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

Football

                                     

FOOTBALL

Association football has been included in every Summer Olympic Games except 1896 and 1932 as a men's competition sport.Women's football was added to the official program in 1996. Football was the first team sport added to the Olympics, in 1900. At first only a men;s competition was included. A women's Olympic football was only added in 1996.

Football icon in the Olympic Games

Trivia 

• The 1900 and 1904 Olympic football tournaments were originally composed of demonstration matches, but have subsequently been upgraded to official status by the IOC with medals attributed to the teams based upon the match results.
• The United States had two of the three football teams at the 1904 Games, taking the silver and bronze medals.
• In 1920, Czechoslovakia abandoned the final Olympic football match against Belgium after 40 minutes with the Belgium leading 2–0. Czechoslovakia were disqualified, and a mini-tournament to figure out the other medalists was held, with Spain beating the Netherlands for second place 3–1.
• The 1932 Games was not supposed to include football as part of the program, due to the low popularity of football in the United States. The world governing body for Football (FIFA) and the IOC also disagreed over the status of amateur players, and so football was dropped from the Games. This led to FIFA organising their own World Cup, which was first held in 1930.
• The highest goalscorer in an Olympic football tournament was Hungarian Ferenc Bene, who scored 12 goals in Tokyo 1964. This beat the record by Sophus Nielsen, who scored 11 goals for Denmark in 1908 (including 10 goals in their 17-1 match against France).
• In 1972, the third place match between the Soviet Union and East Germany was a 2–2 tie after extra time had expired. Both teams were awarded bronze medals.
• In 1984, in a compromise with FIFA, professional soccer players were allowed to compete, but only if they hadn't previously been part of a World Cup event.

• In 1992, World Cup athletes were allowed to compete in soccer for the first time, but only three players over the age of 23 are allowed on each team. This effectively made the Olympic event an under-23 championship.
• In 1996, the American women's teams won the first-ever women's soccer event.
• The best all-time performing football player at the Olympic Games is USA player Christie Rampone who has won 3 golds and 1 silver. See more on the Greatest Soccer Players at the Olympics

The official Olympic ball

Badminton

Sports in Olympic Games

Badminton was first held as a demonstration sport at the 1972 Summer Olympics. In 1988 it again appeared at the Olympics as an exhibition sport. Badminton premiered as a full-medal Olympic sport at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, and has continued as a full-medal sport since then. The Mixed Doubles were included in the Olympic Games for the first time in Atlanta in 1996.

According to the Badminton World Federation, badminton was becoming an official Olympic games in 1992 at the Olympic games in Barcelona Olympic badminton including single games, all female doubles games, all male doubles games and mixed double games consisting of both men and women,

Badminton icon at the Olympic Games

Olympic qualification 

• Players qualify for the Olympic Games through their world rankings, based on their performances in such events as the Thomas Cup, the Uber Cup, the World Championships, Grand Prix events and other international and continental championships. The host nation is allowed at least two entries in the Olympic competition.
• No country may have more than three players or pairs in any event, and that involves only players or pairs ranked in the top 16. The limit is two per country if a player or pair ranked 17th to 64th is involved, or one if a player or pair ranked below 64th is involved.
• Each event will include at least one player or pair from each region — Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania and the Americas.

Trivia

• Denmark's Poul-Erik Høyer is the only non-Asian badminton player ever to win an Olympic gold medal. He won the men's singles event in 1996.
• In 2012, for the first time there was a combination of group play and knockout stages. During the round-robin group play of the women's doubles, four teams were accused of trying to lose in order to manipulate the draw, and were subsequently disqualified from the competition.

Players

• The best all-time performing badminton player at the Olympic Games is female player Gao Ling of China, who played in 2000 and 2004, winning 4 gold medals.

Gao Ling received 4 gold medals in 2000 and 2004

Host Country

Host Country

 

OC President Jacques Rogge opens the envelope announcing that Rio de Janiero has won the bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games on October 2, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

When choosing locations for the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) specifically gives the honor of hosting the Games to a city rather than a country. One of the important decision taken by IOC is the election of the host city for the Olympic Games. The election of hosting city takes seven years before the Games start.But the actual candidature process is launched to 10 years before and last for a period of approximately three years. 

Reasons for a city or country to host the Olympic Games

There are 3 stages of candidature process for a city or a country to host the Games. First is the vision,concept,strategy and plans of the Games. The second stage is about the governance, legal and venue funding. During this phase, Cities will also take part in an Olympic Games observe programme which is an essential element of the IOC's knowledge transfer and form part of the candidate;s cities overall the learning strategies. Third one is Games delivery, experience and venue legacy. This stage analyses on how candidate cities will deliver the games and ensure a sustainable legacy.  

Candidature process of being a host country