Fascinating Olympic Facts
The ancient Olympic Games began in Greece in 776 B.C.E and were held every four years until 393 C.E. It wasn’t until about 1500 years later, in mid-1800s, that the games were revived in Greece. But the Olympics didn’t become the event we know today until 1894, when a French historian named pierre de Coubertin had the idea of making the games international, and founded the International Olympic Committee.
1. Medals weren’t always a part of the Olympic Giving medals to winners is a practice that began in 1893. And between 1896 and 1904, the top prize was a silver medal.
2. At various times, the Olympics have included such unusual events as a swimming obstacle race, a tug of war, and live pigeon shooting.
3. The youngest person that has ever competed in the Olympics was Dimitrios Loundras, a ten-year-old gymnast on the 1896 Greek gymnastics team.
4. The gold medal is not made of gold! It’s actually 92.5 percent silver with a covering of six grams of gold.
5. Lighting the Olympics torch does not involve a match. It is lit using only the light of the sun and a special mirror.
6. The marathon is an event named after the run of a Greek soldier, Pheidippides. In 490 B.C.E., Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens (about 26 mile, or 40 kilometer) to deliver news about the Greeks’ success in a battle against the Persians. Running through the mountains and rocky land was extremely difficult. After Pheidippides arrived in Athens and delivered his news, he fell down and died. The first modern Olympics in 1896 included a race of 26 miles (40 kilometers), called a marathon, to commemorate pheidippides’run.