Did you know that poodle clipping and pistol duels were once official Olympic events? With the 2008 Summer Olympics upon us, we’d like to highlight some of the more bizarre and interesting trivia that surrounds this highly anticipated global event. Even though the Olympics celebrate the world’s top athletes, they have increasingly become a marketing extravaganza for the athletic gear companies. So, we’ll also take this opportunity to reveal some eye- opening trivia about sneakers. Share these fascinating facts with your friends and impress people with your new found knowledge about these subjects!
Olympics History
1. Olympics Nudity
The word “gymnasium” comes from the Greek word gymnos, which means naked. In ancient times athletes practiced in the nude to the accompaniment of music. They also performed naked at the Olympic Games. Women were not allowed to participate or even to attend as spectators.
2. Oldest (1920)
The oldest Olympic athlete to compete in the Olympics was Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn who won his sixth Olympic medal at the 1920 Antwerp Games at the age of 72 years and 280 days old.
3. Youngest (1896)
The youngest ever Olympian is Greek gymnast Dimitrios Loundras, who competed in the 1896 Athens Olympics. He was 10 years old.
4. Barefoot Marathon (1960)
In 1960, Ethiopian marathoner Abebe Bikila earned an Olympic gold medal without wearing any shoes.
5. Cancelled Olympics (1916, 1940, 1944)
Olympics not held due to war: 1916, 1940 and 1944. The 1916 Games were cancelled due to World War I and the 1940 and 1944 Games were cancelled due to World War II.
6. International POW Olympic Games (1940, 1944)
During the years of 1940 and 1944 in two POW´s camps the prisioners celebrated a “special Olympics” called International Prisoner-of-War Olympic Games. An Olympic flag was made of a Polish prisoner’s shirt and, drawn in crayon, it featured the Olympic rings andbanners for Belgium, France, Great Britain, Norway, Poland, Russia and Yugoslavia.
7. Longest Olympics (1908)
This year’s Games last for 17 days. The opening ceremony is on the 8 August and the closing ceremony is on the 24. But it’s going to be quite short compared to the longest ever Olympics. That was held in London, way back in 1908. It lasted for 187 days, starting in April and ending in October!
8. Tarzan Olympic Record (1924)
In 1924 starring in the Olympic pool was young Johnny Weissmuller - forever to be remembered as Tarzan for his later film roles - who won both the 100-metres and 400-metre races, setting world records in both. In the 400 metres, Weissmuller shaved a full 20 seconds off the Olympic record.
9. Sex Before Sports (1972)
A medical adviser for Britain’s team at the 1972 Munich Olympics recommended that athletes indulge in “about half an hour of sexual activity . . . to maximize the onset, quantity, and quality of sleep” the night before an athletic event. But he warned that athletes following his advice should be accustomed to a pattern of sexual intercourse. Otherwise, he said, “the muscle tension involved might result in severe stiffness and aching the next day.”
10. Postman Delivers (1904)
Felix Carvajal, quit his postman job to compete in the marathon representing Cuba in the 1904 St Louis Olympics. He barely paid for his fare to the U.S. with money from begging in Havana. After being fleeced by gamblers in New Orleans, he was broke and had to run the remaining 700 miles to St. Louis begging for food along the way.
Felix actually made it all the way to St. Louis–just as the marathon was about to begin. Another athlete convinced him to cut off his long sleeves and pantlegs because of the 100 deg. heat. He ran over 700 mi., with very little nourishment, and managed to finish the 26 mile Olympic marathon in fourth place.
Weirdest Olympic Events
11. Underwater Swimming (1900)
Swimmers were awarded points for how far they went and how long they stayed under water. You probably did this all summer as a kid, but then you never got a medal for it.
12. Plunge Diving (1904)
From a standing position, divers see how far they can go without taking a stroke.
13. Dueling Pistols (1906)
Shooters fired at mannequins wearing frock coats and bull’s-eyes on their chests. They seriously need to bring this event back.
14. Standing Triple Jump (1900-1904)
Also known as the hop, step and jump; started from a stationary position.
15. Standing High Jump (1900-1912)
Same as the traditional high jump, only without a run-up. Considering the early Olympics were a bunch of white British guys, the world record stood at 3 inches in 1912.
16. Tug-of-war (1900-1920)
Two teams of eight try to pull a rope six feet; if neither team reaches the mark after five minutes, the team that pulled the farthest won.
17. Equestrian High Jump (1900)
Riders see who can jump the highest on horseback.
18. Poodle Clipping (1900)
It only featured in one Games in Paris in 1900. A farmer’s wife won the gold medal. She managed to trim 17 poodles in just two hours!
19. Pankration (648 BC)
Pankration, a form of extreme wrestling, was the last of the combat sports and among the last of all ancient sports to join the Olympic program. The genitals were not off limits. Even strangulation was allowed. Only biting and eye gouging were against the rules, though there is evidence pankratiasts frequently tried to get away with both. Sostratos of Sikyon, a three-time Olympic winner, became known as “Mr. Fingertips” for his habit of breaking his opponent’s fingers at the start of a match.
Though pankration died with the ancient Olympics, the essence of the sport lives on in a relatively new form, extreme fighting. In the United States, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, founded in 1993.
20. Pigeon Shooting (1900)
In 1900 Australian Donald MacIntosh came third in the live pigeon shooting event, the first and only time animals were killed on purpose in an Olympic event. Donald won by killing 21 of the birds.
Olympics Technology
21. Hole Digging (1936)
During the 1936 Berlin Olympics when Jesse Owens won four gold medals, the athletes dug their own starting holes with small shovels.
22. Old Olympics Timing (1932)
At the 1932 Games, official results were given at 10ths of a second. Results were first recorded to the nearest 100th of a second in 1952, ushering in the era of quartz and electronics.
23. Modern Olympics Timing (2008)
In Beijing’s Summer Olympics, Omega, the official time keeper, has installed sophisticated systems with the photo-finish camera. Every 2,000th of a second an image is taken of what happens and then all these are put into the computer. At the end of the race an image is revealed on the time-base in order to exactly know at what time the breast of the athlete crossed the line.
24. Olympics GPS (2008)
When Omega takes on the Olympics job again in Beijing in August, it will be using 109 miles of cables and optical fiber and 420 tonnes of equipment, including transponders in shoes and GPS systems to time the 302 competitions.
25. Olympics Time Shaving (2008)
The Nike Swift team has worked 14,000 hours since the Athens Olympics (in 2004), and that’s to shave off 0.004 of a second (in the 100 meters) referring to Nike’s Swift Suit for sprinters.
Olympics Media Coverage
26. First TV Coverage (1960)
The 1960 Olympics in Rome Here were the first commercially televised Summer Olympics. CBS paid less than a half-million dollars for the rights and sent a crew of fewer than 50 people, only three of whom were announcers. Every day, canisters of videotape and film were sent by commercial jet from Rome to New York.
27. Billion Dollar Coverage (2008)
TV cameras in Beijing, where NBC, in a billion-dollar effort, will employ an army of 2,900 people to produce 1,400 hours of television coverage and 2,200 hours of coverage on the Internet.
28. Largest Broadcast (2008)
The Olympic Games is the largest single broadcast event in the world, broadcasted in 220 countries to more than 3.5 bilion people.
Sneaker History
29. Birth of Puma & Adidas (1948)
Puma and Adidas companies were formed as a result of a family feud between two German brothers Adi and Rudolph Dassler in 1948.
30. Sneaker Roots & Gold (1936)
Their original joint business called Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory was the first ever to sponsor a black sportsmen named Jesse Owens in the 1936 Summer Olympics who went on to win four gold medals.
31. Sneaker Thieves (1860s)
In 1832 Wait Webster patented a process whereby rubber soles could be attracted to the shoes and boots. By the 1860s a croquet shoe was marketed which had a rubber sole with a canvas upper fastened with laces. Movement in the shoes was noiseless and quickly worn by sneak thieves hence the name sneakers.
32. Waffle Iron (1970/1971)
Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman forged his initial sole designs in his wife’s waffle iron.
Sneaker Logos
33. Nike Goddess
The brand name Nike isn’t just a made-up moniker. It comes from Greek mythology, in which Nike was the winged goddess of victory.
34. Logo Merge
Multiple company trademarks can be found on the same sneaker. With the Nike Shox Energia the three Adidas stripes were placed under the Nike check.
35. Swoosh Birth (1971)
The Nike swoosh is one of the most recognizable trademarks in the world. It was created in 1971 by Carolyn Davidson, an art student at Portland State University who was paid $35 US for her efforts. Some years later it was reported that she was given some Nike company stock and a gold ring with a swoosh on it.
China & Basketball
36. A Nation’s Worth of Players
China’s 1.3 billion residents represent an enormous business opportunity. Nike brand President Charlie Denson recently touted estimates that China is home to as many wannabe basketball players (300 million) as the U.S. has residents.
37. Chinese Traffic (2008)
One-third of the traffic on NBA’s Web site goes through China.
38. Military Basketball (1980s)
In the mid-1980s, there were only 50 courts in Beijing, most of them inside military compounds.
39. 100,000 BBall Courts (2010)
Now it’s nearly impossible to find a schoolyard in China without a backboard and rim - arenas are sprouting in gargantuan urban centers and far-flung provinces, and the government plans to build regulation-size concrete courts in 100,000 villages by 2010.
40. Yao Ming (1990s)
Although Canadian missionaries brought the game of basketball to the Chinese in the late 1800s, it didn’t take off until basketball superstar Yao Ming, the 7-foot-6-inch center who dominated the Chinese Basketball Association in the late 1990s transferred to the National Basketball Association.
