Facts about the Olympics by Aryan Doshi

 With the Tokyo Olympics just around the corner, I decided to make a list of 15 interesting facts I found about the history of the Olympics.

1. In Ancient Greece, athletes would be naked while competing. The Olympics in Ancient Greece would also last 5 - 6 months. 

2. From 1924-1992 the Summer and Winter Olympics would be in the same year. However, it changed to a cycle of every two years.

3. From 1912- 1948, artists could participate in the Olympics based on their skills. For example, painters could be part of a painting event and win a medal.

4. The 2016 Summer Olympics were the first time the Olympics was held in South America.

5. The six colors of the blue, yellow, black, green, red, and white background are in the Olympic logo. These specific colors were chosen because every nation’s flag has at least one of them.

6. In the 1900 Olympics in Paris, there was the one-time event of live pigeon shooting.

7. The Olympic Torch has been in space multiple times. 

8. During the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, two pole-vaulters from Japan tied for second-place. Instead of determining a proper winner, they took their bronze and silver medals and cut them in half. Then they fused the two halves to make two medals that contained a half from the silver and a half from the bronze medal. 

9. 5 of 136 athletes have competed and won medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics. 

10. The Olympics have been canceled three times due to war. This happened in 1916 for WWII and 1940-1944 for WWII. There has only been one postponement which was in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

11.  Women have been allowed to compete in the Olympics since 1900, and the first time every country participating had a women athlete was in 2012. 

12. The youngest Olympian ever recorded was Greek gymnast Dimitrios Loundras, who competed in the 1896 Athens Olympics at ten years old.

13. The official language at every Olympics is English and French, and the national language of the host country is added to this. 

14. The 2014 Sochi Olympics cost $21.9 billion, the most expensive Olympics ever. 

15. Micheal Phelps has 28 Olympics Medals, ten more than any athlete in the history of the Olympics. He is by far the most decorated Olympic Athlete. 

 

https://www.topendsports.com/events/summer/medal-tally/top-winners.htm 

https://www.ef.edu/blog/language/24-facts-about-the-olympics/ 

https://athlonsports.com/olympics/10-surprising-facts-about-olympics 

https://worldstrides.com/blog/2018/02/9-facts-about-the-olympic-games-past-and-present/