Friday, 29 June 2012

100 Olympics Facts.

  1. The early Olympic Games were celebrated as a religious festival from 776 B.C. until 393 A.D., when the games were banned for being a pagan festival (the Olympics celebrated the Greek god Zeus)
  2. . In 1894, a French educator Baron Pierre de Coubertin, proposed a revival of the ancient tradition, and thus the modern-day Olympic Summer Games were born.
  3. Host Greece won the most medals (47) at the first Olympic Summer Games in 1896.
  4. The first Winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix, France in 1924.
  5. Norway has won the most medals (263) at the Winter Games.
  6. The United States has won more medals (2,189) at the Summer Games than any other country.
  7. The five Olympic rings represent the five major regions of the world – Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceana.
  8. Every national flag in the world includes one of the five colors, which are (from left to right) blue, yellow, black, green, and red.
  9. Up until 1994 the Olympics were held every four years. Since then, the Winter and Summer games have alternated every two years.
  10. No country in the Southern Hemisphere has ever hosted a Winter Games.
  11. Three continents – Africa, South America, and Antarctica – have never hosted an Olympics.
  12. A record 202 countries participated in the 2004 Olympic Summer Games in Athens.
  13. Only four athletes have ever won medals at both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games: Eddie Eagan (United States), Jacob Tullin Thams (Norway), Christa Luding-Rothenburger (East Germany), and Clara Hughes (Canada).
  14. Speed skater Bonnie Blair has won six medals at the Olympic Winter Games. That's more than anyother American athlete.
  15. Nobody has won more medals at the Winter Games than cross-country skier Bjorn Dählie of Norway, who has 12.
  16. Larrisa Latynina, a gymnast from the former Soviet Union, finished her Summer Olympic Games career with 18 total medals—the most in history.
  17. The United States Olympic Committee established the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983 to recognize outstanding American Olympic athletes, however, a plan to build a hall has been suspended due to lack of funding.
  18. The Summer Olympic sports are archery, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, canoe / kayak, cycling, diving, equestrian, fencing, field hockey, gymnastics, handball, judo, modern pentathlon (shooting, fencing, swimming, show jumping, and running), mountain biking, rowing, sailing, shooting, soccer, swimming, synchronized swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, track and field, triathlon (swimming, biking, running), volleyball, water polo, weightlifting, and wrestling.
  19. The Winter Olympic sports are alpine skiing, biathlon (cross-country skiing and target shooting), bobsled, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hocky, luge, Nordic combined (ski jumping and cross-country skiing), skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, and speed skating.
  20. The 2012 Summer Olympic Games will be held in London from 27 July to 12 August 2012, followed by the 2012 Paralympic Games from 29 August to 9 September.
  21. London hosted the Olympic games in 1908 and 1948.
  22. We expect 205 nations to take part in 300 events at the Olympic Games in 2012. 147 nations will take part in the Paralympic Games.
  23. A large majority of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held in the Old Park in Stratford in East London. Events will also be held in other venues across London and the UK (England, Scotland and Wales).
  24. On the Olympic flag, the rings appear on a white background.
  25. At the Olympic Games, the flag is brought into the stadium during the opening ceremony. After its arrival, the flag is hoisted up the flagpole. It must fly in the stadium during the whole of the Games. When the flag is lowered at the closing ceremony, it signals the end of the Games.
  26. The motto of th Olympic Games is "Swifter, Higher, Stronger". These three words encourage the athlete to give his or her best during competition, and to view this effort as a victory in itself.
  27. The Olympic flame is one of the best-known features of the Games.
  28. From the moment the flame is lit to the moment it goes out, a very precise ritual is laid down.
  29. In memory of the Olympic Games’ origins, the flame is lit in Olympia, Greece, some months before the opening of the Games. The Olympic flame can only be lit by the sun’s rays.
  30. The torch is carried by relay from Olympia to the host city of the Games.
  31. The day of the opening of the Games, the flame enters the stadium. With the lighting of the cauldron by the last relay runner the flame is transferred from the torch to the place where it will continue to burn for the entire length of the Games. The flame is extinguished on the final day of the Games at the closing ceremony.
  32. Gandhi once covered the Olympics as a newspaper reporter. The 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles.
  33. Black athletes didn't win the marathon until 1960. It's impossible to picture now, but a black athlete didn't win the marathon until Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia did it in 1960.
  34. No white person has ever run 100 meters in under 10 seconds.
  35. Usain Bolt set a new world record, running the 100 meters in 9.69 seconds.
  36. Gold medals haven't been pure gold in 96 years.
  37. The 1912 Olympics was the last time that gold medals were solid gold. Ever since, they've been silver with gold plating.
  38. The top prize at the first modern Olympics was the silver medal. In 1896 in Athens, first place winners got a silver medal and an olive branch. Second place got a bronze.
  39. n 1900, in France, winners got paintings instead of gold medals.
  40. Gold, silver and bronze medals weren't given out until the third modern Olympics, in 1904.
  41. The first Olympic drug suspension wasn't until 1968.
  42. At the 1968 Mexico City games, Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall, a Swedish pentathlete, was suspended because he tested positive for a banned substance. That substance: Alcohol. He drank several beers before the pentathlon which was against the rules, so he was suspended.
  43. China didn't win its first medal until 1984.
  44. The Olympics once lasted 187 days. In 1908, the London Olympics went on for 187 days... they started in April and didn't end until October.
  45. There's a 62-year age difference between the oldest and youngest Olympians ever.
  46. The youngest Olympian ever was Dimitrios Loundras, a Greek gymnast in the 1896 Athens Olympics. He was 10.
  47. The oldest Olympian ever was Oscar Swahn, a Swedish shooter in the 1920 Antwerp, Belgium, Olympics. He was 72.
  48.  Londoners will contribute £625million to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
  49. It is predicted that four billion people will watch the 2012 opening ceremony.
  50. The security budget for the London Olympics is £553million.
  51. The Olympic Village will be home to 10,500 athletes during the Games.
  52. The Olympic Village will have a health spa, cinema and games room.
  53. London is the first city to host the Olympics three times, in 1908, 1948 and 2012.
  54. The gold medal is made mostly of silver, with just 6g of gold.
  55. More than 2,100 medals will be presented in 302 ceremonies.
  56. This will be the first Olympics with HD TV freeze-frame coverage.
  57. The Velodrome is designed to be the world’s fastest cycle track.
  58.  Equestrian events are the only Olympic sport in which men and women compete on equal terms.
  59. Around 20,000 broadcasters, photographers and journalists will be at the Games.
  60. The Olympic stadium is the lightest ever built and can hold 80,000 people.
  61. Olympic announcements are always in English, French and the host’s language.
  62.  Athletics, swimming, fencing and artistic gymnastics are the only sports never excluded.
  63. Boxing and wrestling are now the only sports whose competitors must be amateur.
  64. Australia, the Swiss and Great Britain are the only nations to go to every Games since 1896.
  65. Gymnasium literally means “School for naked exercise”.
  66. The Olympic Park covers 500 acres, the same size as Alton Towers.
  67. Great Britain won its most medals, 47, in Beijing in 2008.
  68.  London 2012 merchandise is expected to raise £80m towards future Games.
  69.  The cheapest tickets are £20 while top ones are £725.
  70. The London Philharmonic have recorded the national anthems of all 205 nations.
  71. The water temperature of the Olympic pool must be within one degree of 26°C.
  72. It will be marathon runner Paula Radcliffe’s fifth Olympics.
  73. London 2012 will be the first live 3D Olympic Games.
  74. This will be the first time Japan has sent a team to a London Olympics.
  75.  It is predicted that 78 per cent of spectators will come from within London.
  76. Partially-sighted Paralympic swimmers wear blackened goggles to ensure fairness.
  77. Each Olympics takes its name from the host city as opposed to the country.
  78. London 2012 will be the most compact Games ever in terms of land used.
  79. The Olympic Games will last 17 days and the Paralympics 11 days.
  80. The maximum degree that the running track can deviate by is 1mm.
  81.  The Olympics will generate £10billion for the British economy.
  82. Bolivia has never won an Olympic medal.
  83. Tuvalu is an Olympic country since 2007.
  84. The 1908 Games were meant to take place in Rome but London offered to step in after the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius in 1906.
  85. The Great Stadium, to the north of Shepherd's Bush, was purpose built and cost about £60,000. London's 2012 venue, which will host athletics, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies, has cost £500m to construct.
  86. The black and white design picked out in the stadium's seating is based on the jagged shards that feature in the design of the London 2012 graphics and logo and also seen on the reverse of the medals.
  87. This site for the stadium lies at the southern end of the Olympic Park between rivers and tributaries including the Old River Lea and parts of the Bow Back rivers and St Thomas Creek.
  88. The very first recorded Ancient Olympic Games took place in 776 BC. The event was astadion race (a foot race equivalent to a 190-m or 208-yard dash). The winner was a humble baker from the Greek city state of Elis named Coroebus.
  89. For the first 13 gmes, the stadion race was the only competition. At the 14th Ancient Olympic Games, a double race was added.
  90. Married women were banned at the Ancient Olympics on the penalty of death. The laws dictated that any adult married woman caught entering the Olympic grounds would be hurled to her death from a cliff!
  91. 8,000 Inspirational people carrying the flame across the country in the Olympic Torch Relay, on a 70-day journey through more than 1,000 cities, towns and villages.
  92. 17 km Total length of steel cables used to cover the Velodrome (twice the height of Mount Everest).
  93. 9.6 million tickets for sale (8m for Olympics, 1.6m for Paralympics).
  94. Esther Vergeer of the Netherlands is unbeaten in more than 420 matches in wheelchair tennis, one of the longest winning streaks in any sport.
  95. The Canoe Sprint 200m race will make its Olympic debut in London 2012.
  96. £537m  Cost of Olympic Stadium (revised from £280m).
  97. £214m  Cost of Aquatics Centre (revised from £74m).
  98. The silver medal is made up of 92.5% silver, with the remainder copper.
  99. The bronze medal is made up of 97% copper, 2.5% zinc and 0.5% tin.
  100. 98  Percentage of construction waste that has been reused, recycled or recovered.
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