Well, I recently caught up with David Holmes, lecturer of sports history at the University of NSW. Here’s some interesting Olympic snippets to keep those blues at bay:

1. What were the main sports in the original Olympics and when did the Olympics start? The main sports were running (200m, 400m,4.5km); throwing/jumping events (javelin, discuss, long jump); combat sports (boxing, wrestling, pankration); there were also chariot races. There were no team, ball or aquatic sports and women were not allowed to participate.  The original Olympics officially commenced in 776 BC and were held every four years; they were banned by the Christian Emperor Theodosius I in 393 AD because he didn’t like the fact that the Games were held in honour of the Greek Gods.
2. What was the most obscure sport played in the ancient Olympics?  Today? Ancient times: Pankration introduced in 648 BC. This event was a combination of boxing and wrestling but far more brutal. You were allowed to do anything to your opponent except bite and eye gouge. Given also that there were also no weight divisions, there were a number of homicides. Modern times: I would probably say live pigeon shooting, an event contested during the early modern Olympics.

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Tagged As: olympics, trivia

The Olympics is over, We’ve seen some highs and some lows, well here are some funny bits. Below are the top nine comments made by NBC sports commentators during the Summer Olympics that they would rather forget:

1. Weightlifting commentator: ‘This is Gregoriava from Bulgaria. I saw her snatch this morning during her warm up and it was amazing.’

2. Dressage commentator: ‘This is really a lovely horse and I speak from personal experience since I once mounted her mother.’

3. Paul Hamm, Gymnast: ‘I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father.’

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Tagged As: jokes, olympics