Olympic Sport facts
While investigating facts about Olympic Sports and Olympic Sports List, I found out little known, but curios details like:
Tug-of-war used to be an Olympic sport. In the 1912 Olympics in Sweden, the host nation took gold, Great Britain took silver, and no one won bronze because only two teams showed up.
how olympic sports are chosen?
Alexander the Great once organized an Olympic Games to honor a dead religious leader. However, since the Indians weren't familiar with Greek sport, he opted for a wine-drinking contest instead. 41 contestants died and the winner lived for just four days after his victory.
What olympic sports are there?
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what olympic sport should i do. Here are 50 of the best facts about Olympic Sports 2020 and Olympic Sports And Spine I managed to collect.
what olympic sport would i be best at?
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Mark Spitz, nine time olympic champion, jokingly told the Russian swim team coach in 1972 that his moustache increased his speed in the water, deflecting water away from his mouth. The next year, every Russian swimmer was sporting one.
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Pistol dueling with wax bullets was a popular pastime in the early 20th century and even featured as a sport in the 1908 Summer Olympics
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Julius Yego, a Kenyan javelin thrower who learned the sport and techniques by watching YouTube videos. He competed in London Olympics and this year he won gold at 2015 World Championships. He is known as "Mr YouTube man".
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The 1992 Olympics US basketball team (the "Dream Team") has been called "the most dominant squad ever assembled in any sport". Magic Johnson said "I look to my right, there's Michael Jordan ... I look to my left, there's Charles Barkley or Larry Bird ... I didn't know who to throw the ball to!"
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The state of Kuwait is banned from the Olympics due to government legislation that permits the state to interfere in elections of sporting organizations. As a result, Kuwaiti athletes compete as independent athletes under the Olympic Flag instead of their own flag.
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Canada won the last ever Olympic Lacrosse Gold Medal, in 1908, and are therefore still the reigning Champions. In fact, they are the ONLY gold medalists ever in the sport.
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Pistol dueling with wax bullets was once an Olympic sport.
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Town planning was once an Olympic event, as were several other architectural disciplines. The Olympics were to be about the arts as much as sport and contestants could compete in literature, music and several other non-sporting pursuits
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Pistol dueling was a sport in the 1908 summer Olympics. Contestants used wax bullets and metal masks for safety.
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USA has never won Olympic medals in just 3 sports: handball, badminton, and table tennis.
Olympic Sport data charts
For your convenience take a look at Olympic Sport figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.
Why is netball not an olympic sport?
You can easily fact check why isn't squash an olympic sport by examining the linked well-known sources.
There will be five new sports debuting in the 2020 Summer Olympics: Skateboarding, Rock climbing, Surfing, Baseball/Softball, and Karate
Up until the 70s and 80s every competitor in the Olympics had to be an amateur, meaning they could not receive payment. Today, the only Olympic sports with no professional athletes are boxing and wrestling - source
Saudi Arabia and Bahrain recently made a joint bid to host the Olympics with the mens' events in Saudi Arabia and the womens' events in Bahrain as women are not allowed to play sports in Saudi Arabia. The IOC vetoed the bid. - source
The 1992 Olympics US basketball team (the "Dream Team") won all of their games by an average of 44 points. They have been called "the most dominant squad ever assembled in any sport."
There's a subway ticket machine in Moscow that accepts 30 squats as payment. Installed ahead of the 2014 Sochi Olympics to "bring sports to the people". - source
When did curling become an olympic sport?
Despite lack of media coverage, the Special Olympics World Games is often the largest sporting event of the year
How many olympic sports are there?
Mark Spitz, a 9 time Olympic Champion jokingly told the Russian swim team coach in 1972 that his moustach increased his speed in the water, deflecting water away from his mouth. The next year, every Russian swimmer was sporting one.
Dueling with wax bullets was once an Olympic sport
France was the only nation to send athletes to compete in Croquet in the the 1900 olympics. All 10 athletes medaled, including 2 unopposed. The only spectator was an elderly englishman who only watch the qualifying round. The sport was deemed too unpopular to include in subsequent olympics
Margaret Thompson was the first woman to win an Olympic medal in a shooting sport (silver) in 1976 after tying with the gold medal winner. When the Olympic committee refused a shootoff, the gold medalist pulled Thompson onto the gold medal platform with him.
'art' used to be an Olympic sport. Artists were award gold, silver and bronze medals for architecture, painting, sculpture, music and literature across multiple Summer Olympics in the early 20th Century. The 'arts' were dropped from the Games because they drew too many professional artists.