Tear-jerking videos. World records. Ryan Lochte. There are so many reasons we’re excited about the Olympics in London. That’s why we dug through the Internet to find you these inspiring/weird/random facts to share with your viewing party during commercials.
Here’s a quick rundown of the stats: 26 Olympic sports; 20 Paralympic sports; 10,490 Olympic athletes; 4,200 Paralympic athletes; 200,000 staffers; and an estimated 500,000 spectators per day.
Source: london2012.com
The London Games mascots are giant one-eyed creatures named Wenlock and Mandeville. According to event organizers, they’re meant to resemble drops of steel used to build Olympic Stadium.
Source: wenlock-mandeville.com
Thousands of endangered newts and scores of toads, eels, and pike were relocated to nearby nature preserves to make way for the stadium.
Source: news.bbc.co.uk and london2012.com
Olympic gold medals are 1.34 percent gold, 92.5 percent silver, and the rest copper filling. Each medallion takes ten hours to make; it gets pressed fifteen times by a nearly 2 million-pound weight.
Source: ryanseacrest.com and money.cnn.com
Don’t place your bets on anyone getting a world record in the marathon event. In an effort to make the runners pass as many London landmarks as possible, the course planners put in more than 90 turns.
Source: yahoo.com and runnersworld.com
The oldest Olympian competing this year is 71-year-old Japanese equestrian Hiroshi Hoketsu (he first took part in the 1964 Olympic Games).
Source: topendsports.com and deadspin.com
International basketball games are shorter and so is the court (the three-point line is closer and there’s no defensive three-second call). If you really want to get technical: Unlike the NBA, once the ball strikes the rim, players can swat it away or tap it in regardless of bounce.
Source: DailyCandy NYC Editor Jordan Blumberg
With the exception of three players per team, all Olympic soccer players had to have been born on or after January 1, 1989, to qualify. The reason? FIFA doesn’t want the Olympics to steal the World Cup’s glory.
Source: usatoday.com
All tennis matches will be played on the grass courts at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon. This is the first time Olympic tennis has been played on grass courts since tennis was reintroduced to the games in 1988.
Source: wikipedia.org and london2012.com
The games will mark Coach K’s (Mike Krzyzewski) final time coaching the U.S. men’s basketball team. Since he took the helm in 2005, the team is 49–1 in international play.
Source: charlotteobserver.com
All five members of the U.S. gymnastics team are first-time Olympians. The oldest is 18; the youngest is 15. Famed coach of yore Bela Karolyi called them the best team since 1996 (hello, Magnificent Seven).
Source: bleacherreport.com and sports.yahoo.com
South Korean archer Im Dong-Hyun is legally blind, but he doesn’t wear glasses or contacts during competitions. He attributes his success to muscle memory.
Source: telegraph.co.uk
Thinking about streaking during the games to get word out about your brand? Think again: You’ll be fined 20,000 pounds. (No word on how you’ll be penalized if you do it just for fun.)
Source news.ninemsn.com
All of Jamaica’s athletes — including Usain Bolt, the 100 meter world champion (by far) — will wear uniforms designed by Cedella Marley, Bob Marley’s daughter.
Source: huffingtonpost.com
Want to live where the men’s water polo team slept? (Yes, please.) After the games are over, Olympic Village will be converted to 2,800 homes.
Source: guardian.co.uk
Comments