Interesting Olympic Facts about the Games
Ten True and    Funny Interesting Facts from Past Olympic Events
Rope Climbing took place in the following years: 1896, 1904,     1906, 1924, 1932. Rudimentary gym skills were all it took to win     Olympic gold in the early 20th century it appears, as this event     basically consisted of shimmying up a rope.
Club Swinging occurred in 1904 and 1932. This consisted of     swinging a club festooned with ribbons around your body and head.  Strange but true.
Tug-of-War between 1900 -1920.  Indeed this trickiest of     sports favoured by rather overweight beer drinkers in pubs was     actually considered an Olympic event.  We hear competitive tug-of-war     gave way to another short-lived event: the 40m three-legged race.
In wrestling at the Stockholm Games in 1912, the light     heavyweight final between a Swede, Anders Ahlgren, and a Finn, Ivar     Bohling, lasted nine hours.  Since neither had gained an advantage     over the other, no gold medal was awarded. Each received a silver     medal.
Motor boating was an official sport at the 1908 Olympics. It was     frowned upon because the competitors were often out of sight of the     watching crowds.
Polo was played at the Olympics in 1900, 1908, 1920, 1924, and     1936.
In 1912, in Stockholm, the first electric timing devices and    public address system was used at the Olympics.
Ralph Craig ran in the 100m for the USA in    1912.  He next competed in the Olympics in the USA yachting team, some 36    years later in 1948.
The key word "amateur" was eliminated from the Olympic Charter in 1971.
American swimmer Michael Phelps holds both the record for most     gold medals won at an Olympic Games, eight, and most career gold medals with     14.
Interesting History of Olympic Medals
At     the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, silver medals were     awarded to the winners and bronze to the second place getters.
Olympic gold medals haven't been pure gold in years. The 1912 Olympics     was the last time that gold medals were solid gold.  Ever since,     they've been silver with gold plating.
Starting in Amsterdam 1928, all Summer Olympic medals featured     the same design: a Greek goddess, the Olympic Rings, the Coliseum of     ancient Athens, a Greek vase, a horse-drawn chariot.  Each host     city then adds their own design together with with the year and the     number of Olympiad.  The host city has control over the design     of the reverse side of the medal.
In 1900, in France, Olympian winners got paintings instead of gold     medals. Gold, silver and bronze medals weren't given out until the     third modern Olympics in 1904. The French gave the winners paintings     because they believed they were more valuable.
Incidentally, more athletes than spectators attended the 1900     Paris Olympic Games.
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More Interesting Olympic Games Facts
No women competed in 1896, as de Coubertin felt that their     inclusion would be "impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic, and     incorrect."
The first black athlete to compete at the Olympics was     Constantin Henriquez de Zubiera, competing for France in 1900.
The Berlin 1936 Olympiad was the first games to be televised.
The only Olympian ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize was     Philip Noel-Baker of Great Britain, who won the silver in the 1500     metres in 1920.
The first Winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix, France in     1924. Norway has won the most medals (263) at the Winter Games.
In Beijing 2008, equestrian rider Hiroshi Hoketsu became the     oldest Japanese Olympic representative at age 67. Hoketsu also took     part in the 1964 Tokyo Games at the age of 23 where he finished 40th     in the show jumping event.
In order for a sport to be considered for inclusion in the     Olympics it must be 'widely practiced' by men in at least 75     countries and on four continents, and by women in at least 40     countries and on three continents.
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Interesting Facts about the London 2012    Olympics
Olympic sites are chosen by secret ballot, so we're not sure how    London beat Paris for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Some blame French    President Jacques Chirac, who insulted Britain before the vote by    saying, "After Finland, it's the country with the worst food."  France's bid wasn't getting British support anyway, but Finland had two    IOC members, and some speculate that they were swing votes in the 54-50    outcome.