There is always plenty of excitement when the Olympics are around the corner or when they are actually on the offing. But do you know some of the interesting facts about the Olympics? Well, here they are, just take a look at some of the most interesting facts about both the summer and the winter Olympics.
Interesting Olympic Facts
Ancient Olympic Facts
- From 776 BC to 393 AD the Olympic Games were used to be celebrated as a religious festival to honor Zeus, but then they were banned for being a pagan festival so it was banned in the 393 AD. But long after that in the year 1894 a French educationalist Baron Pierre de Coubertin proposed the revival of this great ancient tradition and that is how the Modern Olympics got a start.
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More Olympic Facts
- The first-ever modern Olympics were played in Greece in the year 1896 and the host nation won 47 medals which were the most number of medals.
- The first ever Winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix in France in the year 1924.
- In the Winter Olympics, Norway has won the most number of medals until now.
- In the Summer Olympics, the United States has won the most number of medals (2522) until now.
- There is a story behind those Five Olympic Rings as well. All of them represents the five major regions of the world, they are Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Oceana. Not only that, but every national flag in the world is also included in one of the five colors. They are from the left to right – Blue, Yellow, Black, Green, and Red.
- Since 1994 Winter and Summer Olympics are being adjusted to celebrate every two years, although they maintain to be organized every four years.
- The first ever televised Olympics were the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, which was telecasted in the USA by CBS network.
- Three continents, Africa, South America, and Antarctica have never hosted an Olympic.
- In 2004, in the summer Olympics in Athens, Greece 202 countries had participated, which is a record.
- Eddie Eagan (United States), Christa Luding-Rothenburger (Former East Germany), Clara Hughes (Canada) and Tullin Thams are some of the rare athletes who have won medals in both Summer and Winter Olympics.
- Larrisa Latynina a gymnast who was a former Soviet Union citizen has won 18 total career Olympics medals which are the most in the history of the game.
- Bjorn Dahlie who is a Norwegian has won 12 medals in his career in the Winter Olympics, which are the most in the history of that section of the Olympics.