THE clock ticks down on the opening ceremony of the Games of the XXXth Olympiad.

Latin has been extinct for centuries, yet Roman numerals mark the passage of Olympic time. So perhaps it's worth considering the often-mythical traditions on which the Games are based. Not to mention the historical opportunity which Britain has as London becomes the first city to host for a third time.

Strangely, the legends of antiquity assume Olympian importance despite the fact that the roots of athletics predate by more than 1000 years this romantic mythology.

Perhaps it's because classical studies featured so significantly in the 19th century public school curriculum. This fertilised the classical credo: mens sana in corpore sano – the notion of the healthy mind in a healthy body. The International Olympic Committee's founder, Pierre de Coubertin, embraced this enthusiastically, but not always with scrupulous regard for historical veracity.

He easily sold the notion of the Olympics to the Greeks because they had hosted athletics events since 776 BC, and wooed them with a myth – a race they could call their own, conjured by a historian friend around Pheidippedes' run from Marathon. Even though it never took place.

Yet athletics had flourished on Europe's western fringe a millennium ahead of Greece. Had De Coubertin held history in greater regard, he would surely have chosen Navan, in County Meath, before Olympus.

Ireland's Tailteann Games (a funeral celebration for Queen Tailtu) were first held in 1829BC and survived until 1168AD. The first ancient Olympics was in 776BC. The latter honoured a mythical Greek god. The Irish event celebrated a mortal – and enjoyed greater longevity than both the ancient and modern Olympic eras combined. They featured more events, lasted longer (30 days) and were held annually. By royal decree, a truce was declared on wars – adopted by the Greeks more than 1000 years on.

De Coubertin's Olympics ape an event first staged on a hill above Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds in 1612. Two years later Shakespeare died, having made Olympic references in plays written in 1590 and 1601.Robert Dover's Cotswold 'Olimpicks' included singlestick, wrestling, jumping in sacks, dancing, and shin-kicking, where contestants "hardened their shins with coal hammers and wore iron-tipped boots."

Traditions rather at odds with the Corinthian ethos beloved by De Coubertin, yet when the British Olympic Association made their pitch for the 2012 Games, they pointed out that it would take place exactly 400 years after the first Cotswold Olympics.

The Cotswold programme this year still included shin-kicking, along with tug of war, and an Olimpick five-mile race.

This week, Princess Anne, the BOA president, opened the IOC session in London, remarking how the Games were "built on Britain's long and proud heritage," and how 2012 marked "a unique anniversary ... it was exactly 400 years ago that Robert Dover opened the first Cotswold Olimpicks." On their website they state that "in spite of ... a couple of imitators we are still the oldest Olimpick Society in the world."

They discovered a rival in 1850, when the Much Wenlock Olympian Games were staged in Shropshire. They also continue today, and their founder, Dr William Penny Brookes, is acknowledged by the IOC as a seminal influence on De Coubertin.

The French founder's amateur obsession was rooted in England's public-school era, which excluded the working class. Yet the ancient champions were sponsored and received prizes for victory. Chris Hoy is a millionaire, but was voted to carry the Union flag by team colleagues most of whom have no commercial clout. Contemporaries honour him for what he is.

The shape of sport is changing, but Britain should remain proud of its sporting heritage, nor ashamed to promote old-fashioned values.

I was struck by the warmth of the French reception for Bradley Wiggins' Tour de France victory – a foreigner pillaging a crown so dear to their hearts, given that no Frenchman has won since 1985. I hope the British crowd will take the French lesson, and be warm Olympic hosts.

Los Angeles (1984), Atlanta (1996), and Sydney (2000) were characterised by partisan spectators and biased TV coverage. We should be above that.

The home crowd in London 104 years ago booed when the American, Carpenter, blocked Scotland's Wyndham Halswelle. Under US rules this was legal, but not in Europe. Carpenter was disqualified and Halswelle became Olympic 400m champion. Yet in 1932, when Lauri Lehtinen twice blocked American Ralph Hill in the 5000m, this was stated to be fair in Europe. The Finn won, and US fans booed loudly until silenced by stadium announcer Bill Henry: "Remember please, these people are our guests."

Sebastian Coe spoke eloquently about giving the Olympics back to the youth of the world as London won the right to host. Giving honesty and dignity back to sport, with a non-partisan Games, would be a start.