The first Olympics were held in Greece more than 2,500 years ago. In 776 B.C. they featured just one event—a 1)footrace. Boxing, wrestling, 2)chariot racing, and the 3)pentathlon came later.
The Olympic Games were held every four years for more than 1,000 years, until 393 A.D. when a Roman emperor stopped them.
The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece in 1896. A total of 312 athletes from 13 nations participated in nine sports. And the first Olympic champion of the modern Olympic Games was James B. Connolly of the United States, the winner of the 4)triple jump. The triple jump was the first final event of the 1896 Olympics.
Women competed in the Olympic Games for the first time in 1900. The first woman to win an Olympic event was England’s Charlotte Cooper, who won the tennis singles in 1900. The first team sport added to the Olympics was football, in the same year.
In 1904 St. Louis Olympics, medals for the first time were awarded to the first three people to finish each event—a gold for first, a silver for second, and a bronze for third.
In 1920, the Olympic flag was raised for the first time; and the Olympic oath was introduced. The five
5)interlaced rings of the flag represent: Africa, America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania.
The first Winter Olympics, featuring skiing and skating events, were held in 1924. The Olympic flame was introduced at the Olympic Games in 1936. A relay of runners carry a torch with the flame from Olympia, Greece, to the site of each Olympics.
The first Olympic Village was built in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. It served as the model of today’s Olympic Villages. For male athletes only, the Village consisted of several hundred buildings, including post and telegraph offices, an 6)amphitheater, a hospital, a fire department and a bank.
The first Games to be televised were Berlin in 1936. The events were shown on large screens around Berlin. The first Olympic Games to be covered by television worldwide was the Rome Olympics in 1960. And the first black African to win a gold medal was Ethiopian marathoner Abebe Bikila, who ran barefoot all the way in Rome, 1960.
The first Olympic 7)mascot made a
8)discreet appearance at the 1968 Olympic Winter Games in Grenoble, France. Its name was Schuss. The first mascot for the Summer Games was Waldi, the
9)dachshund of the 1972 Munich Games.
The first athlete in Olympic history to be awarded the perfect 10 was Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci. She left the 1976 Montreal Olympics with seven perfect 10s and three gold medals (uneven bars, balance beam, all-round).
Starting with the 1994 Winter Olympics, the winter and summer Games have been held two years apart, instead of in the same year.
The first athlete to win gold medals in five 10)consecutive Olympics was British rower Steven Redgrave in 2000.
首屆古代奧運會早在兩千五百多年前就在希臘舉行了。在公元前776年舉辦的奧運會只有一個比賽項目——賽跑。隨后出現(xiàn)拳擊、摔跤、四輪馬車賽和五項全能(譯者注:包括鐵餅、標槍、跳遠、賽跑和摔跤)。
古代奧運會每隔四年舉辦一次,這個傳統(tǒng)持續(xù)了一千多年。直到公元393年,羅馬皇帝廢止奧運會的舉行。
1896年,第一屆現(xiàn)代奧運會在希臘雅典舉行,來自13個國家的312名運動員參加了9個比賽項目的角逐?,F(xiàn)代奧運會的第一位奧運冠軍是美國的三級跳遠選手詹姆斯·B·康諾利。三級跳遠是1896年奧運會的第一個決賽項目。
1900年首次有女性參加奧運會。第一位奧運女子冠軍是英國的夏洛特·庫珀,她于1900年巴黎奧運會上贏得了網(wǎng)球單打冠軍。同年,足球正式成為奧運會最早的團體項目之一。
在1904年圣路易斯奧運會上,東道主首次為每個項目獲得前三名的優(yōu)勝者分別頒發(fā)獎牌——第一名為金牌,第二名為銀牌,第三名為銅牌。
1920年,奧林匹克會旗首次升起,運動員代表宣誓也被引入。會旗上相互交錯的五環(huán)代表著非洲、美洲、歐洲、亞洲和大洋洲。
第一屆冬季奧運會于1924年舉行,以滑雪和滑冰為主要比賽項目。奧運圣火傳遞在1936年被引入到奧運會中?;鹁媸职腰c燃著圣火的火炬從希臘的奧林匹亞接力傳遞到每屆奧運會的主辦國。
第一個“奧運村”建于美國洛杉磯的巴德溫山區(qū)。它為現(xiàn)今的“奧運村”豎立了模型。當時,“奧運村”只允許男子運動員入住,村內(nèi)有幾百幢樓房,包括郵局、電報局、圓形劇場、醫(yī)院、消防局以及銀行。
第一次通過電視播放奧運盛事是1936年柏林奧運會。當時,整個柏林市的大型屏幕上都在播放奧運賽事。到了1960年,羅馬奧運會第一次向全世界轉(zhuǎn)播了奧運會比賽實況。第一位獲得奧運金牌的非洲黑人選手是埃塞俄比亞的馬拉松運動員阿比比·比基拉,他在1960年羅馬奧運會上赤腳跑完了全程。
第一個奧運會吉祥物謹慎地出現(xiàn)在1968年法國格勒諾布爾的冬季奧運會上,它的名字叫雪士。而第一個夏季奧運會吉祥物名叫瓦迪,它是一只短腿長身的德國獵犬,現(xiàn)身于1972年慕尼黑奧運會。
奧運史上第一位獲得體操項目滿分10分的選手是羅馬尼亞體操運動員納迪婭·科馬內(nèi)奇。她在1976年蒙特利爾奧運會上獲得了7個滿分(10分),一舉奪得三面金牌(高低杠、平衡木、個人全能)。
從1994年冬季奧運會開始,冬夏兩大奧運會不再于同一年舉行,而是每兩年交替召開。
在2000年悉尼奧運會上,英國賽艇劃手史蒂文·雷德格雷夫成為了第一位連續(xù)五屆在奧運會上獲得金牌的運動員。
2008北京奧運之最
#61610; 奧運場館之最
北京奧運主場館“鳥巢”是世界上跨度最大的鋼結(jié)構建筑,“水立方”則是世界上第一個基于“氣泡理論”建造的多面體鋼架結(jié)構建筑。奧運場館建設耗資400億美元,堪稱歷屆之最。
#61610; 奧運參賽國家之最
2008年奧運會將邀請全球205個國家和地區(qū)的運動員參加角逐,這是人類社會開創(chuàng)文明至今覆蓋范圍最廣的一次召集。
#61610; 奧運志愿者數(shù)量之最
奧運的精神飄蕩在神州的天空,報名參加2008年北京奧運會志愿者的人數(shù)已達到了561296人。志愿者報名人數(shù)創(chuàng)下奧運歷史之最。
#61610; 奧運媒體轉(zhuǎn)播之最
2008年北京奧運會將第一次采用高清技術進行轉(zhuǎn)播,其圖像質(zhì)量達到35毫米寬銀幕電影水平,音質(zhì)達到家庭影院的效果。據(jù)預測,北京奧運會的全球電視觀眾將達到40億,計劃播出節(jié)目4000多小時,大幅度超過雅典奧運會播出時間。
