This year, the 2020 Olympiad was canceled due to the persistence of COVID 19 throughout the Summer. This wasn't even the first time that the Olympics were canceled, as a few others were skipped due to World War One and Two. So in the modern era, enough strain on the international scene due to wars or pandemics is sufficient to cancel these events.
However, I couldn't help but notice that this issue of widespread warfare or disease was never a problem for the Olympics in Ancient times. Of course, the Olympics back then only applied to the Mediterranean / Greco-Roman world instead of the whole globe. But that only makes me more puzzled, because we know of many widespread disasters or strain that affected almost every nation within the Mediterranean, so why was the Olympic games never once postponed?
I am specifically referring to Wikipedia which lists out the recorded Olympic victors for every year in Ancient times, which lasted continually from 776 BC until 261 AD. Even after that point, it seems that the strain of the Crisis of the Third Century wasn't even the cause for the Olympics to stop, but rather the last Olympiads from 264-394 AD were simply not recorded by historians up until the point they were banned entirely by Emperor Theodosius.
So when I think about the Greco-Roman world between 776 BC and 261 AD, a lot of catastrophic events come to mind which, if they happened on a global scale in the modern day, certainly would have canceled the modern Olympics: The Greco-Persian Wars, the Peloponesian War, Roman-Macedonian Wars, Roman Civil War(s), Antonine Plague, Cyprian Plague, Crisis of the Third Century, and that's only up until the last recorded Olympiad in 261 AD. How could these games even be conducted under these conditions, and why would they be prioritized when most nations are at war for their existence?
There is an important difference between modern Olympic Games and the ancient Olympic Games. Today we see this event with all its competitions as a fun thing that happens every few years to show the athletic capabilities of nations. It still is some cultural thing where nations gather happily and cheer for this team or that athlete.
But the ancient Olympic Games were something different. Yes, they were a cultural event where masses gathered and cheered for athletes. But the whole context was different as these games were first of all an religious event. Athletes participated not only for the glory of their city but also for the glory of the gods (Zeus in this special occasion as there were other games like the Nemean Games and the Pythian Games). But the most important thing is that there was peace. The olympic peace might not be written down as a formal contract but we still know that it existed. Three months prior to the games there was no war and families, athletes and artists were able to travel safely as their were protected by this gods-sanctioned peace. The peace lasted until the games were over so there was no reason to cancel the games.
Nonetheless there were some black sheep. Pisa (in Greece) for example violated the peace several times, but was conquered by the citizens of their target Elis.
Does that answer your question?