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23 Stupid Things You Didn’t Know About The Olympics

The Mirror, the online edition of Britain’s The Daily Mirror, published an awesome list of “100 bizarre facts about the Olympic games,” in advance of the 2012 Games in London. Most of the facts are from way back, when not all crazy happenings appeared online within minutes of occurring.

Here are some highlights from the list.

1. It’s not over ’til it’s over, if you take champagne from strangers.

When Canadian Tom Longboat collapsed in the heat after 20 miles of the 1908 London Games marathon, South African prison officer Charles Hefferon took the lead and was coasting to victory until, with one-and-a-half miles remaining, he accepted a victory glass of champagne and a pat on the back from a well-wisher. The bubbly caused him to vomit, and Hefferon was overtaken by Italian baker Dorando Pietri, who entered White City Stadium in such a state of disorientation he began running the wrong way and had to be turned around by officials. Needing to run 385 yards for triumph, he collapsed five times in the last 200 yards and was carried over the line on a stretcher. Pietri was disqualified.

2. Counting skills didn’t used to be a requirement for Olympic officials.

Steeplechasers at the 1932 Games had to run an extra lap on top of their normal 7.5 when an official lost count.

3. Wrestling takes more stamina than a marathon, sometimes.

Russian Martin Klein was too exhausted to compete in the 1912 Greco-Roman wrestling final after his semi-final with Finland’s Alfred Asikainen took 11 hours.

4. London knows how to improvise, a good sign for this year’s Games.

Bad weather meant the final two events in the London 1948 London Olympics were held at dusk, with athletes illuminated by car headlights.

5. Basketball is difficult when played in the sand.

The USA won basketball gold at Berlin in 1936, beating Canada by the unusually low score of 19-8. The game was played outside on a sand court in driving rain, making dribbling impossible.

6. Winning a gold medal is easy when there’s no pressure.

American Margaret Abbott won women’s golf gold at the Paris 1900 games in bizarre circumstances. On holiday in the French capital with her mother to visit the World’s Fair which was running concurrently, she took part in what she thought was merely a golf tournament to celebrate the Fair and left for the USA not knowing she had become the first-ever American gold medallist.

7. Don’t drink and swim.

Aussie swimmer Dawn Fraser, who won freestyle golds at three consecutive games, was given a 10-year ban in 1964 after drunkenly swimming a moat to steal an Olympic flag from outside Emperor Hirohito’s palace. She was named Australian of the year.

8. The Ancient Games were more spectator-friendly.

Contestants at the Ancient Games at Olympia competed in the nude.

9. Fencing athletes are tougher than you think.

Two real-life duels were fought as as result of disputes over scoring during the fencing competition at the 1924 Games.

10. Raspberry juice will put you right to sleep after you’re shamed for not finishing an Olympic marathon.

A total of 34 runners failed to complete the 1912 marathon in Stockholm. One, Francisco Lazaro, died during the race but a day later it emerged another runner was still unaccounted for. It emerged that Japan’s Shizo Kanaguri, in a state of exhaustion, had stumbled off the course and into the garden of a family who were holding a picnic. They gave him raspberry juice and then put him to bed. When he awoke several hours later, shamed at his performance, he caught a train back to Stockholm and then a boat to Japan without telling anyone.

11. Don’t walk to the Olympics from Milan to Athens, bros.

Italian marathon runner Carlo Airoldi walked to the 1896 games, covering 70km per day from Milan, passing through Austria and Turkey to reach Athens. At the end of his 28-day journey, has was informed that having accepted a prize for winning a Milan-to-Barcelona race, he was no longer an amateur and could not compete.

12. Muhammad Ali wasn’t so tough on a plane.

Cassius Clay – later Muhammad Ali – was so nervous about flying to Rome for the 1960 games that he bought a parachute from an army surplus store and wore it throughout the flight, often getting up to pray in the aisle.

13. Yeesh.

The infamous London 2012 logo, designed by Wolff Olins for a very reasonable £400,000, has been likened to “Lisa Simpson giving London a blow job”.

14. Russians believe that mustaches have magical powers.

Mark Spitz had planned to shave off his famous moustache the night before his first swim at the 1972 Games in which he won seven golds. But he changed his mind after kidding Russian competitors that it made him swim faster because it kept water away from his mouth. “Next time, all the Russian swimmers had moustaches,” he said.

15. Feta cheese used to have magical powers.

Today’s athletes follow a strict nutritional plan and watch what they eat, but before the Olympics in ancient Greece athletes mostly ate cheese.

16. Believing in the Loch Ness Monster is a potential cash cow.

Ladbrokes are offering competitive odds of 2012-1 for the Loch Ness Monster to be spotted in the Thames during the London Olympics. Anyone seeking a dafter bet can take Paddy Power’s 100-1 on Liverpool’s Andy Carroll to score the winner in the Men’s Olympic Football final.

17. Some things are too strange to be described.

Having won decathlon gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, Daley Thompson was asked by a US television crew to describe how he felt. Thompson went on to explain his euphoria to US viewers, saying: “I haven’t been this happy since my granny caught her tit in a mangle.”

Thompson, wearing a T-shirt reading ‘Is The World’s Second-Greatest Athlete Gay?’ – a presumed reference to the sexuality of American Carl Lewis – then told the British press that he would like to father a baby with Princess Anne.

18. Athletes from Laos need not be athletic to qualify.

Mala Sakonninhom of Laos recorded the staggering time of 15.12 seconds in the women’s 100m at Seoul 1988 – roughly the same, according to experts, as an averagely talented high schooler would have managed. Florence Griffith Joyner somehow shaved over four and a half seconds off that time to win the final.

19. Spain is a patient nation.

Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium was built in 1927 as part of the bidding process for the 1936 Games, which were awarded to Munich, and had to wait 65 years before it eventually hosted the Games.

20. The only thing more expensive than the beer is the pack of playing cards.

Official London 2012 merchandise includes a pack of playing cards priced at £2,000. For some reason, they’re made from stainless steel.

21. Olympians shit a lot.

The 2,818 apartments in the Olympic Village come complete with 5,000 toilet brushes.

22. Don’t mess with Cuba.

Having been disqualified from his taekwondo men’s +80-kg bronze medal bout for taking too long to be treated for a foot injury, Cuban Angel Valodia Matos shoved the match referee out of the way in order to kick Swedish judge Chakir Chelbat in the head. Reflected Cuban coach Leudis Gonzalez: “The judge was too strict.”

23. Before Blade Runner, there was Wood Runner.

George Eyser won six medals, three golds, two silvers and a bronze, during a single day of the 1904 Olympics, despite having a wooden left leg. He lost his real one when it was run over by a train.

Check out the entire list of 100 facts from the Mirror. And hope we can add to the list after this year. Maybe Usain Bolt will celebrate by eating his spikes, or something.

[Mirror]

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