- Just in case you've been living under a rock, the Olympics is on right now and we're all watching it.
A fun Olympic Games fact is that a 10-year-old won Gold in the first games. Do you know what the only even was in the first games?
- In the first of the Olympics, women could not only not
compete, they weren’t even allowed to attend. - In the Olympics of ancient Greece, only freeborn Greek men were allowed to participate.
- The first modern Olympics of 1896 had 13 countries participating. (A far cry from the 200 participating countries in recent times.
- The Olympic motto came from Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the same one who designed the Olympic Rings.
- The Olympic Rings were designed in 1913 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin with the colors blue, yellow, black, green and red.
- The rings were placed on a white background, ensuring that every nation’s flag contained at least one of the colors.
- Olympic Games organizers can choose to add in sports, for instance, you will see skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing and breaking at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
- The Olympic Games were canceled in 1916, 1940, and 1944 because of the effects of WWI and WWII.
- When participants could shoot live pigeons in the 1900 Olympics, Leon de Lunden from Belgium, killed 21 birds all on his own.
- In the 1900 Paris Olympics, competitors could compete in live pigeon shooting and in doing so, nearly 300 pigeons were killed in the event.
- The Olympics were revived in 1896, all thanks to Baron Pierre de Coubertin. It restarted Olympism and the interest in the Games.
- The early games has events like wrestling, boxing, long jump, javelin, discus, and chariot racing.
- Golf and Rugby both disappeared from the Olympics and then returned.
- Some Olympic sports like running deer shooting or dueling pistols are gone for good.
- Hot air ballooning, tug of war and motor boat sailing all used to be Olympic Sports.
- The start of the Olympic Games was in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece.
- The Olympics in 1900 was in Paris, too, and it was the only time there were ever live animals in the sporting events.
- The first of the summer Olympic Games had only 14 participating countries including 11 teams from Europe, Australia, Chile and the United States of America.
- The Olympic Torch wasn’t introduced to the Olympics until the 1936 Berlin Games.
- London is the only city that has hosted the Olympic Games three times, in 1908. 1948, and 2012.
- The Olympics have been hosted by over 20 countries.
- The youngest Olympian was only 10 during the 1896 Olympics. His name was Dimitrios Loundras and he was even a medal winner at the time.
- More recently, Momiji was a 13-year-old when he took gold for skateboarding.
- The Olympic motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius,” translating to “Faster, Higher, Stronger.”
- The first Olympics featured only one event, the footrace.
- The Olympic Games were canceled in 393 AD and didn’t start again for 1,500 years because the emperor at the time,
- Theodosius deemed the Olympics to be pagan and stated that they had no place in his country.
- The first Olympics in 776 BC lasted for up to six months.
- The Olympic rings are a symbol of the five continents that are united by the spirit of Olympism.
What’s your favorite Olympic Games fact from the list? Let me know what your watching in the comments!