The 2016 Summer Olympics are about to start, so let’s take a look at some fun facts about the Games:
- The earliest record of the Olympics dates back to 776 BC. The Games were held every four years in Athens, Greece, until 393AD.
- The first modern Olympic Games took place in Athens in 1896.
- No Olympic Games were held in 1916 (during WWI) and in 1940 and 1944 (during WWII).
- Athletes from the US have won a total of 2,399 medals in the Summer Games. Russia is in second place with 1,010 medals.
- Swedish shooter, Oscar Swahn, is the oldest medal winner. He won a silver medal in 1920 when he was over 72 years old!
- America’s Michael Phelps has the record for winning the most medals with 18 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals.
- Marjorie Gestring, of the US, is the youngest person to ever win a gold medal. She was 13 years and 268 days old when she won the 3-meter springboard event in 1936.
- The 1900 Paris Olympics were the first to allow women to compete. British tennis player, Charlotte Cooper, became the first female athlete to win an individual Olympic event.
- The Berlin Olympics of 1936 were the first ever to be broadcasted on television.
- Equestrianism is the only Olympic sport where men and women compete on equal terms.
- William Shakespeare was the first person to use the word “Olympian” in 1592. In his play, Henry VI, he used the line: “Promise them such awards / As victors wear at the Olympian games.”
- An Olympic gold medal weighs 531 grams. Of the 531 grams, only 6 are gold and the rest are silver.