At the Olympics in Paris in -1900, trap shooting competitions were held using ... live pigeons. It seemed to the organizers of the Olympic tournament that it was not enough, they also arranged commercial competitions. About 300 birds were killed, and the competition area was covered in blood and feathers. Outraged not only the defenders of animals, but also the general public. Since then, stand-ups have been shooting only at clay cymbals.
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At the 1904 St. Louis Olympics, a marathon race took place, which for 110 years has remained a record for the number of absurdities. The race began at exactly noon in the terrible heat, and out of 31 participants, less than half made it to the finish line. American Fred Lortz retired after running 12 km, his leg cramped. The runner was picked up by the accompanying car and taken forward for medical assistance. Eight kilometers before the finish line, the runner felt better, returned to the track and finished first. The daughter of US President Theodore Roosevelt, Alice, personally presented Lorz with a gold medal and posed for a picture with the "champion".
When the rest of the participants reached the finish line and the deception was revealed, Fred said that it was just a joke. The US Athletic Union disqualified him for life, however, already in 1905 he was reinstated. And the winner was Thomas Hicks, who finished the race with the worst ever result for a marathon winner - 3 hours 28 minutes 53 seconds. Hicks became the first participant in the Games, who used, and openly, doping - strychnine. Cuban Felix Carvajal, who took fourth place, managed to buy rotten fruit on the market during the race, with all the ensuing consequences. And another runner encountered a dog pack on the way and, escaping from the dogs, lost about an hour.
In Berlin 1936, one of the equestrian triathlon athletes caught a runaway horse for three hours and received 18,000 penalty points for this - another world record!
In Los Angeles in 1932, the Olympic village was guarded by cowboys on horseback.
In Sydney 2000, before the women's triathlon, someone started a rumor that sharks had appeared in the bay where the swim would be held. As a result, several athletes withdrew from the competition, although the organizers promised special protection.
In Athens 2004, while diving into the water, a Canadian fan, for some reason dressed in a white tutu, incredibly made his way through security, climbed onto a three-meter springboard and flopped into the pool from it. The violator was caught and taken to the police, but the incident prevented several athletes, including Dmitry Sautin, from performing normally.
In Beijing 2008, American Carrie Walsh, who played beach volleyball with her partner, lost her golden wedding ring in the sand. After a long search, he was found with a metal detector and returned to the owner, but in all subsequent matches, the girl carefully sealed the ring on her finger with adhesive tape. Keeping the ring, she also managed to become a champion.
In London 1908, the route of the marathon was “picked up” so that it would be convenient for the Royal family to watch the runners from the windows of the palace. The curiosity is that just such a distance of 42 km 195 m in 1921 was officially approved for the marathon race.
In Helsinki-1952, an absurd incident happened to the Soviet javelin thrower Viktor Tsybulenko - during the warm-up before the final, he caught his spikes on his "family" sweatpants (part of the USSR track and field uniform) and twisted his leg, which deprived him of the prize. Later, changing unsafe sportswear, he won the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and the 1960 Rome champion.
In Antwerp 1920, the opening ceremony of the Games was impressive, but it was held in front of half-empty stands: the organizers inflated ticket prices, and many people could not afford the spectacle. King Albert expressed dissatisfaction, and two days later the organizing committee decided to let disabled people and schoolchildren pass for free, and on Saturday everyone was allowed to enter the side stands without tickets.
In Los Angeles 1932, in the 3000 m hurdles race, the referee, who was counting the circles, briefly left his post and lost count. According to official figures, the athletes ran 460 meters more than they should. The results were not cancelled. The winner was Finn Volmari Iso-Hollo, who ran 3460 m in 10 minutes 33.4 seconds. He was denied the registration of a world record, although if it were not for the judge, the 3000 m record would have been set.
In Paris 1900, the first three places in the marathon race were taken by the French, although the Americans were considered the favorites. At the finish line, one of them noticed that the winners, unlike the other runners, were not covered in mud, although there was a large puddle in the way of the athletes. The French were accused of taking advantage of their knowledge of the Parisian streets and cutting the route. But this did not change the decision of the judges: the gold, silver and bronze medals went to the hosts.
The Olympic Games are extremely important and responsible events, but even at them no one is immune from unforeseen curiosities.
London-1908
At the request of the members royal family The distance of the marathon race has been increased so that it starts at the royal palace. Participants ran 42 km 260 m, which is 65 m more than the classic marathon distance.
Stockholm-1912
In the midst of the shooting competition, it began to rain heavily. Shooting took place in the open air, athletes were flooded with streams of water. Only for the Swedes they quickly made a special canopy, under which athletes from other countries were not allowed. As a result, in 18 types of competitions, the hosts won 7 gold, 6 silver and 4 bronze medals.
At the same Olympics, the Japanese marathon runner Shitso Kanaguri got into a curious situation: at the thirtieth kilometer he felt very thirsty, ran to the house of a local resident and asked the owner to pour water. The Swedish peasant escorted the runner into the room and went to the kitchen for juice. When he returned, he saw the guest sound asleep. So Kanaguri slept for more than a day. After 50 years, he again returned to that Swedish village where his marathon ended so unexpectedly, and found the strength to run the rest of the distance.
Antwerp-1920
Belgian Antwerp became the seventh host of the Olympic Games. By that time, the Olympics had already become a powerful brand that attracted a lot of attention and, consequently, capital. Obeying the laws of economics, the Belgian authorities set a fair, in their opinion, tariff for entrance tickets.
Amsterdam-1928
Traditionally, the head of state was supposed to open the Olympic Games. But the Queen of the Netherlands, Wilhemina, resolutely refused to participate in the ceremony, calling the Olympics "pagan games." The Games were opened by her husband, Prince Hendrik of Orange, but the queen never attended the competition.
Berlin-1936
In the cycling sprint final, German Tony Merkens brazenly broke the rules by pinning Dutchman Eri Van Vliet. However, he was not disqualified and declared the winner after simply paying a fine of 100 marks. And one of the athletes who competed in equestrian triathlon caught a runaway horse for three hours and received 18,000 penalty points for this.
Helsinki-1952
If you meticulously observe all the traditions and rules of the Olympics, then the capital of Finland, Helsinki, still has not said goodbye to the 1952 Olympics. The fact is that, carried away by his long farewell speech, IOC President Siegfried Edstrom forgot to say the most important words: "I declare the games of the XV Olympiad closed." Later, this error was noticed, but they could no longer fix it.
Cortina d "Ampezzo-1956
In 1956, at the opening of the VII Winter Olympic Games, which were held in the Italian town of Cortina d "Ampezzo, an unpleasant story happened. The great skater Guido Caroli. He had to skate to the bowl and light it. These were almost the first games that were broadcast live to the whole world, and the wires from the cameras broadcasting the event to the whole world were stretched right through the ice.It was in them that the great skater got entangled, sprawled on the ice.Fortunately, he managed to hold the torch, which saved it from extinction The fire was eventually lit, but with a slight hitch.
Melbourne-1956
A year before the Olympics, it became clear that Melbourne would not be able to host equestrian competitions, as the Australians were not willing to repeal an old law restricting the importation of animals into the country. The city was in danger of losing the right to host the Games, but the IOC moved the equestrian events to Sweden, and the medals were played in Stockholm before the opening of the Olympics in Melbourne.
Sapporo-1972
One meticulous spectator, at the rehearsal of the ceremony dedicated to the opening of the XI Winter Games, after the removal of the Olympic flag, was surprised by how the colored rings are located on the flag. The color order of the rings, which was legitimized by the Olympic Charter (blue-yellow-black-green-red), was confused. The meticulous fan turned to the members of the organizing committee and pointed out an unfortunate oversight. We decided to turn to the source, and here it turned out that the Olympic flag "with a mistake" since 1952 was hung out at all the Olympic Winter Games! For 20 years of the Games, no one has noticed anything strange.
In the same place in Sapporo there was a funny story connected with the Soviet skier Vyacheslav Vedenin. In those years, there were no mixed zones yet, and journalists calmly wandered side by side with the athletes right in the starting town. When a good half of the racers set off for the 30-kilometer distance, thick and sticky snow suddenly fell. Vedenin, a minute before the start, decided to grease the skis in accordance with the changed weather conditions. One of the local journalists, who speaks Russian, turned to him: they say, you think it will help - is it snowing? In Japan the next day the newspapers came out with the headlines: "Having said Magic word"Dahusim", the Russian skier won the Olympics."
Sydney 2000
Eric Musambani (Equatorial Guinea) swam the 100m freestyle for the longest time in Olympic history. Interestingly, he won his heat, as the other two participants were disqualified for false starts. Nicknamed The Eel for his unique swimming style, Eric had never seen a 50m pool before and learned to swim nine months before the Games. Alas, his time did not meet the qualifying standards, and he dropped out of the competition.
Salt Lake City 2002
In the finals of the 1000-meter short track before entering the last turn, the Australian Stephen Bradbury was fifth, others fought for the victory ... But then miracles began: the Chinese collapsed first, even before exiting the turn. And where the short finish line had already begun, the remaining three grappled. All of them fell a few meters from the finish line and felt the wind from the Australian passing by them. He threw up his hands and smiled, surprised and embarrassed, as if apologizing to everyone for his victory. And the crowd of fans roared, meeting the first ever Winter Olympic champion, who came from the Southern Hemisphere.
Athens 2004
During the diving competition, a Canadian fan, for some reason dressed in a white tutu, made his way through security, climbed onto a three-meter springboard and flopped into the pool from it. The offender was caught and taken to the police.
Turin 2006
German biathletes competed for 3 days under the Belgian flag instead of the German flag.
Vancouver 2010
Despite the grandiose preparations that the Canadians made for the opening ceremony, at the most crucial moment they were let down by a mechanic that failed for inexplicable reasons.
At the end of the ceremony, when four huge torches were supposed to appear from the ground, which the torchbearers were supposed to light, only three of them soared into the sky. One remained underground. In order to somehow mitigate the not very pleasant situation, the Canadians during the closing ceremony changed the script and introduced a crazy mechanic into it, who “repaired” the damaged giant torch right at the stadium.
And already during the competition, the biathletes of the Polish national team received a sports uniform, on which the flag of the Principality of Monaco was applied. It was not easy to find the culprit in this misunderstanding. The National Olympic Committee said that this was a mistake by the leadership of the Polish Biathlon Association, and they, in turn, shifted all the blame to the manufacturers and the NOC.
At the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, one of the five snowflakes that was supposed to turn into a ring did not open, as a result of which a pre-filmed excerpt of the ceremony was shown on TV. Then Konstantin Ernst, the chief director of the ceremony, said that it was just an unforeseen malfunction. However, later this embarrassment played into the hands of the organizers. He was beaten during the closing ceremony and turned into an unofficial brand of the Olympics.
Only the lazy did not comment yesterday on the incident with the unopened ring at the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Sochi. As a blogger, one of the ten laziest Runet bloggers, I will not comment on this either. Instead, I will tell you, my friends, about the incidents of the past winter olympiads.
A new word in science and technology
This story took place during the 30 km ski race at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo. In Japan, it is still spoken about with aspiration. In those years, there were no mixed zones yet, and journalists calmly wandered side by side with the athletes right in the starting town. When a good half of the riders had already set off for the distance, thick and sticky snow suddenly fell. Soviet skier Vyacheslav Vedenin, a minute before the start, decided to re-grease his skis in accordance with the changed weather conditions. One of the local journalists, who speaks Russian, turned to him: they say, you think it will help - is it snowing?
What Vedenin answered him, only we in Russia understand, and in Japan the next day the newspapers came out with headlines: "By saying the magic word "Dahusim", the Russian skier won the Olympics."
Without a piece of paper you are an insect
One of the main curiosities that occurred at the 2006 Turin Olympics was the story of a dog that received Olympic accreditation. American skier Daron Ralves was issued documents for his constant companion - siberian husky named Chevy. The dog wore a photo card in the name of Chevvy Ralves on his collar during the Games. Thanks to the accreditation, the laika could easily accompany her master to the Olympic village and not pay much attention to the checks of the security forces.
I give you a tooth!
German luger David Meller, who won the silver medal at the 2010 Olympics in the singles tournament, broke his tooth after biting the medal.
Photojournalists who filmed him and another German, Felix Loch, who became the champion, asked him to bite the medal. As a result, he applied himself to cold metal so often that he eventually chipped off a piece of his upper front tooth.
overlooked
In the history of the Olympic Games, more than once happened funny stories associated with the equipment of athletes, incorrect application of flags and other logos on it.
So, at the Olympics in Vancouver, the biathletes of the Polish team received a sports uniform, on which the flag of the Principality of Monaco was applied. The fact is that both Poland and Monaco have red and white flags. However, they are distinguished by the fact that the Poles have the upper horizontal stripe painted white, while the inhabitants of the dwarf European state have the lower one. Finding the culprit for this misunderstanding was not easy.
The National Olympic Committee said that this was a mistake by the leadership of the Polish Biathlon Association, and they, in turn, shifted all the blame to the manufacturers and the NOC.
And at the Olympics in Turin, German biathletes performed under the Belgian flag for three days, until they finally noticed that the colors were mixed up in it ...
But, perhaps, one of the most curious cases occurred at the rehearsal of the opening ceremony of the 11th Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan. When the Olympic flag was brought into the stadium, one of the spectators who were present at the event and, apparently, interested in the history of the competition, was surprised to say the least: the order of the colored rings, legalized by the Olympic Charter (blue-yellow-black-green-red), was mixed up. The viewer immediately drew the attention of the members of the organizing committee to this inaccuracy. They were indignant for a long time, but nevertheless decided to turn to the source. And then it turned out that the flag "with an error" was hung out at all the Winter Games since 1952, and for twenty years no one noticed anything.
From skier to snowboarder
At the downhill skiing competitions held during the Olympics in Salt Lake City, the French athlete Pierre-Emmanuel Dalsen had a misfortune: about 30 meters before the finish line, he lost one of his skis. But the athlete did not lose his head and, balancing on the remaining ski, managed to cross the finish line. Surprisingly, the result was counted, so the perseverance of the skier benefited him.
On the second try
At the last Olympics in Vancouver, at the most crucial moment of the opening ceremony, when the athletes were ready to light the Olympic cauldron, one of the columns did not rise due to technical problems. The organizers decided to correct this unfortunate mistake on the last day of the Olympics. The closing ceremony began with the fact that a clown in a repairman costume "lifted" the fourth rack, which connected with the main structure, and the fire was lit again.
1924 Winter Olympics (the first Winter Games in history)
The competitions were held in Chamonix (France) and were cautiously called "International Sports Week on the occasion of the VIII Olympiad". And only after their holding and active public support, the IOC decided to call them the First Winter Olympic Games.
1928 Winter Olympics
The games were held in St. Moritz (Switzerland). Initially, the Dutch claimed to host the Games, but they withdrew their candidacy, because. doubted the favorable weather. And the Swiss did not doubt, but in vain. The temperature in the mountains rose to +20 C due to the high level of precipitation. Skaters suffered the most from this. After 5 pairs of 10 km racers, the ice turned into puddles and the remaining athletes quickly left the race. The results were annulled after violent protests.
At that time, chronometers could only count tenths of a second, so in the 500 m race at the Olympics, two skaters won at once and 4 more received bronze! And since no medals were provided, they were borrowed from other sports that had not yet been played, and then urgently printed.
In the bobsleigh tournament, instead of four-beans, five-beans took part. The winning crew included a student Nion Tokker, who came to Switzerland to study and was not going to participate in the Olympics at all. And then she became interested in bobsleigh and became a champion.
And the Norwegian figure skater Sonya Henie after St. Moritz became the champion at the next 2 Winter Olympics, and then became a film actress and starred in the famous film “Sun Valley Serenade”.
1932 Winter Olympics
There were many curiosities at the Games in Lake Placid (USA), but one of the main blunders is the release of a huge edition of a special postage stamp with many errors. It depicted a skier, although this discipline was not in the Olympics program, with sticks that reached the athlete's shoulders. Eventually the dates for the Olympic Games were printed as February 4-13 instead of February 4-15. A complete misunderstanding!
1936 Winter Olympics
After France's refusal to host the Olympics, the IOC decided to go along with Hitler's proposal and host the Winter Olympics in Germany. Eventually Nazi Germany in 1936, it hosted two Olympics at once - the summer in Berlin and the winter in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. I did not know this fact, to be honest.
1968 Winter Olympics
Many fans remember the games for the drama in the hockey tournament, when the USSR national team lost to the Czechoslovaks in the first match. The fate of the gold medals was decided on the second day in the USSR-Canada and Czechoslovakia-Sweden matches. Moreover, Canada and Sweden would have been in 4th and 3rd place, respectively, in any case, while even a draw for Czechoslovakia would bring victory at the Olympics. And only a miracle in the match between Sweden and Czechoslovakia would have helped the USSR to win the tournament. And it happened! The Swedes defeated the Czechoslovaks, and the USSR team defeated Canada and won the Olympics. First of all, after the award ceremony, the champions went to visit the Swedes in order to thank for the gift and offer to exchange the European bronze of the Swedes for their gold medals of the European Championship. And the exchange did take place.
1980 Winter Olympics
The thirteenth Winter Games in Lake Placid (USA) were organized at a very low level and were held at facilities prepared for the Games in 1932! The delegations were accommodated in small rooms in the former city prison, constant traffic jams, expensive and unreliable communications. A truly unlucky number.
The Games were remembered for the fact that the American skater Eric Hayden repeated the record of the Soviet athlete Lidia Skoblikova 16 years ago. He won all the gold medals that were played in speed skating at one Olympics - five pieces!
2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City (USA)
Before the start of the 30 km distance, Thai skier Prawat Nagwarjara, having estimated his abilities, suggested that he would finish last. But he was wrong: the first Thai athlete in the history of the Winter Olympics retired. He moved almost crawling, and his intended finish was scheduled for the day after the race. When they found out in the finish corridor that Pravat had retired from the race, general rejoicing began: according to the rules, judges are required to wait at the finish line for all athletes allowed to start.
Before the sprint competition, the Thai again tried to guess what place he would take at the finish line. And again he modestly suggested that he would be the last. And again he was wrong: he finished sixty-eighth, ahead of the representatives of Ireland, Nepal and Costa Rica. "A lot of people think I'm in pretty good shape," said the happy 43-year-old after the finish.
It's no secret that many athletes make money from advertising. So the UK women's curling team was asked to advertise mops. British supermarkets Safeway believe that the five-member women's curling team is ideal for advertising, because during the competition they do nothing but rub ice with mops.
The first gold in the history of Australia was obtained by skater Stephen Bradbury at a distance of 1000 m, and in a very interesting race. Almost to the finish line, he was last with a 10 meter backlog. But a few meters before the finish line, there was a massive blockage, which provided the Australian with gold. Former leaders American and Canadian literally crawled into second and third place.
in an interesting position
In Vancouver, Canadian curling team player Christy Moore competed... six months pregnant!
In sports, such cases are far from isolated. Even in winter. The first to try her hand at a delicate position at a forum of this magnitude was the Swedish figure skater Magda Yulin, who 90 years ago, at the 1920 Summer Games in Antwerp, won a gold medal, being in her third month.
Torino Olympic champion Russian skier Larisa Kurkina won her medal, finishing second. And she found out about her pregnancy already at the third: she returned from the Games, started at several stages of the World Cup, and only after that she went to the doctor and did an ultrasound.
At the same Italian Olympics, the German skeletonist Diana Sartor competed in the third month, and four years earlier, in Salt Lake City, the Ukrainian luger Liliya Ludan skated with her future daughter. True, while performing races in the American chute, the athlete did not yet know about her position. But everyone knows how dangerous and traumatic this sport is.
That's how things are, my friends. I hope I have amused you with the curiosities I have collected for you. Well, time will tell whether there will be other curiosities at the Sochi Olympics besides the unopened ring.
One of the most curious moments occurred at the rehearsal of the opening ceremony of the XI Olympic Winter Games, held in 1972 in Sapporo, Japan. When the Olympic flag was brought into the stadium, one of the meticulous spectators present at the rehearsal, to put it mildly, was surprised: the order of the colored rings, legalized by the Olympic Charter (blue-yellow-black-green-red), was mixed up. The puzzled spectator drew the attention of the members of the organizing committee to this unfortunate oversight. They were indignant for a long time, but decided to turn to the source. It was then that it turned out that the flag "with an error" was hung out at all the Winter Olympic Games since 1952. And for twenty years no one noticed anything.
The goal of the player of the Belarusian national hockey team Vladimir Kopatya against the Swedish goalkeeper Tommy Salo at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, USA, can be attributed to the category of curiosities. With the score 3:3, Kopat went to the next shift, but before that he decided to quit just in case from outside the blue line. And the unbelievable happened: Salo tried to stop the high-flying puck with his shoulder, but she, sliding along his neck, rolled into the goal. 2 minutes before the final siren!
It remains only to add that this ridiculous goal sensationally brought the Belarusians to the semi-finals of the Olympic Games.
The US flag fell at Wimbledon as Williams was awarded the Olympic gold medal
The ceremony of awarding tennis medalists at the Olympic Games in London was marked by a curiosity: during the raising of the flags, the US banner, which was raised in honor of the winner of the tournament, Serena Williams, flew off the flagpole.
Serena Williams won the Olympic gold medal by beating Russia's Maria Sharapova in the final with a crushing score of 6:0, 6:1. The bronze medal went to Victoria Azarenka from Belarus.
After the presentation of the medals, according to tradition, the anthem of the country of the winner began to play, and three flags began to rise over Wimbledon. And already when the banners almost reached the maximum point, the American flag fell off the flagpole, on which only Russian and Belarusian flags remained to hang.
This incident brought a smile to the tennis players, and the organizers decided not to hang the flag back.
This summer will be bright thanks to such an event as the holding of the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the capital of sunny Brazil. Yesterday, August 5, the official opening ceremony of the main sporting event took place. In this regard, I would like to recall the legends of the Ancient Olympiad, as well as unusual and sometimes curious cases that were in the history of the Olympic Games. In addition, we should remember some shocking Olympians who made the Games very interesting in their time.
Previously, the ancient Olympic Games were brutal competitions in which athletes were willing to sacrifice their lives for glory. The participants in the games were often idealized, although they received after the victory only a branch that was cut from an olive tree growing in a grove behind the temple of Zeus. According to legend, athletes' sweat was collected along with dust from the competition area, after which it was placed in bottles and sold as a magical potion. In ancient times, Milo of Croton was considered the strongest fighter who possessed superhuman strength, who won 6 Olympiads in a row. Once he carried a bull through the stadium, after which he butchered it and ate it completely during the day. But the main Olympic record, according to ancient legends, was set by the runner Fail. According to historical facts, the jumping pit was 15 meters long, and the athlete managed to not only jump over it, but also land at about 17 meters with such incredible force that he broke his legs. Emperor Nero decided to take part in the chariot competition on his own. He was driving a ten-horse wagon, but he couldn't manage to control it, never finishing the race. Despite the fact that he broke the chariot, he was still declared the winner of the competition.
Very unusual cases at the Olympic Games have occurred in our time. Below is the TOP-7 such curiosities that are remembered in the history of the competition:
1. Abebe Bikila, who in 1960 was in the reserves of the main team, due to the fact that the declared marathon runner was injured, was forced to take part in the race at the last minute. His candidacy was not taken seriously, but the athlete then managed to break the world record. At the same time, Bikila ran the entire distance barefoot, as during training his only running shoes were torn.
2. Rugby will return to the Olympics in 2016 in Rio. He was expelled from the program back in 1925, because the day before, during the Olympic Games, the US team defeated France with a huge score of 17:3. Because of this, French fans attacked the substitutes of the American rugby team. Therefore, the president of the International Olympic Committee excluded this sport from the competition.
3. In 1968, Kipchoge Keino lost consciousness during the Olympic race due to a sharp attack of pain provoked by stones in gallbladder. But the athlete pulled himself together and completed the 10 thousand meters race, while becoming an Olympic champion, despite the prohibitions of doctors.
4. Emil Zatopek, a runner from the Czech Republic, won the 10 and 5 thousand meters races during the 1952 Helsinki Games. The athlete decided to take part in the marathon, although he did not know the rules. He completely copied the behavior of the race favorite and did not drink anything at a distance, because he did not know that marathon runners could stop and drink soft drinks.
5. In Mexico City in 1968, American athlete Bob Beamon not only won a medal, but also broke the world long jump record. The athlete managed to jump 8.90 meters, and the previous achievement was 55 centimeters less.
6. At the 1928 Olympics, rower Henry Bobby Pierce was one of the favorites. During the race, an obstacle appeared in the form of a duck with small ducklings on his way. The athlete showed gallantry and missed the family of birds, after which he successfully overtook all competitors.
7. In Antwerp in 1920, after the end of the Olympics, the Olympic flag went missing. For more than 70 years after that incident, no one knew what had happened. In 1997, diver Haig Priest, the oldest Olympic medalist at the time, admitted to having the flag in his suitcase because he had stolen it.
Naturally, the main actors at the Olympic Games are the athletes themselves, who defend the dignity of their countries and dream of gold medals. Often their life is not entirely simple and cloudless, but they firmly believe in themselves and strive to reach Olympic heights. For example, during the Games, one could see an amputee runner from South Africa, a gay jumper from Australia and a transvestite judoka from Brazil.
Australian Matthew Mitcham won a sensational victory during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But because of his confession to gay sponsors and fans turned their backs on the diver. But two years later, the athlete went to the gay Games in Cologne, where he took the oath of an athlete. Athlete Caster Semenya from South Africa, who was officially recognized as a woman a couple of years ago, faced a gender problem. Her Olympic debut shocked the public, despite the fact that a special operation was performed, testosterone levels were lowered and signs of a female physique were clearly visible. South African amputee runner Oscar Pistorius literally chose to fight healthy people on a par. The athlete had to prove that ultra-light carbon prostheses could not give him a significant advantage in the race. However, members of the International Federation and the Olympic Committee gave Oscar permission to compete.
Fans and fans of the Olympic Games hope that the Olympic Games that have started in Rio de Janeiro will become the main event of this summer and they will be able to get positive emotions thanks to the new records of athletes.
Irina Morskaya
