The original Olympics were a religious festival meant to occasion the divine spark in man. The early Greeks believed that humans could come close to being gods when competition pulled the best out of them.
They also believed that humans had four fundamental attributes: will, emotion, intelligence, and imagination. These four brothers were most in harmony when forged together by the heat of contests.
Public speaking could very well have been an Olympic Sport, because it requires will to accomplish a goal, emotion to move oneself and others, intelligence to craft a persuasive message, and imagination to see the possibilities, make them visible to your audience, and do it in a novel way.