Summer of sport
PARIS 2024
As 10,500 athletes gather to compete in Paris, we take a look at some of the lesser-known facts about this great sporting event
Any Greek man could take part in the ancient Olympics, but did so naked. Legend has it that after a runner tripped on his loincloth, everyone took theirs off!
ALL THAT GLITTERS...
With gold considered too expensive, winners in the Olympics were initially awarded a silver medal until a solid gold medal was introduced in the 1904 St Louis Games. It lasted for three Games, before they were once again cast in silver and gold-plated.
OLYMPIC ORIGINS
The first recorded Olympic Games were held in 776BCE, in Olympia, Greece. The ancient site, on Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula, still has extensive ruins, including athletic training areas, a stadium and temples dedicated to the gods Hera and Zeus. The Games were banned in 393CE by Roman emperor Theodosius I who deemed them to be a pagan cult. It took another 1,500 years for the Games to be revived, with the birth of the modern Olympics in Athens in 1896. They were the brainchild of French historian, athlete and education reformer Pierre de Coubertin and that year saw 241 male athletes from 14 nations taking part.
GAINING SPEED
In 1896, the record for the 25-mile marathon was two hours, 58 minutes and 50 seconds. Today, the fastest official Olympic time for our 26.2-mile marathon is almost an hour quicker, at two hours, six minutes and 32 seconds.
PARALYMPIC GOLD
The Paralympic Games actually originated in 1948 at a UK hospital treating war veterans and it was the ninth annual Stoke Mandeville Games that was later designated the first Paralympics, in Rome in 1960. There are now 10 categories of eligible impairments including physical, vision and intellectual.
Great Britain took its first turn as host in 1908. Lasting an impressive six months and four days, the Games remain the longest in Olympic history
ROYAL TRIUMPH
HRH Princess Anne became the first member of the Royal Family to compete at an Olympics when she rode the Queen’s horse, Goodwill, in the equestrian three-day event in the 1976 Games.
