Olympic Games see interesting moments in history

By Ercan Cakar

ISTANBUL (AA) - As Paris is set to host the 33rd edition of the Olympic Games later this week, Anadolu highlights some interesting moments throughout its history.

From disqualifications and gold medal stories to the expenses and preparations for the Games, here are some of the more interesting facts:

- In ancient Greece, athletes used to compete naked in Olympia.

- The shortest event in the history of the modern Olympic Games was the 1896 Athens Olympics, the first summer Olympics, held for nine days (April 6 - 15). It was held in nine categories with 241 athletes from 14 countries.

- At the 1900 Paris Olympics, winning athletes were presented with paintings instead of medals. The French argued that the paintings were more valuable than medals.

- In flying target shooting, real pigeons were used in the 1900 Paris Games instead of “clay pigeons” and 300 pigeons were killed in the competition.

- In 1904, American marathon runner Fred Lorz was disqualified in St. Louis when it was discovered his manager gave him a lift in his car and drove him almost 11 miles.

- The 1908 Games, the first Olympics hosted by London, lasted more than six months, from April to October. The Games were originally scheduled for Rome but following a violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius, it was relocated.

- US Olympic swimmer, water polo player and actor Johnny Weissmuller, known for his role as "Tarzan" in movies, won five gold medals in swimming at the 1924 and 1928 Games.

- At the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, Australian sculler Henry Pearce stopped his boat while racing in the quarterfinals to give way to a flock of ducks crossing the river. Despite his setback, Pearce managed to secure gold.

- The first televised Games were the Berlin Games in 1936.

- At the 1948 London Olympics, when the Games were delayed until dusk due to bad weather, the arena had to be lit by car headlamps.

- Black athletes did not win a marathon at the Olympics until 1960. The first Black to win was Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila, who ran barefoot in 1960.

- The first woman to light the Olympic cauldron was Norma Basilio at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968.

- At the 2012 London Olympics, 525 bird boxes and 150 bat boxes were placed in Olympic Park to protect wildlife.

*Writing by Selcuk Bugra Gokalp​​​​​​​