Great facts about Olympics and Olympic records

1. Ancient Olympics were played at Olympia city. The winners in those games were awarded crowns made of olive leaves. King Theodosius I had banned the games in 393 AD.
2. Even in ancient times, the games were held every four years during August and September and the word "Olympiad", which referred to the four year intervals between competitions, was commonly used to measure time.
3. The first documented Olympic champion was a man named Coroebus, a cook from Elis who won the sprint race in 776 BC.
4. It was only in 472 BC that the events were spread out over a period of four to five days, previously they had all taken place on a single day.
5. The first Modern Olympics were held in 1896 by the efforts of Baron Pierre De Coubertin. Athens was the venue to host first modern Olympics. King of Greece had inaugurated the games in 1896. At first coubertin enlisted 13 nations to send atheletes to participate in the events . Now about 200 nations send athletes 4 about 28 events.
6. The Olympic flag, with five colored interlocking rings against a white background was conceived by Coubertin indicating the union of 5 continents. After his death, De Coubertin’s heart was buried in a monument near the ruins of the ancient city of Olympia.
7. The first three Olympics were loosely organized. It was the 1908 London Olympics that had relevant authorities organizing the games in separate discipline. The games were held in a newly built stadium with audience capacity of 66,000.
8. Politics began to intrude on the Games in a serious way at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, where Palestinian terrorists attacked Israeli athletes in the Olympic Village.
9. Sixty nations boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, while the Soviets and some of their allies retaliated by declining to take part in the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.
10. The IOC, headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, sets and enforces Olympic policy. The site of the games is chosen, usually at least six years in advance.
11. The winter Olympics were introduced in the year 1924. Chamonix, France was the host city.
12. Hockey was played for the first time on artificial turf in 1976 Montreal games.
13. Marjorie Gesting is the youngest player to win gold .at the age of 13 in 1936 olympics he won it in spring board diving event.
14. In 1932 international Olympic committee initiated custom of lodging all participants in an Olympic village.
15. A Greek named Spyros Samaras composed the Olympics anthem.
16. In 1986 Olympics Americans won the 9 out of the 12 track and field events.
17. September 5 1972 is termed as black day in history of Olympics. On this day 8 Arab terrorists broke into the Israeli camp and opened fire, killing 2 athletes on the spot. Later in the rescue operation all the athletes were killed.
18. Michael Breal, a French student of Greek mythology suggested the marathon for the modern Olympics.
19. The new motto for the Olympics – citius ,altius ,fortius meaning faster ,higher ,stronger was coined in 1924 by father Henry Didon.
20. First Olympics in southern hemisphere was held at Melbourne in 1956.
21. Swimming, running, cross country riding, fencing ,and revolver shooting make up the pentathlon.
22. The Olympic flame is lit up by the sun’s rays at the altar of Hera the wife of Zeus in the temple of Zeus in Olympia in Greece.
23. High board and spring boards are the two diving events at Olympics.
24. In 1908, the venue of the Olympics from Rome was changed to London because of eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
25. In 1964 tokyo Olympics Rhodesia started the Olympics with a different flag and ended with that of new one of Zambia.
26. At the Helsinki Olympics in 1952, K.D.  Jadhav won a bronze for wrestling, which was first medal for India.
27. In 1996, Leander pace won a bronze in tennis.
28. Karnam Malleshwari had won a bronze for weight lifting at Sydney games in 2000.
29. Rajya Vardhan Rathore won a silver medal 4 double trap shooting event at 2004 Athens games.
30. In the history of Olympics Laryssa latinina has won 18 medals in Olympics.
31. Emil Zatopek has won 5000mt, 10000mt, &marathon in the same Olympics.
32. Jessy Owens and Carl Lewis have won the golds’ in same events – 100mt & 200mt.
33. India has won 11 hockey medals ,8 Gold ,1 silver and 2 bronze .
34. India won her first Olympics gold at 1928 Amsterdam Olympics (hockey)
35. Miki Oda was the first Asian to win an Olympic gold.
36. Ethopia won the marathon consecutively in 1960, 64 &68.
37. In 1976 Montreal Olympics Nelli Kim of Soviet ,scored a perfect 10 in gymnastics, and won a Gold for himself.
38. Marion Jones became the first women to win 100mt, 200mt, 400mt relay, 100mt relay and 400mt.
39. In 1960 Rome Olympics, Milkha Singh of India broke the 400mt world record. He lost the Bronze medal at the 100th part of a second to Michael Spence.
40. Tokyo was the first Asian city to host Olympics in 1964.
41. A traditional marathon is 42kms and 385 yards. The reason for this length lies here. The marathon at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London was set to measure about 25 miles (40 km) and to start on ‘The Long Walk’ – a magnificent avenue leading up to Windsor Castle in the grounds of Windsor Great Park. The Princess of Wales wanted her children to watch the start of the race, so the start of the race was moved to the east lawn of Windsor Castle, increasing its length to 26 miles (42 km). The race was to finish at the Great White City Stadium in Shepherd's Bush in London; however, Queen Alexandra insisted on having the best view of the finish; so, in the words of the official Olympic report, "385 yards were run on the cinder track to the finish, below the Royal Box”. The length then became 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards or 26 7⁄32 miles).
42. Francisco Lazaro from Portugal in marathon and Knut Jensen, Danish Cyclist are two athletes to die during the games.
43. Spanish Queen Sofia represented Greece in sailing in 1960 Summer Games.
44. Joe Frazer, nicknamed as Smokin Joe, won the Gold in 1964 heavy weight category.
45. Tennis was reintroduced into Olympics in 1988 Seoul edition after 64 years.