15 Facts About The Olympics
8. Women did not participate in the first modern Olympic Games held in 1894. They were allowed and began participating since the second modern Olympics held in 1900.
9. The Olympic Games were canceled thrice – in the years 1916, 1941 and 1944, on account of World War I and World War II.
10. Africa, South America and Antarctica are the only three continents that have never hosted Olympics until date.
11. “Gymnasium” is extracted from the Greek word “gymnos” which means “nude.” The literal meaning of the word “gymnasium” means “school for naked exercise.” In the ancient Olympic Games, athletes used to participate in the nude.
12. The American television network CBS first covered the Olympic Games for television in the year 1960. In 1960, the Olympic Games were held in Rome.
13. In 2004, the Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece; and in that year, a record number of 202 countries had participated.
14. Eddie Eagan (United States), Jacob Tullin Thams (Norway), Christa Luding-Rothenburger (East Germany), and Clara Hughes (Canada) are the only four athletes who have ever won medals at both the summer and the winter Olympics.
15. The Olympic gold medals were made of real gold only until 1912. Thereafter, both gold and silver medals contained 92.5% silver and gold medals were plated with 6 grams of gold. The custom of awarding medals itself started in the year 1904. Prior to that, cups and trophies have also been awarded.
