Olympic Games

The early Olympic Games were celebrated as a religious festival from 776 B.C. until 393 A.D., when the games were banned for being a pagan festival (the Olympics celebrated the Greek god Zeus). In 1894, a French educator Baron Pierre de Coubertin, proposed a revival of the ancient tradition, and thus the modern-day Olympic Summer Games were born. Host Greece won the most medals (47) at the first Olympic Summer Games in 1896. The United States has won more medals (2,189) at the Summer Games than any other country. The Olympic medals are designed especially for each individual Olympic Games by the host city's organizing committee. Each medal must be at least three millimeters thick and 60 millimeters in diameter. Also, the gold and silver Olympic medals must be made out of 92.5 percent silver, with the gold medal covered in six grams of gold.The last Olympic gold medals that were made entirely out of gold were awarded in 1912. James B. Connolly (United States), winner of the hop, step, and jump (the first final event in the 1896 Olympics), was the first Olympic champion of the modern Olympic Games Because of World War I and World War II, there were no Olympic Games in 1916, 1940, or 1944. Up until 1994 the Olympics were held every four years. Since then, the Winter and Summer games have alternated every two years. The Summer Olympic sports are archery, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, canoe / kayak, cycling, diving, equestrian, fencing, field hockey, gymnastics, handball, judo, modern pentathlon (shooting, fencing, swimming, show jumping, and running), mountain biking, rowing, sailing, shooting, soccer, swimming, synchronized swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, track and field, triathlon (swimming, biking, running), volleyball, water polo, weightlifting, and wrestling. The Winter Olympic sports are alpine skiing, biathlon (cross-country skiing and target shooting), bobsled, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hocky, luge, Nordic combined (ski jumping and cross-country skiing), skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, and speed skating. A record 202 countries participated in the 2004 Olympic Summer Games in Athens. Dimitrios Loundras was a Greek gymnast who took part in the Athens Olympics held in 1896. Young Dimitrios won a bronze medal for his efforts, and to this day he still remains the youngest Olympic competitor and medalist on record. Even more amazing, he was 10 years and 218 days old when he won his medal!! Running a marathon is hard work. Shoe companies market like crazy to all types of runners, but their advertisements would have been wasted on Abebe Bikila. Abebe, who hailed from Ethiopia, won the gold medal for the marathon in the 1960 Rome Olympics. He was the first African to win a gold, and he did so barefoot!! Speed skater Bonnie Blair has won six medals at the Olympic Winter Games. That's more than any other American athlete. Larrisa Latynina, a gymnast from the former Soviet Union, finished her Summer Olympic Games career with 18 total medals—the most in history. The 1912 Greco-Roman wrestling match in Stockholm between Finn Alfred Asikainen and Russian Martin Klein lasted more than 11 hours. Klein eventually won but was too exhausted to participate in the championship match so he settled for the silver. World record, but no gold medal: In 1924, American Robert LeGendre shattered the world long jump record with a leap of 25 feet, four inches. However, the jump was part of the pentathlon competition and LeGendre could muster only a third-place finish overall!!The actual long jump competition was won with a jump of 24 feet, five inches. Stella the Fella—Poland's Stella Walsh (Stanislawa Walasiewicz)—won the women's 100-meter race at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, becoming the first woman to break the 12-second barrier. When she was killed in 1980 as an innocent victim in a robbery attempt, an autopsy declared her to be a male!! In the men's team gymnastics competition in 1976, Japan's Shun Fujimoto actually broke his kneecap while performing in the floor exercise. The following day, however, he needed a top-notch performance in the rings for Japan to secure the gold. With no pain killers, he performed a near flawless routine and stuck the landing, putting a tremendous amount of pressure on his injured knee. He grimaced in pain as he held his position for the judges, then finally collapsed in agony. Japan won the team gold by just four tenths of a point over the Soviet Union. The 2012 Summer Olympic Games are being held in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July to 12 August. Around 10,500 athletes representing 204 nations and territories are competing in 302 events covering 26 sports Wenlock and Mandeville are the official mascots for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics being held in London, United Kingdom. The mascots were created and designed by iris, a London-based creative agency.[1][3] Wenlock and Mandeville are animations depicting two drops of steel from a steelworks in Bolton India first participated in Olympics in 1900 in Paris. The country was represented by Norman Pritchard, an Anglo Indian who was holidaying in Paris during that time. He bagged two silver medals in 200m. dash and 200m hurdles. Then after a gap of 20 years India again participated with two athletes in 1920 Antwerp Olympics and with eight members in 1924 Paris Olympics. in 1927,Indian Hockey team participated in their first Olympic hockey event and won the gold medal under the captaincy of Jaipal Singh. For the next 6 successive Olympics spanning 28 years from 1928-1956, Indians retained their gold medal for the hockey event. Hockey wizard Dhyan Chand played a major role in Indian victory in the first three successive wins. It was definitely the golden era of Indian Hockey in Olympics, during which India played 24 matches and won all 24, scored 178 goals (at an average of 7.43 goals per match) and conceded only 7 goals. India again won two more gold medals in Olympic hockey in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
Indian Olympics History: Quick Facts

* India's First ever participation in Summer Olympics Games: 1920 * India's first ever participation in Winter Olympics Games: 1964 * India's first ever gold medal: Norman Pritchard in 1900 * Number of Medals won by Indian athletes till date: 20 * The best performance by India at Olympics: In 2008 Beijing Olympics * Total Gold medals won by Indian athletes :9 * Gold Medals won in Men's Field Hockey: 8 * Individual Gold Medal: 1 (Abhinav Bindra in Men's 10m Air Rifle, 2008 Beijing Olympics) * * Benny Hinn Crusade Choir-Nothing is impossible * Don Moen