The Olympic Cheats

This is the sprinting track at Olympia in Greece photographed on our trip to the Peloponnese in 2007. The competitors entered through a stone-arched tunnel to the left....

....this being the view from the other end.

The plinths on the left were erected by athletes who had been found cheating, so all athletes entering the races would have come past them. The cheat's names were carved on the plinth and, in their time, each would have had a statue of Zeus on top, all this paid for by the malefactor. This public shaming ensured that very few athletes cheated.

The English in their time had similar deterrents. We came across this one in a small village in Westmorland. It looked rather underused so Rachael volunteered to try it out.

Shaming people for a misdemeanour is exceptionally cruel but then so is depriving them of their liberty.