Olympic trivia

Athens Olympics, 1896 At the first games, silver medals were awarded to the winners and bronze to the those who came second.

Athens Olympics, 1896
At the first games, silver medals were awarded to the winners and bronze to the those who came second.

Charlotte Cooper, Tennis, 1900
The first woman to win an Olympic event was England's Charlotte Cooper, who won the tennis singles at the 1900 games.

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Pigeon Shooting, 1900
Fortunately this short lived event was the only time animals were killed on purpose during an Olympic event

Berlin Games, 1936 The first games to be televised were the 1936 Berlin Games.

Oldest Olympian ever
British Equestrian, Lorna Johnstone was 70 years and 5 days old when she rode at the 1972 Games, thus being the oldest woman ever to compete at an Olympic Games.

The Royal Yard
The 385 yard in the 26 mile marathon boasts a royal history.

In the 190s London Olympics, the Olympic distance for marathon was changed from 26 miles to 26 miles 385 yards to fulfil a royal wish. Queen Alexandra wanted the finish line to be in front of the royal box so that the royal family could get a better view. And, so be it. The finish line was changed immediately. The additional 385 yards are now a permanent part of the marathon.

The event was the Olympic marathon at Stockholm in 1912. Japanese ahtlete Siso Kanakuri mysteriously disappeared from the race. Five decades later, when the Swedes celebrated the 50th anniversary of the race, a massive hunt was launched for the missing runner who was now treading a different track: teaching geographt in a Japanese town.

Kanakuri was brought back. Amidst cheers from the Swedes, Kanakuri ran, once again, on the tracks at the Olympic Stadium. This time, he crossed the finishing line, bringing to a close the 55 year long marathon.

Effortless win
In the 1912 Olympics held in Stockholm, wrestler Claes Johansson of Sweden won the gold without wrestling for it.

Amazing but true.

After a gruelling 11 hour bout in the middle weight semi-final, Estonian Martin Klein competing for Russia overcame opponent Alfred Asikainen of Finland. Physical drained Klein was unable to wrestle for the gold medal. Claes Johansson who was declared the champ thus landed with a win, effortlessly.

Those wretched three seconds
Till date, the US has not collected a silver medal won 23 years ago.

Mucih Olympics, 1972. It was the final countdown in the US-USSR basketball match for the gold and silver. Just three seconds to go. US had never lost a match in the Hames. In the midst of this high drama, the Soviet coach was frantically trying to get a timeout when time ran out adn the Americans began to celebrate a 50-49 win.

But by official ruling, three seconds was put back on the clock. The fight began again. The three seconds ran out without a score. Once again, a jubilant American team exploded with joy. But once again, the treacherous three seconds had to be replayed. This time, the timing equipment had malfunctioned. whew!

The game began. Russian Alexander Belov bounded past Jim Forbes and Kevin Joyve adn the Soviets won - 51-50. USSR had ended the US reign on basketball gold.

Sadly the till the invincible sports stars were harly a sporting team. They rejected the silver.

Till date, the silver medal remains uncollected.

Homecoming
The stolen 1920 Antwerp Olympic flag finally came home to the Internatinal Olympic Committee in 2000,after an eighty-year-long estrangement.

In 1920, after the Games, spurred on by a bet with his fellow competitor, American bronze medallist (diving) Hal Prieste, sprinted up the flag pole adn carried the flag back wth him to the US. After 80 summers, Prieste, 103 years old in 2000, handed back the flat to the IOC.

The flag ws to rest at the IOC museum at Lausanne, according to Samaranch.