Politics and controversy of the Olympics

Politics and controversy have remained hand and glove with the Olympics ever since the world’s nations started to come together in 1896 to compete in the Olympic Games. Many current practices at the games have political origins.

During the 1900 Paris games, the organisers spread the competitions over five months, compared to the Rio games, which will take just over two weeks.

According to the Olympic web site, they under-promoted the games to such an extent that many athletes never knew they had actually participated in the Olympic Games.

Since the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, the games have lasted for between 15 and 18 days. The shortest Olympic was the 1896 Athens Olympics which lasted for 10 days while the longest was the 1908 London Olympics which was held for 187 days.

The early modern Olympic Games allowed four individuals in a team to be from different nations and the IOC grouped their results together under a special, mixed team designation. A total of 17 medals were won by mixed teams in the first three modern Games, from 1896 to 1904.

PHOTO FINISH

The 1904 Olympic Games were the first at which gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded for first, second and third place. During the 1896 Olympics, the silver medal was awarded to the winner of each event.

The first use of automatic timing devices for the track events, the photo finish and a public address system were introduced during the 1912 games held in Stockholm, Sweden.

 The 1916 Olympic Games were scheduled to be held in Berlin but were cancelled due to the First World War. The 1920 Games were awarded to Antwerp to honour the suffering that had been inflicted on the Belgian people during the war.

During the 1920, opening ceremony the Olympic flag featuring five rings was raised for the first time. According to the Olympic charter, the five rings symbolise the union of five continents and the meeting from athletes throughout the world.

The Olympic oath was taken for the first time by an athlete on behalf of all competitors, and for the first time, doves were released as a symbol of peace.

At the 1928 Amsterdam games, a symbolic fire was lit during the Games in a cauldron that was placed at the top of a tower in the stadium.

ROYAL BOX

The official distance of the marathon, which remains today, was set during the 1908 London games at 42 kilometres and 195 metres.

The organising committee fixed the distance, adding the last 195 metres to ensure the race finished below the royal box in the London stadium.

When Dorando Pietri of Italy entered the stadium at the end of the marathon, dazed, he headed in the wrong direction before he collapsed. Officials helped him to reach the finish line in first place. He was disqualified for receiving outside aid, but his courage earned him immortality.

The 1936 Berlin games is best remembered for Adolf Hitler’s failed attempt to use them to prove his theories of Aryan racial superiority.

Jesse Owens, an African-American sprinter and long jumper emerged the most popular hero, winning gold medals in each of the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and long jump.

Kenya and other African countries boycotted the Montreal 1976 games to protest the participation of New Zealand in the games after its Rugby team toured apartheid South Africa. It also joined in a US-led boycott of the 1980 games held in Moscow, the capital of communist Russia.

London is the only city to host the Olympics thrice - 1908, 1948 and 2012. The games have been held four times in the United States, with Los Angeles hosting twice and Atlanta and St Louis once each.

UNIFIED TEAM

Greece is the only country that has participated in all 27 summer games.

With 976 gold medals, 757 silver and 666 bronze, the US tops the Olympics medal charts. The country has won more than double the medals awarded to the second ranked country, the Soviet Union, which no longer exists.

The wide gap is partly due to the fact that Russia has competed at the modern Olympic Games as different nations, including the Russian Empire (1900, 1908, and 1912), the Soviet Union and the Unified Team (1992) after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia competed as part of the Unified Team in 1992.

Russia and the Russian Empire combined have won 405 medals, not including other countries like Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania.

During the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, athletes from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Macedonia competed as Independent Olympic Participants.

The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which includes modern day Serbia and Montenegro was under United Nations sanctions which prevented the country from taking part in the Olympics.

However, individual Yugoslav athletes were allowed to take part as Independent Olympic Participants (and as Independent Paralympic Participants at the 1992 Summer Paralympics).

This year, about 10,500 athletes from more than 200 countries are expected to participate in 28 sports and 42 disciplines in Rio. The battle for the Olympic medals will take place in 32 venues in Rio de Janeiro, plus five football co-host cities.

The first games attracted 243 athletes from 14 nations who participated in 14 events. This means that the number of athletes has grown 42 times from the original Athens games, while the number of sports is double that of the first games.

Kenya will be sending its largest ever contingent to the games constituting of 85 athletes and officials in seven disciplines. In the last games in London, Kenya sent a total of 47 athletes, 27 men and 20 women, competing in track, javelin, boxing, swimming and weightlifting.