3. Designed to honor the god Zeus Only men could compete Held every 4 years A truce was called during the games

4. OLYMPIA, GREECE The first Olympic games were a combination of athletic and religious rites. The god Zeus was honored by these games.

5. CHARIOT RACES DROMOS (FOOT RACE) WRESTLING DISCUS THE PENTATHLON: DISCUS JAVELIN FOOT RACE WRESTLING LONG JUMP PANKRATION LONG JUMP JAVELIN THROW PUGILISM

6. WINNERS OF THE ANCIENT GREEK OLYMPICS RECEIVED CROWNS MADE FROM THE BRANCHES OF A SACRED OLIVE TREE LOCATED NEAR ZEUS’ TEMPLE AT OLYMPIA.

7. When a winning athlete returned from the Games, he was given a hero’s welcome in his home town or city and received numerous benefits for the rest of his life. The victor had the right to have a statue of himself erected. He could also ask a poet to write verses telling of his feats.

8. Pierre de Coubertin, a Frenchman, revived that Olympic Games on a large scale in 1896 Many sports have been added over the years Women first competed in 1900 The winter games began in 1924 The interlocking rings that are the symbol of the Olympics were designed in 1912 The games are governed by the International Olympic Committee

9. Archery Athletics Badminton Baseball Basketball Boxing Canoeing Cycling Diving Equestrian Fencing Field Hockey Football (Soccer) Gymnastics Handball Judo Modern Pentathlon Rowing Sailing Shooting Softball Swimming Synchronized Swimming Table Tennis Taekwondo Tennis Triathlon Volleyball Water Polo Weightlifting WresWrestling

10. Ice Sports Bobsled Luge Skeleton Ice Hockey Figure Skating (including Ice Dancing)Figure SkatingIce Dancing Speed Skating Short Track Speed Skating Curling Alpine, Skiing and Snowboarding Events Alpine Skiing Freestyle Skiing (Aerials, Moguls and Ski Cross)Freestyle Skiing Snowboarding (Parallel Giant Slalom, Halfpipe and Snowboard Cross)Snowboarding Nordic Events Biathlon (cross-country skiing and target shooting)Biathlon Cross-Country Skiing Ski Jumping Nordic Combined (ski jumping and cross country skiing)Nordic Combined

11. Gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded for the top three performances in each of the Olympic sports. Another “award” many medalists receive is the chance to endorse a product and get paid very well for doing it. Winning gold or breaking a world record, for example, can sometimes double or triple an athlete’s pay for an endorsement. Conversely, if an athlete tanks, his prospects for future deals can be grim. http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=tsSnugqGRKU

12. In 1972 Palestinian guerrillas threatened to kill all the Israeli Olympic athlete hostages if 200 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel were not released. All nine of the Israeli athletes kidnapped from the Olympic Village in Munich were killed in a gun battle at a nearby airport. Quickly blaming a luge athlete for his fatal accident, then hurriedly altering the sliding course's design to prevent further tragedies invited understandable charges of International Olympic Committee hypocrisy and suspicions that safety was secondary in one of the world's most potentially lethal sports.

13. Steroid use has been a subject of controversy for years. Finding a way to win can tempt an athlete to test the boundaries of fair play, as the difference between fortune and failure is measured in fractions of a second. Whether it's a deliberate shot in the arm or an innocent cold pill, bending or breaking the rules of competition has been around as long as sport itself.

14. German sports imagery in the 1930s promoted the myth of Aryan racial superiority and physical power.

15. Two black American athletes made history at the Mexico Olympics by staging a silent protest against racial discrimination. Anger over human rights violations in Tibet by the Chinese government led to many demonstrations and demands for the U. S. to boycott the 2008 Olympics in China. The 1979 Soviet intervention in Afghanistan spurred U. S. President, Jimmy Carter to issue an ultimatum that the United States would boycott the Moscow Olympics if Soviet troops did not withdraw from the country by 12:01 A.M. Eastern Standard Time on 02/20/1980. The official announcement confirming the boycott was made on March 21.