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How did athletes enter the Olympic stadium through the Krypte?

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Map of southeastern Europe highlighting Greece and marking the location of Olympia with a red star, indicating its status as a World Heritage Site. Olympia is shown in the western part of the Peloponnese peninsula, surrounded by neighboring countries and nearby seas including the Ionian, Aegean, and Mediterranean. — Olympia Olympia was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1989.

Athletes and umpires entered the stadium at Olympia through a passage known as the Krypte, or Covered Entrance.1

This entrance was constructed to pierce the stadium's western embankment, which served to separate the athletic track from the Altis, or sacred precinct. By the Roman period, this passageway was covered with a stone vault. Just outside this entrance stood bronze statues of Zeus, known as Zanes, which were erected using funds from fines imposed on athletes who violated the rules of the Games.1