With the Summer Olympics set to start on July 23 in Tokyo following last year’s delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, sports fans worldwide will be happy to see the arrival of this global occasion. This also means that we will before long be overpowered with facts, figures, and features of every sort under the sun. But we tracked down a couple of things you probably will not learn. Here are 10 astounding facts about the Olympic Games.
We take a gander at some cool facts about the Olympics that you just may not accept. With many crazy Olympic facts and traditions from the days of the Ancient Greeks to the advanced Olympics we appreciate today – how about we perceive the number of these you already knew.
24 Facts About The Olympics That You Might Not Know
24. Gold medals are generally made of silver
Despite the popular conviction that the Gold Medal is made out of unadulterated gold, this hasn’t been the case since the 1912 Olympics. Today’s Olympic Gold Medal is a fraud, made almost totally from silver with approximately 6 grams of gold to satisfy the guideline laid out in the Olympic Charter. The medals for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo were made from 80,000 tons of reused hardware. The Tokyo games’ gold medal weighs about 556 grams, which means an Olympic medal made of unadulterated gold would cost near $32,000 based on current market costs.
23. The Olympic Torch Relay is certifiably not an ancient tradition
The Torch Relay has its foundations in the controversial 1936 Berlin Olympics. Carl Diem, Chief Organizer of the Olympic Games, considered the relay as a propaganda device for the Nazi Party to showcase the alleged superiority of the Aryan race. The relay passed through Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, who might all capitulate to Nazi guidelines within 10 years.
22. Just three present-day Olympic Games have been canceled
The games were canceled because of World War I (1916) and World War II (1940, 1944).
21. At least one of the Olympic Rings’ tones appears in each national flag
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the author of the cutting-edge Olympic Movement, thought about the five-ringed image. He specifically picked the different tones—blue, green, yellow, black, and red—because at least one of those tones appeared on all the world’s national flags.
20. Just five nations have been addressed at each advanced era Summer Olympic Games
Greece, Great Britain, France, Switzerland, and Australia.
19. Just two people have at any point won gold medals throughout the Summer and Winter Olympics
Gillis Grafstrom and Eddie Eagan hold this qualification. Grafstrom, from Sweden, won gold in figure skating in the 1920 Summer Olympics as well as the 1924 and 1928 Winter Games. Eagan accomplished this feat in different disciplines, taking home gold in enclosing 1920 and winning a gold medal at the 1932 Lake Placid Winter Games in the team to celebrate.
18. Two athletes have won gold medals seeking two different nations
Daniel Carrol originally won gold in Rugby, addressing Australia in 1908 and then again in 1920 for the United States. Kakhi Kakhiashvili won his first gold medal in Quite a while’s Weightlifting contending as part of the Unified Team in the 1992 Barcelona Games, and later as a Greek resident in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics.
17. Athletes in the ancient Olympic Games contended bare
In fact, “gymnasium” comes from the Greek root “gymnos,” meaning bare. As such, the literal translation of gymnasium is “school for naked exercise.”
16. The primary Olympic medication suspension didn’t happen until 1968
Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall, a Swedish Pentathlete, tried positive for alcohol. He purportedly drank several brews before the Pentathlon and was consequently suspended from the opposition.
15. The youngest Olympian in the advanced era is Greek gymnast Dimitrios Loundras, who contended in the 1896 Athens Olympics at the age of 10
Other young Olympian facts: At age 13, springboard jumper Marjorie Gestring is the youngest female gold medalist ever, while 14-year-old Kusuo Kitamura (swimming) is the youngest male gold medalist.
14. Naked Athletes
While today games that include bareness are considered scandalous or possibly unplanned – in Ancient Greece, it was one of the major Olympic traditions.
While the first Olympiads saw athletes contend in quite a while, a sprinter called Orsippus changed the face of the games when he appeared naked, appealing to the nation as an image of ‘Greekness.’
Bareness demonstrated fearlessness, courage, and power and was also viewed as a tribute to the divine beings. Participants would even lather themselves in olive oil to best flaunt their physical make-up. Did you know The word ‘gymnasium’ comes from the Greek word “gymnós,” which means naked?
13. The Tradition of Biting Olympic Medals
At any point seen Olympians gnawing their medals during the service of the award and asked why they do that? All things considered, it harks back to ages past, where merchants would check a coin was surely the valuable metal they required and not a lead phony. A lead coin would leave teeth marks, while a gold coin would not.
Olympic medals are not made of gold but just got done with gold. They are generally made of silver in this day and age. The last time they were made completely of gold was in the 1904 Olympic Games.
12. A 1500-Year Hiatus
The original Olympic Games staged in Olympia ran from 776 BC through till 392 AD and were held, similar to today, like clockwork related to a festival to respect the Greek god, Zeus. The Ancient Greeks also had three other Games to pay tribute to divine beings, Apollo, Elis, and Poseiden, making space for a tournament consistently. Roman Emperor Theodosius abolished the Olympics, trying to free his domain of paganism, in favor of the widespread adoption of Christianity in 392 AD.
Amazingly it required 1503 years before the Olympics were to return. Pierre de Coubertin, who framed the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the advanced Olympics were born and occurred in Athens in 1896.
11. What do the Olympic Rings Stand For?
The five Olympic rings are representative of the five landmasses, and the shadings were picked because they all appear on the flags of all the contending nations around the world.
10. Champs Are Engraved on the Stadium Walls
Medal champs are not just drafted into their nation’s set of experiences and Olympic history, but they are also regarded at the Olympic stadium of that year’s tournament. Their names are engraved on the stadium walls – allowing their legacy to be written in stone.
9. The Three Medal Format
In the ancient Olympics, there was only one medal – gold for the champ. In the advent of the advanced Olympic Games, gold, silver, and bronze medals were awarded to the main three rivals on each occasion.
8. The Understated Hero in the Black Power Protest of Mexico City, 1968
In perhaps the most dramatic crossroads in Olympic history, John Carlos and Tommie Smith made a monumental political statement, making a black power salute on the platform of the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico. What is less known is that the silver medallist that day was an Australian white man, Peter Norman. He remained by the pair in solidarity while displaying a human rights badge.
Norman was, similar to the two American runners, attacked by his own country’s media for this display and barred from contending in future Olympics. But his job has since been perceived as he was awardedafter-deatheath Order of Merit in 2008. Both Carlos and Smith appeared as pallbearers at Norman’s 2006 funeral.
Now we’re halfway thr, and we’dwe’d prefer to take one moment to reveal to you a little about what we do. Our teamwork with previous Olympic champions each day, offering organizations, schools, and organizations the chance to book staggering Olympic speakers like Jessica Ennis-Hill and Sir Steve Redgrave.
We also work with the top Paralympic speakers like Tanni Gray-Thompson and Richard Whitehead.
And if you’re hoping to get your skis on at your occasion, you can even discover a Winter Olympic speaker with any semblance of Graham Bell, Eddie the Eagle, and Amy Williams available.
7. The Olympic Flame Is Always Lit
It has been around the world, on Concorde, winding whitewater, and even in space, and is virtually weatherproof. It can withstand outrageous temperatures and roaring breezes of up to 50 mph and, some way or another has not yet gone out during its long relays around the world. If it ought to, a spare light, lit from the mother flame in Athens, is never over 30 seconds away.
6. A Symbol of Friendship
While black Olympic symbol Jesse Owens was caught up with embarrassing Nazi Germany and making history at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, two Japanese post vaulters Shuhei Nashida and his companion Sueo Oe were set for a sudden death round to choose who took silver and who took bronze. The couple chose to decrease the tie-break scenario and famously cut the two medals down the middle. They then intertwined the bronze with the silver to make two new ‘friendship medals.’
5. Kids and Amateurs Used To Compete
Rules have been set up to make the Olympics the fairest and most level playing field conceivable, but that isn’t to say that athletes have not taken advantage of escape clauses and such in the past.
The Winter Olympic Games introduced the Eddie the Eagle Rule to prevent amateurs from contending in the Games. The IOC guaranteed that all rivals in the Games more likely than not completed in the top half of an international contest.
Young people were allowed to contend in the Olympics until 1997, when the International Olympic Committee guaranteed just those above the age of 16 could contend. Dimitrios Loundras was the youngest ever Olympic athlete, appearing in the 1896 games.
4. The First Paralympics
The primary Paralympic Games occurred in Rome in 1960, intended to allow war veterans a chance to contend and rehabilitate. Before that, there were instances where physically disabled athletes contended in the Olympics themselves. Olympic gymnast George Eyser famously won six medals with a wooden leg in the 1904 Games.
Now the Paralympics offers a chance for people with an array of disabilities the chance to contend. In 2014 Ibrahim Hamato made history as he became a titleholder in table tennis regardless of having no arms and playing with the racquet in his mouth.
3. A Marathon Without Shoes
From one man showing huge mental flexibility, determination, and drive to another. Abebe Bikila won the Olympic marathon at the Rome Olympic Games in 1960. Amazingly he did it without the advantage of footwear. Running barefoot for the painstaking 26-mile run, Bikila became the primary African in history to win a gold medal.
2. London 2012 was a Historical Moment for Equality
We’ve progressed significantly from naked contenders and prohibited athletes to the Olympics of today. And London 2012 demonstrated a landmark second for the Olympics. Among other things, the London 2012 Olympic Games were known as the Women’s Games. Why? Because it was the main summer Olympics that showcased genuine equality. Ladies were not barred from a solitary game, and without precedent for history, each nation sent a female contender.
1. The Longest Remaining Record In The Modern Olympics Is Now 50 Years Old
Sway Bearman won the long leap in the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico. His superhuman leap enrolled a remarkable 8.90 meters to turn into an Olympic record, which right up ’til the present time stands in the opposition. Greg Rutherford said of his famous leap, ‘It was a special leap back then and a special leap at this moment.
