As the Olympics are back this year with all its glory, the whole world has again been tied together with the Olympic spirit. It is truly marvelous how people from around the globe, irrespective of their differences, come together in the spirit of sportsmanship to celebrate one of the world’s biggest sporting events.
Being the primary Olympics ever with no live crowd, it is surely an unique event where whole world is glued to their television sets to watch it. The 2020 Summer Olympics were delayed on account of the Covid-19 pandemic and commenced on July 23, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. The closing ceremony is on August 8.
Let us take a look at some interesting facts about Olympics to take our Olympic-watching experience a notch above:
- Gold medals are not made of pure gold. In the year 1912, the last Olympic gold medal was made entirely out of gold.
- In the first modern Olympic Games of 1896, there were no gold medals.
- The first athlete was suspended from the Olympics was on grounds of alcohol consumption.
- In the history of the Olympic Games, the longest wrestling match took more than 11 hours.
- Swimmer Johnny Weissmuller was a five-time gold medalist in swimming and also played the role of Tarzan in 'Tarzan the Ape Man' and its further sequels.
- The Olympic rings signify the world's 5 significant regions: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.
- The host city designs the Olympic medals for their games. Each medal should be 60mm in distance across and 3mm thick. The medal should be shrouded in 6 gm of gold and must contain 92.5 per cent silver.
- London is the only city to hold the record of having hosted the Olympics three times in 1908, 1948, and 2012.
- No Olympic games were held in 1916, 1940, and 1944 due to world wars.
- In the 1900 Summer Olympics, live pigeons were used in archery events.
- The Olympic flag was first flown in the 1920 games.
- Soccer was to be played in the 1896 Olympics but there were no teams to play the event.
- The Priestess of Demeter was the only married woman allowed to watch the ancient Olympic games.
- In the ancient Olympics, the winners were awarded an olive wreath.
- The United States has hosted the Summer Olympics four times: twice in Los Angeles (1932 and 1984), St. Louis (1904), and Atlanta (1996).
Go and flex your Olympics knowledge in front of your friends with these facts.