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7 Stories You Haven’t Heard About the Olympics |
Fatal Rocko Willis
Fleet Admiral
Fatal Squadron
Joined: March 01, 2003
Posts: 1336
From: Kentucky
|  Posted: 2009-03-07 20:43
1. Perfect 10s All Around!
Scoring a perfect 10 is the dream of every Olympic gymnast. In 1924, 22 male gymnasts made this dream a reality in the same event. But this wasn’t due to some freak occurrence or heightened level of competition – the event was rope climbing, which has since been discontinued.
2. Basketball Gets Dragged Through the Mud.
Basketball’s debut at the 1936 Olympics was nothing short of a disaster. Not only were the finals a low scoring affair (the United States snagged gold from Canada in a yawn-inducing 19-8 game), but the conditions were a mess. Part of the problem was Germany’s venue: the game was played outdoors. On a dirt court. In the pouring rain! Playing on mud made dribbling and bounce-passes impossible. Things weren’t much easier for the fans. A lack of seating forced all (approximately 1,000) spectators to stand and watch in the rain.
3. Paris takes Games to a New Low.
As bad as Germany’s basketball planning was, the event barely holds a candle to the 1900 Paris Olympics, which were held in conjunction with the World’s Fair and spread out over five months. Take the marathon, for instance, which was rife with logistical nightmares. The event was run through the city’s active streets, complete with pedestrians and bicyclists. Worse still, several competitors got lost because the course was so poorly marked. Of course, the long race was just one of the many memorable events, including several that would never be seen again. The 1900 Olympics were the only Games to feature such time-wasters as pigeon shooting and swimming through an obstacle course – which included swimming under boats.
4. John Boland wins an Audience Participation Award.
The first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896 and yielded perhaps the most unlikely champion in Olympic history. A student at Oxford, John Boland traveled to Greece as a spectator to take in the excitement. But a friend on the Olympic Committee had signed him up for the tennis competition. Despite a lack of proper attire, the plucky Boland decided to go ahead and play (in his dress shoes, no less) and actually won.
5. Golfer Brings Home Gold (without ever knowing it?!)
Margaret Ives Abbott was the first American woman to win a gold medal. Unfortunately, she lived her entire life without ever knowing what she had accomplished. Since the aforementioned 1900 Paris events were spread out informally over several months, de-emphasizing their Olympic status, she simply thought she had won a nine-hole golf tournament in Paris.
6. The Only Case where “Slow and Steady” Actually Worked.
The 1904 Olympic Marathon in St. Louis was perhaps the most brutal event in Olympic history. On a sweltering hot summer day, marathon runners took off on an unpaved dusty course, following pace cars and inhaling exhaust. Many runners had to withdraw to receive medical attention, and even the winner, American Thomas Hicks, needed repeated medical care both during and after the race. And by “medical care,” I mean strychnine and brandy. Of course, my favorite tale from the Games is that of Felix Carvajal, a Cuban who took “The Tortoise” approach to running the race. Despite stopping to chat with spectators and breaking to pick and eat fruit from an orchard (which made him sick), Carvajal still managed to finish in fourth place.
7. And just a word on the Games’ (harsh) origins.
The ancient Olympic Games served as the basis for our modern Olympics, and fortunately the whole “competing in the nude” thing wasn’t the only custom left to history. Athletes that arrived late to compete were fined, with the only acceptable excuses being shipwreck, weather or pirates. Athletes that were caught cheating were also fined, but were allowed to keep their winnings. But married women caught watching the Games got it the worst: they were executed. Of course, that probably had something to do with the whole competing in the nude thing.
And let’s not forget three of my favorite Olympic athletes. Swede Oscar Swahn won a silver medal in a deer-shooting event at the 1920 Olympics at the age of 72! In 1904, American gymnast George Eyser won six medals (three gold) despite having a wooden left leg, which is even more amazing. But Hungarian pistol shooter Karoly Takacs taught himself how to shoot left-handed after his right (shooting) hand was shattered by a grenade, and then went on to win the rapid-fire shooting event at the 1948 Olympics. He gets THE gold.
[ This Message was edited by: Rocko Willis [Recruiter] on 2009-03-07 20:49 ]
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Sens [R33]
Admiral
Joined: September 27, 2008
Posts: 1020
From: Edge of th...
| Posted: 2009-03-07 20:50
good read rocko,
love these articles
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Redemption (Angel of Light)
Grand Admiral
Interstellar Cultural Confederation United
Joined: October 12, 2006
Posts: 181
| Posted: 2009-03-08 14:11
ok good, but alot of us wernt around in the 1900's so what point is there knowing all this, plus are you saying nothing good happens in the olympics these dys, i know their all just doing it to win these days and become famous, but then arnt well all gunning down every one to be NO.1 not like the old days where men all sat around with slippers on sipping tea all day while the wife does all the work.............. ah that would be bliss, no more fomula 1 to bore me to death
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Danek Ma`arna C`arns
Fleet Admiral
Joined: March 26, 2004
Posts: 102
From: Atlanta
| Posted: 2009-03-08 15:22
When you get older, your brain will develop further, and you will begin to develop the ability to think and apprieciate more than your current basic needs.
Until then, finish your applesauce and brush your teeth, it's bedtime.
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