” said Zeus

“Zeus talk to this beautiful lady with respect because she did beat her brother in the race” said Hermes

“Hermes how dare you talk to me like this!” yelled Zeus. “We are the gods and goddesses of sports. Do you think this foolish girl named Anastasia is better than us?”

“Well let’s see Anastasia and will be on a the same team and you all are on a team and we will have a running race” approved Hermes.

“Ok but to make this interesting if Anastasia and you lose, Hermes, you will not ever see our fabulous life and you will be a peasant for the rest of your life. And you Anastasia. Ahh you will also be a peasant and so will your whole family and your brothers and father will never be in the Olympics again. ”

“But what if we win ”I said.

“Well I don’t know about that but … ”

“Don’t get so cocky Zeus ” hissed Hermes

“Oh i’m sorry. Huh if you win Hermes you will be crowned the god of sports and you Anastasia you will be a goddess of sports.”

“Ok. but if we win you have to let girls able to join the olympics!” I said confidently.

“Ok, but that’s if you win.”

A little bit later …

Hermes and I made were both really fast so we were both really confident. But on the other my family was super doubtful but were trying to be supportive.My stomach felt like I got hit there like 50 times. Hermes on the other hand kept on practicing his running like Aias does. We all slowly walk to the field because were still in Aias’ bedroom.The moment I was dreading happened, we reached the field and now I had to run the race. Our race was 1 lap without cheating and magical powers which the gods and goddesses have. We all got on the field and we started to run. We ran faster and faster until it was unbearable. I finally had the urge to look back and 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12 where is the thirteenth god or goddess go. I looked ahead and there it was Hermes running in his soft shoes. And that’s when Hermes came in first and I came in second so it was official WE WON !!!A sweat of relief happened and we just gasped with relief.

1 year later …

Hermes and I had gotten married. Since both Hermes and I were gods and goddesses we both had a relaxing life.

A couple years later …

We had our 4 children, Arison (12 years of age), Aiansis (9 years of age), Aianis (7 years of age), our sons and then our lovely daughter Hestania (3 years of age). A little earlier Zeus said that we I was The goddess of athletes.

Even Aias and Aison got married to beautiful women.

After Anastasia’s kids grew up in their teenage years, girls were allowed to be a part of the olympics and their kids followed their parents’ footsteps and became athletes. They all lived as athletes for the rest of their lives.