X-Nico

31 unusual facts about Summer Olympic Games


180-line television system

The Berlin Summer Olympic Games were televised, using both fully electronic iconoscope-based cameras and intermediate film cameras, to Berlin and Hamburg in August 1936.

1988 Junior Olympics

Children from around the world competed in junior versions of events that were found in the Summer Olympic Games of the late 1980s.

AFC Asian Cup

However, since the Summer Olympic Games and the European Football Championship were also scheduled in the same year as the Asian Cup, the AFC decided to move their championship to a less crowded cycle.

Centennial Olympic Stadium

Centennial Olympic Stadium was the 85,000-seat main stadium of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Daly Cherry-Evans

Cherry-Evans was named after one of his English-born mother's favourite British athletes, 1980 and 1984 Olympic Games Decathlon Gold Medallist Daley Thompson.

Dean Cromwell

Athletes coached by Cromwell eventually set individual world records in 14 events and relay world records in three others, and won 12 Olympic gold medals during his time at USC.

Fencing at the Summer Olympics

Fencing has been contested at every Summer Olympic Games since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Field hockey at the Summer Olympics

Field hockey was introduced at the Summer Olympic Games as a men's competition at the 1908 Games in London, with six teams, including four from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Greenhills

Michael Carruth, a gold-medal winner in the welterweight boxing division at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games, was from St Peter's Road and retains close ties to the area.

Guillermo Ortega Ruiz

He narrated the visits of the Pope John Paul II, Summer Olympic Games and Space Missions, as well as witnessed and reported unrest and conflicts in various countries and covered presidential campaigns.

Gymnastics at the Summer Olympics

Gymnastics events have been contested at every Summer Olympic Games since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Igor Vysotsky

Igor Vysotsky was an amateur boxer from Soviet Union, best known for twice defeating 1972, 1976, and 1980 Olympic Gold Medalist Teofilo Stevenson.

International Life Saving Federation

The World Games which are organised by the International World Games Association (IWGA) every four years in the year immediately following the Summer Olympic Games.

Jean-Marie De Koninck

1976 until now: sports analyst for the Société Radio-Canada for international swimming competitions, among others the Summer Olympic Games of 1976, 1984,1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008;

Kōji Kikkawa

Kōji was supposed to represent Japan in water polo in the coming Olympics but chose to be a singer.

Kyar Ba Nyein

P. Bose, who Kyar Ba Nyein defeated, was India’s best featherweight champion and was selected to represent India twice in the previous Olympics.

Liberia at the Olympics

Liberia (LBR) has sent athletes to every Summer Olympic Games held since 1956 with the exception of 1968, 1976 and 1992, although the country has never won an Olympic medal.

Montenegrin Olympic Committee

The MOC organizes the country's representatives at the Summer and Winter Olympic Games as well as at smaller events such as the Mediterranean Games.

Papua New Guinea at the Olympics

Papua New Guinea first participated at the Olympic Games in 1976, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then, except when they participated in the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics.

Saint Kitts and Nevis at the Olympics

Saint Kitts and Nevis first participated at the Olympic Games in 1996 and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then.

Samoa at the Olympics

Samoa first participated at the Olympic Games in 1984, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then.

Shooting ranges in the United States

Both skeet and trap are Olympic sports (or, more precisely, are disciplines of an Olympic sport that are contested in the Summer Olympics), and are practiced by many bird hunters to sharpen their marksmanship.

Spain national basketball team

The Summer Olympic Games:

In August 2008, prior to their competing in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, the Spanish national men's basketball team were photographed posing in what British media reports described as a 'racist' and 'insensitive' image.

Stoyan Ormandzhiev

He managed the team nearly a decade, under his charge in 1956 the team won the Bronze medals in the Summer Olympics in Melbourne.

Sudan at the Olympics

Sudan first participated at the Olympic Games in 1960, and has sent athletes to compete in most Summer Olympic Games since then.

Thailand at the Olympics

Thailand first participated at the Olympic Games in 1952, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then, except when they participated in the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics.

UCI Road World Championships – Men's team time trial

It was held annually, except that from 1972 onward, the TTT was not held in Olympic years.

Venezuela at the Olympics

Venezuela first participated at the Olympic Games in 1948, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then.

Winnipeg Falcons

Although an official part of the Summer Olympic Games, hockey and figure skating events were held in late April and early May, while the weather was still cool enough for suitable ice conditions in the arena.

Wratislavia Chamber Orchestra

They participated in creating the musical setting of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.


Anti-Jewish legislation in prewar Nazi Germany

In the weeks before and during the 1936 Winter and Summer Olympic Games held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Berlin, respectively, the Nazi regime actually toned down much of its public anti-Jewish rhetoric and activities.

Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metres

Former world champion Block, and double Olympic champion, both looked past their best trailing in behin Campbell who was never behind.

Beate Eriksen

She is the granddaughter of Olympic gymnast Marius Eriksen and the daughter of World War II flying ace Marius Eriksen, Jr. She is also the niece of alpine skier Stein Eriksen and is married to one of Norway's most prominent actors, Toralv Maurstad.

Brazil at the 2006 Winter Olympics

The substitute on the Bobsleigh team, Claudinei Quirino, was a silver medalist in the Summer Olympic Games, where he finished second in Sydney with the Brazilian 4x100m relay team.

CCTV-1

In special programmes in occasions such as the Chinese National Day, Handover of Hong Kong, Hong Kong International Airport, Taiwanese Earthquake, 11 September 2001, Sichuan Earthquake, Asian Games and Summer Olympic Games the show was extended to live television.

CCTV-7

In special programmes in occasional such as the Chinese National Day, Handover of Hong Kong, Hong Kong International Airport, Taiwanese Earthquake, 11 September 2001, Sichuan Earthquake, Asian Games and Summer Olympic Games the show was extended to live television.

Croatian Olympic Committee

The COC organizes Croatia's representatives at the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

Gillis Grafström

Together with Eddie Eagan he is the only athlete to have won a gold medal at both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, having the further distinction of being the only person to have won an individual gold medal in both the Summer (1920) and Winter Olympics (1924, 1928), although Eagan remains the only one to have managed the feat in different disciplines.

Jackson Scholz

During the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, an American Express credit card commercial ("Don't leave home without it") included Ben Cross and the 87-year-old Scholz.

Jean Hamilius

He is the son of Émile Hamilius (1897 – 1971), himself a former DP politician and Mayor of Luxembourg City (1946 – 1963), as well as having competed at the Summer Olympics (in 1920), like his son.

Kubasaki High School

Two-time Olympic gold medalist in the individual time trial in 2008 and 2012.

Marcin Gortat

His father Janusz Gortat was a Polish boxer and a bronze medalist in light heavyweight during the Munich 1972 and Montreal 1976 Olympics, and his mother Alicja Gortat was a representative of the Polish national team in volleyball.

Mikio Oda Memorial International Amateur Athletic Game

It is one of the major track and field meets in Japan called Japan Grand Prix, and qualifying trials for World Championships and Summer Olympic Games have been held.

Port Huron High School

The "Big Red Marching Machine" has performed in many high visibility fori, including the Summer Olympics (Munich, 1972), the Detroit Thanksgiving Day Parade, and Walt Disney World.

Uolevi Manninen

Uolevi Manninen (April 7, 1937, Äänekoski - November 10, 2009) was a Finnish Olympic basketball player and businessman.