The idea of a 'proactive sports policy' might sound modern, but also in theancient Greek world some regions were particularly successful in the agonisticcircuit because cheir political leaders explicitly stimulated sports. After achronological overview of the distribution of Olympic victories over theGreek world, this paper focuses on the example of third century BC Egypt,for Egyptian participants did particularly well in both equestrian and athleticevents in this period. The analysis of their sports policy shows that thePtolemies offered financial support for talented sportsmen, built a professionalsports infrastructure, created a local circuit of games and publicizedtheir successes in the Greek world.
