In honor of the Olympics

Tonite the opening ceremonies for the 2008 Summer Olypmics will be broadcast. (One member of the LMGC whose name rhymes with Fally Gord has already informed me that she will not be taking calls during this time) In honor of that I thought Id give a little Olympic trivia! Enjoy!

• In 1894, a French educator Baron Pierre de Coubertin, proposed a revival of the ancient tradition, and thus the modern-day Olympic Summer Games were born.
  
• Host Greece won the most medals (47) at the first Olympic Summer Games in 1896. (no surpises there!)
  
• The first Winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix, France in 1924.
  
• Norway has won the most medals (263) at the Winter Games. (all that snow is good for something!)
• The United States has won more medals (2,189) at the Summer Games than any other country. (and again...no suprises there either!!)
  
• The five Olympic rings represent the five major regions of the world – Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceana, and every national flag in the world includes one of the five colors, which are (from left to right) blue, yellow, black, green, and red.
  
• Up until 1994 the Olympics were held every four years. Since then, the Winter and Summer games have alternated every two years.

• The first Olympics covered by U.S. television was the 1960 Summer Games in Rome by CBS.
  
• No country in the Southern Hemisphere has ever hosted a Winter Games.
  Three continents – Africa, South America, and Antarctica – have never hosted an Olympics.
  
• A record 202 countries participated in the 2004 Olympic Summer Games in Athens.
  


• Nobody has won more medals at the Winter Games than cross-country skier Bjorn Dählie of Norway, who has 12.
  


• Larrisa Latynina, a gymnast from the former Soviet Union, finished her Summer Olympic Games career with 18 total medals—the most in history.
  


• The Summer Olympic sports are archery, badminton,(wait...are you kidding me, BADMINTON is a sport??) basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, canoe / kayak, cycling, diving, equestrian, fencing, field hockey, gymnastics, handball, judo, modern pentathlon (shooting, fencing, swimming, show jumping, and running), mountain biking, rowing, sailing, shooting, soccer, swimming, synchronized swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, track and field, triathlon (swimming, biking, running), volleyball, water polo, weightlifting, and wrestling.
  


• The Winter Olympic sports are alpine skiing, biathlon (cross-country skiing and target shooting), bobsled, cross-country skiing, curling,( I love watching this sport!) figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hocky, luge,(scary, scary sport) Nordic combined (ski jumping and cross-country skiing), skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, and speed skating.


• Athletes will produce as much as 2 million pounds of dirty laundry. It would take a family of four 264 years to go through that much laundry! (I guess my 6 loads a week is nothing to complain about!)
  
  
• In wrestling at the Stockholm Games in 1912, the light heavyweight final between a Swede, Anders Ahlgren, and a Finn, Ivar Bohling, lasted nine hours. Since neither had gained an advantage over the other, no gold medal was awarded. Each received a silver medal. (Oh my...can you imagine, you start when its like noon and end when its 9pm at night!!)


• In order for a sport to be considered for inclusion in the Olympics it must be "widely practiced by men in at least 75 countries and on four continents, and by women in at least 40 countries and on three continents" (and be able to hold the interest of at least the broadcasters and reporters covering the olympics)


• In 1900 Australian Donald MacIntosh came third in the live pigeon shooting event, the first and only time animals were killed on purpose in an Olympic event. Donald won by killing 21 of the birds. (PETA would never stand for this today!!!)


• The Olympic flame is a practice continued from the ancient Olympic Games. In Olympia (Greece), a flame was ignited by the sun and then kept burning until the closing of the Olympic Games. The flame first appeared in the modern Olympics at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. The flame itself represents a number of things, including purity (read: no steroids!) and the endeavor for perfection.

• In 1936, the chairman of the organizing committee for the 1936 Olympic Games, Carl Diem, suggested what is now the modern Olympic Torch relay. The Olympic flame is lit at the ancient site of Olympia by women (from forty countries on three continents)wearing ancient-style robes and using a curved mirror and the sun. The Olympic Torch is then passed from runner to runner from the ancient site of Olympia to the Olympic stadium in the hosting city. The flame is then kept alight until the Games have concluded. The Olympic Torch relay represents a continuation from the ancient Olympic Games to the modern Olympics.