The 2012 London Games is within sight and thus, it's the perfect time to get you all the 'Did you know?' facts on Olympics. How many of these do you already know?
Ø Britain's Philip Noel-Baker is the only Olympian to be awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize. Noel-Baker won the silver medal in the 1500 metres race at the 1920 Olympics.
Ø The budget for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 London Games has been drawn at 81 million pounds.
Ø 74 Olympic records were broken at the 1988 Seoul Games.
Ø Shooter, Oscar Swahn is the oldest ever participant at the Olympic Games. At the ripe old age of 72 he represented Sweden at the 1920 Antwerp Games.
Ø Only 75 of the 144 participants in the marathon at the 2004 Athens were able to finish the race. The blazing sun took its toll on many runners.
Ø Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Brunei have never sent a female athlete to the Olympics.
Ø Each Olympic medal is 7mm thick.
Ø Despite George Eyser's wooden left leg, the German-American, won six medals on a single day at the 1904 Olympic Games.
Ø London is the first city to host Olympic Games thrice---1908, 1948 and 2012.
Ø The 1948 London Olympics was also known as Austerity games.
Ø Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, introduced an arts competition in the 1912 Stockholm games. He participated and won a gold medal in literature.
Ø Hungarian pistol shooter Karoly Takacs lost his shooting arm in a grenade explosion, yet he battled on. Tackacs practised to shoot with his right hand and ended up winning gold medals in 1948 and 1953 games.
Ø Johnny Weismuller won five Olympic gold medals in swimming. He also starred in 12 Tarzan movies.
Ø Before modern day shooters aimed at clay pigeons, the real ones were shot at the 1900 Games.
Ø The design of the Aquatics Centre at the 2012 London Games is inspired by stingray--a group of fishes related to sharks.
Ø Greg Louganis stunned everyone by winning four Olympic gold medals in swimming. He also amazed all when he openly declared being gay.
Ø Bad weather at the 1948 London games saw a few games being held at dusk. The car headlights provided all the illumination.
Ø Triple jumper, America's James Connolly, was denied leave from Harvard University to take part in the 1896 Athens Games. Connolly then, cut short his academic career to take part in the Olympics. He went on to become America's first gold medallist.
Ø At the 1896 games, swimmers were taken into the river on boats and asked to wade back.
Ø The contestants in the Ancient Olympics participated in the nude.
Ø The first athlete to die during an Olympic event was Portugal's marathon runner, Francisco Lazaro. The tragedy happened during the 1912 Stockholm Games.
Ø In 1960, Ethiopia's Abebe Biikila won the marathon barefoot.
Ø Mark Spitz won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics and famously claimed that his moustache made him swim faster.
Ø Betty Robinson, who won the 100m race at the Amsterdam Olympics, came out of a 7-month coma to participate at the 1936 Olympic games.
Ø When rain put out the Olympic flame during the 1976 Montreal games a smart alec re-lit it with his cigarette lighter.
Ø Ethiopia's distance runner, Miruts Yifter was jailed three months after winning a gold medal in the 10,000m at the 1972 Munich Olympics. His crime was to miss the 10,000m final held in his country.
Ø Eight runners took part in the women's 800m at the 1928 Olympics out of which six collapsed due to exhaustion. The event was next held at the 1960 games.
Ø During a basketball test event for the London games, the Chilean national anthem was played for the Chinese team.
Ø Cricket featured in the 1900 games in Paris. Only two teams--Great Britain and France--took part in event. The English won the gold medal.
Ø The Olympic velodrome is the first Olympic venue to be completed for the games.
Ø Having been disqualified from a taekwondo event, Cuba's Angel Valodia Matos took out his frustration by trying to kick the match judge.
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