Advantages for Hosting Country

Advantages for Hosting Country

Hosting a major sporting event can give many economic, social and cultural benefits. However, the costs of hosting the event can also be quite high. What determines whether the benefits outweigh the costs?

Advantages of Hosting a Major Event

Raise profile of city / country.

Raising the profile of a city can lead to lasting economic benefits. For example, cities which host the Olympics can be assured of a persistent increase in recognition and tourism. Barcelona, Sydney, Beijing have all seen this from hosting the Olympics. For a country like China with a controversial human rights record, hosting a major sporting event can be a way to gain greater international acceptance. When South Africa hosted the Rugby World Cup and later the Football World Cup, it was a defining moment in highlighting the new ‘post-apartheid’ South Africa. This raised profile can be important for giving economic benefits, such as, attracting tourists and business investment. The importance of this point depends on the particular city. For South Africa, the World Cup made a big difference to perceptions of South Africa. For a city like London, which already has a very strong reputation, hosting the Olympics will be less influential. However, even hosting the Commonwealth Games can be beneficial for a city like Manchester, which benefited from hosting games, despite persistent rain!

Long Term Investment

A  significant benefit is the long-term investment which comes from preparing for a major event. The city / country will have a legacy of improved sporting venues. Also, cities will usually have to invest in infrastructure and transport to cater for influx of cities. For example, there has been significant investment in public transport projects around London. This will leave a lasting legacy for residents of London, especially East London.

Jobs and Investment.

The several years of planning and investment will help create jobs and can revitalise depressed cities. This was an important claim of the London Olympics, choosing a site in East London, which at the time was relatively depressed. It is estimated the London Olympics 2012, will create 8,000 full time jobs, and lead to a boost in economic output of close to £2bn 

Enthusiasm.

It is often easy to find reasons not to host a major sporting event, too much debt, more important priorities. But, a major sporting event can create enthusiasm and excitement for such an event. It can help promote uptake of sport which has lasting benefits for the nation’s health. Also, a major sporting event can lead to a rise in volunteerism which promotes civic virtues.

Short Term economic benefits.

The Olympics will see a surge in visitors, athletes and media. This will provide an increase in spending and injection of money into the local economy. However, this injection of money, will only be short-term (a few weeks) and make little overall impact on the wider economy. Also, the injection of foreign visitors may be offset by locals leaving to avoid the influx and over-crowding.

  Visitor entries to a hosting country

Disadvantages of Hosting country

DISADVANTAGES OF HOSTING COUNTRY

Cost of building stadiums.

To host a major sporting event like the Olympics can cost significant sums, which have to be paid for by the taxpayer. Costs of Olympics have a tendency to rise over time and be much greater than expected.

Short-Term use.

Many facilities built for the Olympics can never be fully used again. e.g. an 80,000 athletic stadium will rarely be full outside of the Olympics. This can be mitigated by careful planning. e.g. the London Olympic stadium will be used by West Ham, other Olympic facilities, like the Olympic village will be converted into affordable housing.

Potential for Negative Publicity.

If things go well, a city can benefit from positive publicity, but if things go badly, it can cause the opposite. For example, the Winter Olympics has received adverse publicity because of corruption and cost over-runs. The football World Cup in Qatar, could back-fire, if players complain about the heat. Delhi suffered negative publicity over the state of its facilities at the Commonwealth Games.

Cost of Security

Major sporting events increasingly have to implement higher levels of security. This is both costly and can restrict freedom of movement of local citizens during games.

Higher Taxes to Pay Cost

Some cities have seen an increase in tax post games to finance a loss making sporting event. The post-games cost of London is uncertain

Statistic shown on cost of hosting Olympics vs World cup 2014

Disadvantages of hosting Olympic 2012, London

Famous athlete

Famous Athlete in Olympic Games

There is something profoundly awe-inspiring about athletes, which makes them ‘living legends’.

This rare quality can be attributed to their sheer skill and power, but mostly it is their defiance for defeat that makes them who they are. Since ancient times, the Olympic Games have been one such platform that has showcased the prowess of athletes belonging to the class of extraordinary.

1. Carl Lewis

With 10 Olympic medals, including 9 gold ones, Carl Lewis is probably one of the biggest names in the history of Track and Field. Regarded as the ‘Olympian of the Century’, he remained unbeaten for more than a decade in the prime of his sporting career. The American Sprinter and Long Jumper set many world records of which his record in Long Jump still remains unsurpassed.

2. Emil Zatopek

Also known as the ‘Locomotive’, Emil Zatopek is the epitome of resilience and endurance. Zatopek is counted among the likes of the greatest runners of 20th century. The Czechoslovakian was the first person to break the 29 minute mark for 10000 m and 60 minute mark for 20000 m run.

3. Cathy Freeman

The enigmatic 400 m Australian runner won her first gold medal at the Commonwealth Games at the age of 16. She became widely recognised as she lit Olympic Flame at the 2000 Olympic Games where she also won a gold medal in 400 m run.

4. Major Dhyan Chand

Having scored over 400 goals in his sporting career, he is rightfully called ‘The Wizard’. His show with the ball drew crowds who did not even have the slightest interest in hockey. Dhyan Chand led the Indian hockey team to win three consecutive gold medals in the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympic Games.

5. Michael Phelps

The only man to have won 14 gold medals in the Olympics, Phelps is a sight to behold when he is in water. The American swimmer who has a disproportionate body adept for swimming, holds an astonishing total of 39 world records.

6. Mark Spitz

Another great swimmer, Mark Spitz dazzled the world by winning 7 gold medals at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Also known as ‘Mark the Shark’, he set new world records in all the 7 swimming events he participated in, in the 1972 Games.

7. Nadia Comaneci

Words cannot describe the performance of 14-year-old Nadia Comaneci at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, which got her a perfect 10: a near impossible feat in Olympics. Nadia, who hails from Romania, won 9 Olympic medals in her sporting career of Artistic Gymnastics.

8. Usain Bolt

Often heralded as the fastest man on earth, Usain Bolt can run 100 metres in a matter of exactly 9.56 seconds. His major feat of achievement was the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when he won all gold medals in 3 sprinting events and set new world records for the same.

9. Muhammad Ali

He is known as ‘The Greatest’ and indeed is. He won gold in the 1960 Rome Olympics in boxing, but it was his swagger and rather interesting style of boxing which granted him his iconic status.

10. Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens is a name you are bound to encounter in almost all general knowledge books. His name was perpetuated in the annals of history when he won 4 gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Over the course of history, the limitations of the human body have been redefined over and over again. Every four years at the Olympics, records are broken and new records are formed just because athletes push themselves just a nudge more when they think they have nothing left to give.

Weightlifting

WEIGHTLIFTING

Weightlifting has been contested at every Summer Olympic Games  since the 1920 Summer Olympics, as well as twice before then. It debuted at the 1896 Summer Olympics, in Athens,Greece and was also an event at the 1904 Games.

Weightlifting has been at the Olympic Games in all years except 1900, 1908 and 1912. In the current competition format, each athlete has three attempts for each movement. The best performances in each lift are combined to determine the winners.

• Men’s Categories: Up to 56 kg, 56-62 kg, 62-69 kg, 69-77 kg, 77-85 kg, 85-94 kg, 94-105 kg, Over 105 kg.
• Women’s Categories: Up to 48 kg, 48-53 kg, 58-63 kg, 63-69 kg, 69-75 kg, Over 75 kg.

Weightlifting icon in the Olympic Games

Trivia

• In Paris 1896, the events were the one hand lift and the two hand lift.
• In 1904 the events were Two hand lift and All-around dumbbell.
• In the early Games, all lifters competed in the same events, regardless of their individual body weights. From 1920 onwards, weight classes were set up. These classes have changed over time. Currently the men have 8 and the women 6 different weight classes.
• Ibragim Samadov, who represented the Unified Team at the 1992 Olympics weightlifting, finished in equal first in the 82.5 kg division, but was relegated to 3rd on a countback due to him being 0.05 kg heavier. In protest, he refused to lean forward to accept his medal, instead took it in his hand then dropped it. The IOC subsequently disqualified him.
• The 2000 Olympics was the first time that women were allowed to compete at the Olympics in weightlifting. 
• The best all-time performing Weightlifting athlete at the Olympic Games is Pyrros Dimas of Greece with three gold medals and one bronze.

      Pyrros Dimas, had won 3 gold and 1 bronze 

Hockey

HOCKEY

Field hockey was first introduced at the Olympic Games for men in 1908 in London. It was subsequently removed from the Olympics at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games due to the lack of an international structure. It was back in 1928 after The International Hockey Federation (FIH) was founded.

Changes for 2016

For Rio 2016 the FIH have changed the structure of games, instead of two 35-minute halves, there will be 60-minute games broken into four quarters. After the first and third quarters each team will have a two-minute break, with a 10-minute break at half-time.

Hockey icon in the Olympic Games

Trivia

• Great Britain won gold, silver and bronze in hockey competition in 1908, the first time the sport was contested at Olympic level.
• For a long period of time India and Pakistan dominated the Olympics, with India winning gold in every Olympics from 1928-1956.
• Women's hockey was introduced at the 1980 Moscow Games.
• Zimbabwe's gold medal winning women's hockey players were each rewarded with an ox when they returned home from the 1980 Games.
• Olympic field hockey games were first played on artificial turf in Montreal in 1976.
• At Barcelona in 1992, Andreas Keller won a gold medal as part of the German field hockey team, and became the third generation of his family to win a medal in the event. His grandfather, Erwin, earned a silver medal in 1936 and his father, Carsten, a gold in 1972.
• The best all-time performing hockey players at the Olympic Games is the Indian players Leslie Claudius and Udham Singh with four medals each (3 gold). They played in the same teams between 1948–1960. 

Leslie Claudius, one of the best all time hockey player

Cycling

CYCLING

Cycling is a core Olympic sport, and one of five sports that has been contested at every summer Olympic Games since 1896. Some cycling events such as the 1,000m sprint and the 4,000m team pursuit have had a long history at the Olympics, while others have been dropped from the program such as the Tandem event or recently added such as the Omnium.

Cycling icon in the Olympic Games

Four Disciplines

There are currently four disciplines in Olympic cycling: track, road, mountain-bike and BMX. BMX was the latest to be added to the Olympic program, in 2008.

In London 2012 there were some significant changes to the cycling program. Removed from the program was the men's and women's individual pursuit and points race, and the men's Madison. Added to the women's program was the team sprint, team pursuit and the keirin, while Omnium was a new race for both men and women. The net result is that all event types now have competitions for both men and women.

The new event the Omnium comprises six events:

1. Flying lap (against the clock)
2. Points race
3. Elimination
4. Individual pursuit
5. Scratch race
6. Time trial

Current Events

Here are the 18 cycling event that are currently part of the Olympic program. The year that each event was first on the program is listed.

• Track events
  • 1000m Sprint Men — 1906 to current
  • 1000m Sprint Women — 1988 to current
  • Team Pursuit Men — 1908, 1920 to current
  • Team Pursuit Women — 2012 to current
  • Keirin Men — 2000 to current
  • Keirin Women — 2012 to current
  • Omnium Men — 2012 to current
  • Omnium Women — 2012 to current
  • Team sprint Men — 2000 to current
  • Team sprint Women — 2012 to current
• Road events
  • Individual Road Race Men — 1896 to current
  • Individual Road Race Women — 1984 to current
  • Individual Road Time Trial Men — 1996 to current
  • Individual Road Time Trial Women — 1996 to current
• Mountain Bike event. There is a men's and women's cross country event. In each of these, the competitors start at the same time and complete laps of a closed off-road course for about 2 hours. The first athlete to cross the finish line after a set number of laps wins.
  • Cross-country Men — 1996 to current
  • Cross-country Women — 1996 to current
• BMX events
  • BMX Individual Men — 2008 to current
  • BMX Individual Women — 2008 to current

Trivia

• Cycling has been part of the Olympic Games since the beginning of the modern era.
• Track racing has been held at all Olympic Games except for 1912 in Stockholm, when only a road race event was held. This road race was the longest race of any kind ever in Olympic history, held over a distance of 320km (199 miles), the winner finishing in 10 hours 42 minutes. 
• In Rome 1960, after taking amphetamines, Danish cyclist Knuth Jensen collapsed during a race, fatally fracturing his skull. The official cause of death was heat stroke.
• Tandem Cycling is a discontinued track cycling event at the Olympics, though tandem cycling is an event at the Paralympics.
• East German athlete Christa Rothenburger won a silver medal in track cycling in Seoul in 1988. Seven months earlier she had won the women's 1000 meter speed skating event at the Winter Olympics in Calgary. She became the first and only athlete to win medals in both a Summer and Winter Olympics in the same year.
• In 1984, women were admitted to Olympic cycling with the inclusion of a single road race. 
• In 2008 in Beijing, representing Australia in BMX cycling was a rider called Kamakazi, who had changed his name from Jamie Hildebrandt by deed poll.
• The best all-time performing cyclist at the Olympic Games is British cyclist Chris Hoy, who added to his tally at the 2012 London Games to make it six gold medals in total.
• US cyclist Lance Amstrong was stripped of the bronze medal he won in Sydney 2000 in the cycling road time trial taken, after being found guilty of systematic drug cheating from 1999-2005.

Chris Hoy, won six medals in total.

Athletics

ATHLETICS

Athletics has been contested at every Summer Olympics since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics. The athletics program traces its earliest roots to events used in the ancient Greek Olympics  The modern program includes track and field events, road running events, and race walking events. Cross country running was also on the program in earlier editions but it was dropped after the 1924 Summer Olympics.

Athletics icon in the Olympic Games

More About Some Events

• The 100m Olympic sprint champion is hailed the fastest man on earth. This event has been on all Olympic Games programs and has provided many highlights. 
• The marathon was originally conceived as a race for the 1896 Olympics in Athens, commemorating the run of the soldier Pheidippides from a battlefield at the site of the town of Marathon. 
• The Decathlon has been included in the Olympic Games since 1912. The decathlon comprises 10 different events, with points are awarded for each event with the overall winner having the most points. 
• The first time an athletics relay race was held was in 1908. It was a Medley relay, consisting of 1600 meters being run by four athletes per team, the first two runners each ran 200 meters, the third runner ran 400m and the fourth ran 800m. The winning US team included African-American John Taylor, the first black athlete to have won a gold medal. The runners did not carry a baton as they do now, the transfers were by "touch" .

Jesse Owens ,1936 

Some Notable Olympic Athletes

• The star of the 1912 Games in Stockholm was the American Indian Jim Thorpe, who won both the decathlon and pentathlon. However, in the following year it was discovered that he once played semi-professional baseball, and he was subsequently striped of his gold medals. In 1982, he was officially pardoned by the IOC, 29 years after his death. Replicas of his 1912 medals were presented to his family at the start of 1983.
• In Stockholm, 1912, Finland began its domination of long-distance running events, as Hannes Kolehmainen picked up three gold medals and a silver.
• Charley Paddock, the American sprinter who won the 100m in 1920, died in a plane crash in 1943 while serving as a captain in the US Marines.
• Holland's "Fanny" Blankers-Koen won 4 gold medals in track and field at the 1948 London Games. Fanny was 30 years old and the mother of 2 at the time.
• In 1952, Emil Zatopek of Czechoslovakia became the only man to win gold metals in the 5000 meters, the 10,000 meters, and the marathon in the same Olympiad. It was also his first attempt at the marathon.
• In 1956, the gold medal winning hammer thrower from America, Hal Connolly, won despite a physical disability - his left arm was inches shorter and much less developed that his right.
• The Olympic torchbearer for the 1956 Olympics was a virtually unknown 19 year old at the time he carried the torch into the stadium at Melbourne. Ron Clarke went on to become the world's finest distance runner in the 1960s.
• In Tokyo 1964, American Al Oerter won the discus throw for the third straight time, despite a cervical disc injury and torn rib cartilage.
• In Mexico City, 1968, Bob Beamon shattered the long-jump world record by more than 21 inches, Dick Fosbury revolutionized the high-jump with his back-first "Fosbury flop" technique, taking home the gold, and Al Oerter won the discus toss a fourth time.
• In 1984, American Carl Lewis repeated Jesse Owens' 1936 feat, winning gold medals in the same four events. In 1992, Carl Lewis won two more gold medals, bringing his total to eight. In 1996, he got his ninth gold medal by winning the long jump.
• In 1996, America's Michael Johnson won both the 200m and 400m races; Marie-José Perec from France did the same.
• In 2008, Jamaican Usain Bolt became the first man to win gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m sprints. He repeated that effort in London 2012, becoming the first man ever to win six Olympic gold medals in sprinting.
• In 2012, South African Oscar Pistorius (aka the 'Blade Runner') became the first double amputee to take part in both the Olympics and Paralympics. He competed in the Olympic Games 400m and the 4 x 400 m relay races.

Usain Bolt, won six gold medals in sprinting

Gymnastics

   

GYMNASTICS

Gymnastics events have been contested at every Summer Olympic Games since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympic in Athens. For 32 years, only men were allowed to compete. Beginning at the 1928 Summer Olympic in Amsterdem, women were allowed to compete in artistic gymnastics events as well. Rhythmic gymnastics events were introduced at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and Trampolining events were added at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Gymnastic icon in the Olympic Games

Events

There are three separate disciplines at the Olympic Games in the sport of gymnastics. They are:

• Gymnastics - Artistic
• Gymnastics - Trampoline
• Gymnastics - Rhythmic

      

                                                             Gymnastic Artistic                             

Trivia

• The youngest ever Olympian was Greek gymnast Dimitrios Loundras.  who competed in the 1896 Athens Olympics when he was 10 years old (this does not count the young boys who competed as coxswain in the rowing events in 1896)
• Club Swinging was an early Olympic gymnastics event,as was tumbling and rope climbing. See more unusual Olympic gymnastics events.
• In 1904 in St Louis, one of the most remarkable athletes was the American gymnast George Eyser, who won six medals even though his left leg was made out of wood.
• In 1928, Luigina Giavotti became the youngest medalist of all time, helping the Italian gymnastics team pick up a silver at the age of 11 years and 302 days.
• During the London Olympics in 1948, one of nine members of Czechoslovakia women's gymnastics team, Eliska Misakova, became ill when she arrived in London. Diagnosed with polio, she died on the last day of the Olympics, the same day her remaining teammates won the competition.
• In 1964, Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina won six medals for the third time in a row. She is the gymnast with the most medals (18) and the most medals in individual events (14).
• No gymnast had ever achieved a perfect score of 10 until Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci scored seven of them at the 1976 Montreal games. In 1980, she returned to win two more gold medals.
• In 1980, Soviet athlete Aleksandr Dityatin won a record eight medals in gymnastics.
• In 1984, 16-year-old Mary Lou Retton earned her place on Wheaties boxes by winning four gymnastics medals - including a gold in all-around gymnastics - just six weeks after undergoing knee surgery.
• In 1992, Gymnast Vitaly Scherbo of the Unified Team won six gold medals in gymnastics.
• In 1996, the US won gold in gymnastics, with the help of Kerri Strug, who nailed her second vault despite having a sprained ankle.
• In 2000, Russian gymnast Alexei Nemov won six medals, as he had done in Atlanta in 1996.
• Although both men and women compete in some form in all sports, rhythmic gymnastics is one of two (the other is synchronized swimming) sporting disciplines that are solely for women.
• Gymnast Svetlana Boginskaya competed at the Olympic Games for three different countries, Soviet Union (1988), Unified Team (1992) and Belarus (1996). She won two gold medals for the Soviet Union and one for the Unified, making her one of the few athletes to win gold medals for more than one country at the Olympics.

Russian gymnast, Alexei Nemov have won six medals

Table Tennis

TABLE TENNIS

Table tennis competition has been in the Summer Olympic Games since 1988, with singles and doubles events for men and women. Athletes from China have dominated the sport, winning a total of 47 medals in 28 events, including 24 gold medals.

In 1992 (only), two bronze medals were awarded in each event. Due to China's dominance in the sport the format was changed for the 2012 Olympics, such that only two competitors from each country can enter (instead of 3). 

This format makes it such that one country cannot win all three top medals - as has been the case during both the Individual Men's and Women's events at the Beijing Olympic tournament, where China dominated and won all 6 medals. In 2008, the doubles events were replaced by team events to lessen the emphasis on doubles play.

Pingpong icon in the Olympic Games

Trivia

• The table tennis events have been dominated by athletes from China.
• The best all-time performing Table Tennis Player at the Olympic Games is Wang Nan from China with 4 gold and one silver from 2000–2008. The best performing male player is Lin Ma also from China with 3 golds. 

The best male player in Olympic Games, Lin Ma

Swimming

SWIMMING

Swimming has been a sport at every modern Summer Olympics. It has been open to women since 1912. Along with the track & field athletics and gymnastics. It has been one of the most popular spectator sports at the Games. Swimming has the second largest number of events.

Swimming icon in the Olympic Games

Trivia

• In 1896, a boat dropped everyone into the icy waters of the Mediterranean, and the first swimmer to shore won. That fist gold medalist in swimming was Hungarian Alfred Hajos.
• The 1900 Paris swimming events were held in the River Siene, which meant that the contestants had to contend with the current too.
• The London Olympics in 1908 was the first time a swimming pool (100 m) was used for swimming events. Prior to that, the site for the swimming events were the ocean (1896), the River Seine (1900), and a little lake in St. Louis, USA (1904).
  
  
• There have been some unusual swimming events at the early Olympic Games, including the plunge for distance, underwater swimming race and the swimming obstacle race.
• Women competed in swimming events for the first time at the Olympic in 1912, but none of them were from USA, as that country did not allow its female athletes to compete in events without long skirts.                                              
• The first women's swimming gold medal was won by the Australian Sarah 'Fanny' Durack, who won the 100m freestyle in 1912.

• In 1924, Johnny Weissmuller won three golds and a bronze in water-based events; he later became known for playing Tarzan at the movies.
• In 1936, Denmark's 12-year-old Inge Sorensen won a bronze medal in the 200-meter breaststroke, making her the youngest medalist ever in an individual event.
• The Butterfly event in swimming was "invented" for the 1956 Games after some swimmers had begun to exploit a loophole in the breaststroke rules.
• In 1996, Amy Van Dyken of the U.S. won four gold medals in swimming. Also, Ireland's Michelle Smith won three golds and a bronze in swimming. Smith was accused of using performance-enhancing drugs; this remained unproven, but she was suspended in 1998 for tampering with a urine sample.
• Mark Spitz from USA won seven gold medals and at the Munich Games (1972), and won them all in world record time.
• In 1980, Russian swimmer Vladimir Salnikov became the first swimmer ever under 15 minutes (14:58.27) in the 1500m freestyle.
• In 1984, US Swimmers Nancy Hogshead and Carie Steinseifer registered the first tie in Olympic history in the 100-meter freestyle . Both swimmers touched the wall at 55.92.
• In 2000, 17-year-old Ian Thorpe of Australia won four medals (three gold) in swimming, breaking his own world record in the 400m freestyle.
• In 2000, Eric "the Eel" Moussambani of Equatorial Guinea was the year's lovable loser, taking 112.72 seconds in the 100m freestyle event — more than twice as long as Pieter van den Hoogenband's gold-winning performance. 
• An 10km Open Water Swimming event was added to the Olympic program for the first time in 2008.
• In 2008, US swimmer Michael Phelps became the most successful man at an Olympics by winning eight gold medals. His haul of 18 gold medals between 2004–2012 is the most out of all sports. 

Olympic swimming 1912

The Greatest Swimmer at the Olympic Games

Who is the greatest Swimmer of all time based on Olympic Games performances? We have used a weighted total medal count of each male and female Swimmer from all modern Olympic Games to rank their overall performance.

The best all-time overall performance in swimming at the Olympic Games is by USA swimmer Michael Phelps. His haul of 18 gold medals between 2004–2012 is the most out of all sports. The highest ranked female swimmer is Jenny Thompson, also from the US, with 12 medals including 8 gold. 

The best all time swimmer, Michael Phelps

Diving

DIVING

Diving was first introduced in the official programme of the Summer Olympic Games ath the 1904 Games of St. Louis and has been an Olympic sport since. It was known as "Fancy diving" for the acrobatics stunts performed by divers during the dive (such assomersaults and twists). This discipline of Aquatics is regulated and supervised by the International Swimming Federation (FINA), the international federation (IF) for aquatic sports.

There are several events as part of the Olympic diving program: 10m platform, 3m springboard individual and synchronized events (all for men and women). The newest addition is synchronized diving for the springboard and platform, which was added to the program for 2000. In synchronized diving two divers complete a dive simultaneously in which the dives are perfectly timed for height and distance from the board or platform, speed of rotation, and angle of entry into the water.

Competitors choose from a list of dives that have been rated according to their degree of difficulty (or they can create their own). Points are awarded for approach, take-off, elevation, execution of movements and entry into the water.

Diving icon in the Olympic Games

Trivia

• Diving was first introduced in 1904 and has been an Olympic sport since. In 1904 there were two events for men, platform diving event (called "fancy high diving" because of the somersaults and twists that were performed) and a plunge for distance event.

• At the 1908 Summer Olympics the men's spring board was added to the program.

• Women's events were added later. The platform event was added in 1912 and the springboard in 1920.

• A platform diving event for men, called "plain high diving", was included in 1912 in which no acrobatic moves were allowed, only a simple straight dive off the platform. This event was included until 1928, where it was merged with "fancy high diving" into one competition called "highboard diving"

• In 1952. divers complained about being distracted by a photographer who was dressed up in a frogman outfit and was taking photos of them from underwear.

• In 1988, Greg Louganis hit his head on the diving board but successfully defended his Olympic springboard title a few days later.

• In 1992, 13-year-old Fu Mingxia of China won the platform diving event, making her the second-youngest person to win an individual gold medal.

• In Sydney 2000, synchronized diving for the springboard and platform events was added to the program

• In Beijing 2008, British Synchronized Diver Tom Daley will be 14 years and 80 days old when the Games begin, beating the record for the youngest British male Olympian by over a year. The previous youngest was also a diver. Fred Hodges, who was 15 years and 94 days when he went to the 1936 Olympics.

• The best all-time performing diver at the Olympic Games is Chinese diver Guo Jingjing with six medals in total between 2000-2008

Guo jingjing, The best all time diver at the Olympic Games