#1 Our modern Games and the Ancient Olympics are different in many respects – our modern Games have 42 disciplines, compared to the six of the Classical world; today, men and women of all nationalities are invited to compete.
#2 The ancient Olympic games only allowed people of Greek descent to participate. The Salt Lake City Olympics featured 2600 athletes from 77 countries. Only a few hundred athletes participated in the ancient games.
#3 The ancient Olympic games were held as a religious event to honor the Greek God, Zeus. A hundred oxen were typically given as a sacrifice.
#4 The ancient Olympics yielded only one winner. A crown of olive leaves was placed on his head and a statue in his image was erected in Olympia. The current Salt Lake City Olympics feature 15 types of events, each with a Gold, Bronze, and Silver medalist (except when a game is rigged by the French, in which case two gold medals are given).
#5 The first modern Olympics in 1896 only had 300 athletes from 11 countries and just eight British. In Rio 2016, there were 11,303 athletes competing from 207 nations. The 1904 games in St Louis the poorest attended in terms of competitors and sometimes referred to as the worst of all time. Team GB sent no athletes at all!
#6 The official languages of the games are English and French, complemented by the official language of the host country.
#7 The 2012 London Games were the first Olympics in which all participating countries sent female athletes.
#8 The 2016 Games in Rio will mark the first time the Olympics are held in South America.
#9 The Olympic rings represent solidarity and unity among the continents of Africa, North America, South America, Asia, Oceania, and Europe.
#10 The six colors – blue, yellow, black, green, red, and the white background – were chosen because every nation’s flag contains at least one of them.
