Go for Gold at the Olympics
Sharpen your Olympics trivia knowledge with these fascinating facts
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The 2024 Summer Olympic Games kick off 26 July in the host city of Paris, though several of the 41 event venues are located elsewhere in France. The farthest away—the surfing competition—will take place in Tahiti, part of the territory of French Polynesia in the South Pacific Ocean, 15,715 km away from the host city. That’s an Olympic record!
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This marks the third time Paris has hosted the Summer Games. The second-ever modern Olympics were held here in 1900, then Paris hosted again in 1924. Paris and London are now tied for hosting the most Olympics. At the next Summer Games, in 2028, Los Angeles will host its third, making it a three-way tie.
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Before the Games begin, there’s a months-long Torch Relay, which is already underway. As always, the relay began in Greece, an homage to the home of the ancient Olympics. Greece also has the honour of entering first during the Parade of Nations, while the host nation enters last. (In 2004, when Athens hosted, the Greek flag bearer entered first, while the rest of the Greek delegation entered last.) The torch was lit in April, reached France in May, and continues to tour the country and its territories overseas. Along the way, about 10,000 torchbearers will carry it through more than 400 towns.
4
During this year’s Opening Ceremony, rather than parade through a stadium, athletes are expected to float on boats down the River Seine toward the Eiffel Tower. For the first time ever, free access will be offered via invitation. Of course, some shelled out for the best seats and views: The last unsold tickets were just shy of $3,000 [Rs 2.5 lakh] apiece.
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AirBnB and Vrbo prices in Paris have more than doubled, reports Business Insider, from an average of Rs 36,300 per night to Rs 77,845 during the Olympics. And the cost of a ride on the Paris Metro will almost double during the Games. The New York Times r...
1
The 2024 Summer Olympic Games kick off 26 July in the host city of Paris, though several of the 41 event venues are located elsewhere in France. The farthest away—the surfing competition—will take place in Tahiti, part of the territory of French Polynesia in the South Pacific Ocean, 15,715 km away from the host city. That’s an Olympic record!
2
This marks the third time Paris has hosted the Summer Games. The second-ever modern Olympics were held here in 1900, then Paris hosted again in 1924. Paris and London are now tied for hosting the most Olympics. At the next Summer Games, in 2028, Los Angeles will host its third, making it a three-way tie.
3
Before the Games begin, there’s a months-long Torch Relay, which is already underway. As always, the relay began in Greece, an homage to the home of the ancient Olympics. Greece also has the honour of entering first during the Parade of Nations, while the host nation enters last. (In 2004, when Athens hosted, the Greek flag bearer entered first, while the rest of the Greek delegation entered last.) The torch was lit in April, reached France in May, and continues to tour the country and its territories overseas. Along the way, about 10,000 torchbearers will carry it through more than 400 towns.
4
During this year’s Opening Ceremony, rather than parade through a stadium, athletes are expected to float on boats down the River Seine toward the Eiffel Tower. For the first time ever, free access will be offered via invitation. Of course, some shelled out for the best seats and views: The last unsold tickets were just shy of $3,000 [Rs 2.5 lakh] apiece.
5
AirBnB and Vrbo prices in Paris have more than doubled, reports Business Insider, from an average of Rs 36,300 per night to Rs 77,845 during the Olympics. And the cost of a ride on the Paris Metro will almost double during the Games. The New York Times reported that a basic room at an Ibis hotel that normally costs Rs 8,100 to Rs 18,000 was going for Rs 36,000 to Rs 63,000. Tickets to Olympic events aren’t cheap, either. The lowest prices as of January for the men’s 10-metre platform diving event were about Rs 79,350.
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But most of the estimated billions of spectators will watch on TV. NBC has the US broadcasting rights, having paid $7.75 billion to air the Games from 2021 to 2032 on its network and its Peacock app. In India, exclusive media rights to broadcast the Games belongs to Viacom18, and the live telecast can be watched on Sports18. Those who prefer to stream can do so through JioCinema.
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For the first time since 1960, these Olympics will feature fewer events than the previous Games, which had a whopping 339. The count is still high, though, at 329. Gone are karate (not entertaining enough, according to Reuters) and baseball (the Olympics schedule conflicts with Major League Baseball). But there is also one entirely new sport this summer: breaking—or, as it’s commonly known, break dancing. No other dance sport has previously been inc-luded at the Olympics.
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Unusual sports that have once been part of the Games include solo synchronized swimming (ummm ...), tandem bicycle, tug-of-war, hot air ballooning, and swimming obstacle race. And from 1912 to 1948, the Olympics also included artistic competitions. Painters, sculptors, architects, writers and musicians all vied for medals in their fields.9Six athletes have medalled at both the Summer and Winter Olympics. The most recent was Miami native Eduardo ‘Eddy’ Alvarez, who won a silver medal in speed skating relay in 2014 and in baseball in 2021. Germany’s Christa Luding-Rothenburger is the only athlete to medal across both seasons in the same year, after winning medals in speed skating and sprint cycling in 1988. That won’t be matched as long as the Summer and Winter Games remain staggered, as they have been since 1994.
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Among the stranger traditions of the Games (at least since 1968) is the inclusion of Olympic mascots, anthropomorphic something-or-others that are supposedly symbolic of the host country’s culture. This time, it’s a phryge (FRI-jee-uh)—a soft red hat worn during the French Revolution. Other odd mascots have included the indefinable Izzy (prompting the question from those who couldn’t tell, “What Izzy?”) from Atlanta ’96, and a one-eyed Teletubby-esque creature called Wenlock from London 2012.
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The City of Lights is also called the City of Love, a particularly apt nickname while Paris plays home to the Olympic village. Four-time Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte estimated in 2012 that 70 per cent to 75 per cent of Olympic athletes are having sex during the Games. Organizers of the Rio 2016 Games distributed so many condoms, it averaged 42 per athlete!
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Some athletes can earn their livings as pros in their sports, but many others pay their bills through unrelated day jobs. Jared Ward, a 2016 US marathon runner, is a statistics professor at Brigham Young University. Three-time Olympic trampoline gymnast Ana Rente of Portugal balanced those dreams with being a doctor. And badminton player Scott Evans of Ireland is also co-owner of Hosbjerg, a women’s clothing company.
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Repping Team USA, along with household names such as swimmer Katie Ledecky, gymnast Simone Biles, and basketball player LeBron James, is a name we may all know soon: track standout Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. The 24-year-old from New Brunswick, New Jersey, keeps breaking and rebreaking her own world record in the 400-metre hurdles and should be favoured in a variety of events in Paris. Who knows? Perhaps the Paris Olympics will be remembered as the ‘Sydney’ Olympics.