The Rio Olympics was the 28th summer Olympic Games
The first Olympic Games was held in Athens in 1896
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- 1896 – Athens (Greece)
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- 1900 – Paris (France)
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- 1904 – St. Louis (USA)
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- 1908 – London (England)
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- 1912 – Stockholm (Sweden)
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- 1920 – Antwerp (Belgium)
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- 1924 – Paris (France)
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- 1928 – Amsterdam (Holland)
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- 1932 – Los Angeles (USA)
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- 1936 – Berlin (Germany)
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- 1948 – London (England)
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- 1952 – Helsinki (Finland)
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- 1956 – Melbourne (Australia)
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- 1960 – Rome (Italy)
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- 1964 – Tokyo (Japan)
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- 1968 – Mexico City (Mexico)
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- 1972 – Munich (Germany)
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- 1976 – Montreal (Canada)
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- 1980 – Moscow (USSR)
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- 1984 – Los Angeles (USA)
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- 1988 – Seoul (South Korea)
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- 1992 – Barcelona (Spain)
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- 1996 – Atlanta (USA)
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- 2000 – Sydney (Australia)
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- 2004 – Athens (Greece)
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- 2008 – Beijing (China)
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- 2012 – London (England)
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- 2016 – Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
London is the only city to hold the Olympics three times (1908, 1948, 2012)
In 2020, Tokyo will become the fourth city to hold the Olympics twice.
(Los Angeles 1932, 1984; Paris 1900, 1924; Athens 1896, 2004)
Five countries have taken part in every Summer Olympic Games
(Greece, Australia, France, Great Britain, Switzerland)
Great Britain is the only country to have won at least one gold medal at every Summer Olympics.
The 1964 Games in Tokyo were the first to be broadcast worldwide on TV
Michael Phelps has won the most medals in history – 28, with 23 gold
Kaori Icho became the first female athlete to win 4 consecutive gold medals in the same event.
Steve Redgrave, a British rower, won 5 consecutive gold medals from 1984 to 2000.
Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, based his Olympics on the Wenlock Olympian Society Annual Games, which had been held in the English town of Much Wenlock since 1850.
One of the mascots of the London 2012 Olympics was called ‘Wenlock’.
An Olympic gold medal is actually made of 93% silver and 6% copper. Only 1% (6 grams) is gold.
An Olympic gold medal is worth $600. A silver medal is worth $325. A bronze medal is worth $3!
The Olympic rings, represent the 5 world continents, Africa, Asia, America, Europe and Australia. The colors of the rings together with the white of the background included the colors of every competing nation’s flag at the time.
The Olympic motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, which is Latin for “Faster, Higher, Stronger”
