Pythagoras of Samos (Greek: Πυθαγόρας ο Σάμιος), as a youth, won the men's boxing event at the ancient Olympic Games.
[2] Eratosthenes wrote that Pythagoras introduced new martial arts techniques into boxing, which allowed him to win despite his youth and long hair.
He wrote that Pythagoras was "the first to box using technique, in the 48th Olympiad, letting his hair grow long and wearing a purple robe; after being excluded from the boys' games and jeered at, he immediately joined the mens', and won.
However, recent chronological work by classicist Philip Thibodeau suggests that the boxer was the same person as Pythagoras the philosopher.
He presents a set of evidence that the events actually occurred during the 58th Olympiad—a date that would make Pythagoras the philosopher 15 years old at the time (548 BCE).