Do you like watching the Olympics and cheering for your favorite athletes? Then you will be interested to learn a few facts related to this competition.
The Olympic Games are an important sporting event, followed by millions. Professional athletes dream of taking part in them and getting a reward. Many people know that the Olympic Games were born in Greece, but in addition there are a lot of interesting facts about these competitions, which are known to a few.
1. The first modern Olympics
For the first time games that were familiar to everyone in the format were held in 1896 in Athens. At that time, the first place was given a silver medal and a twig of olive, and for the second - a bronze award. Unfortunately, the rest of the participants were left without incentive prizes.
2. Random winning goal
Hockey is a popular sport that has long been represented at the Olympics. Many fans remember the 2002 competitions that took place in America. Almost at the end of the match, with a score of 3: 3, the player of the Belarus national team Vladimir Kopat, who was supposed to go on a substitution and almost left the ice, decided to hold the last throw from outside the blue line. It happened almost impossible, because all the attempts of the goalkeeper to stop the shoulder with a high flying washer were not successful, and the puck was in the gate. As a result, Belarus went to the semifinals, making a legend from Kopaty.
3. Unusual medals
According to the results of the Olympic Games held in 1900, the winners were awarded not with medals, but with plaques (a medal having the shape of a polygon). This was the only time when the winners received rectangular awards of silver and gold.
4. Talismans of the Beijing Games
Each Olympics has its talismans. In Beijing in 2008, the Children of Fortune were chosen, which in Chinese philosophy are five, and they depict: fish, big panda, Olympic fire, Tibetan antelope and swallow. The choice was not accidental, if you fold the first syllables of the names of all the talismans, you get a phrase that translates as "Beijing welcomes you."
5. Fire of the Olympic Games
To light a fire in Greece, use concave mirrors, through which the refraction of the sun's rays occurs. Women take part in this action in traditional clothes. After the first torch is lit, his journey begins to the country where games will be held this year. The torch is passed from hand to hand by representatives of different countries. To the right place, he arrives a few days before the opening of the competition.
6. Rings of the Olympic flag
The rings depicted on the Olympic flag designate five parts of the world, whose teams compete with each other in a stubborn struggle for victory: Africa, Australia, America, Asia and Europe. Another interesting fact - at least one color used for rings, is on the flags of the countries of the participants.
7. The youngest champion
Among the athletes who became champions in speed skating, the youngest is Kim Yun Mi. She participated in the South Korean team in the relay for 3000 meters on the short track. In 1994, when the Olympics was held, she was only 13 years old.
8. Female athletes at games
The first modern Olympic Games in Athens were held without women. For the first time, women were included in the teams in 1990 at the competitions that took place in Paris. According to their results, women excellently showed themselves, for example, the first place in tennis was won by Charlotte Cooper, who also helped her compatriot win in the fight between mixed pairs.
9. Farewell to the Olympics
Every year the Olympics end in enchanting action. When the competitions were held in Moscow, one of the most spectacular elements at the ceremony was a huge image of a bear, laid out with colored shields. However, during the rehearsal an incident occurred: one person holding the shield raised it by the back side. After the head's decision to reverse the party, it by mistake made the whole series. Such actions have reminded a sliding tear which have left for the ceremony, and it was remembered to spectators.
10. The composition of the gold medal at the Olympics
The last time the medals, poured from pure gold, were awarded at the games that took place in 1912 in Stockholm. After this, the awards began to be produced by the gilded ones. Today only 1% of gold is present in medals of the highest standard.
11. Olympiad in the length of 66 years
The first world competitions in which athletes from the USSR took part were held in 1952 in Helsinki. Formally, these games are still not closed. This happened because the president of the International Olympic Committee, after awarding the winners at the end of the solemn speech, forgot to say the traditional phrase: "I declare the Olympics closed."
12. First broadcast
In 1936, for the first time in the competitions that were held in Germany, not only the spectators in the stands, but also the people who had the TV, could see, because the television version was being shot.
13. Length of marathon distance
The modern length of the marathon is 42 km 195 m, and it was installed in 1908 at the games that were held in London. Few people know why this distance was chosen. Some believe that this is due to the transfer of units. However, this is not the case, in the British system, the same distance is 26 miles and 385 yards, which is also not a round number. It turns out that this distance from Windsor Castle to the stadium, where the spectators were located and the competition (42 km), and the remaining meters - the distance from the stadium directly to the royal box.
14. Priority of delegations at the opening ceremony
Opening necessarily includes a parade in which athletes from all countries participate. Starting from the first competitions to the present day, the first delegation of Greece - the founder of the Olympic Games - is on the parade, and the team of the state where the competitions are taking place is finishing. In Athens in 2004, the first was the Greek standard-bearer, and all the other members of the Greek national team moved at the end of the procession.
15. Schedule of games
In the 90th International Olympic Committee laid down the rule that competitions at the world level will be held every two years (before they were held every four years). Under the new schedule, the first winter games were held in 1992 in France, and summer in 1994 in Norway. Since then, all sports fans have the opportunity to watch the world's best athletes every two years.
16. A case with a counterfeit torch
A funny situation occurred in Berlin during the opening of the 1956 Olympics. At that time there was a group of Austrians who did not agree with the tradition of passing fire, and decided to arrange a rally. At this time, the path of the torch ran through Sydney. One of the oppositionists decided to pretend to be an athlete, wet a rag in kerosene and attached it to the leg of an ordinary chair. He managed not only to run through the city with a self-made torch under the protection of the police, but also to hand it to the mayor, who delivered an official speech with a forgery in his hands.