Check your data of the Winter and Summer season Olympics with this historical past quiz!
- The fashionable Olympics started in 1896. Now each two years athletes compete within the Winter after which the Summer season Olympics.
- Take a look at the charts under to study extra about how the Olympics have modified over time. Additionally discover what hasn’t modified, just like the age of many Olympians and a few of the sports activities.
- Don’t miss the video above so you possibly can take a look at your data of Olympic trivia. Are you able to get at the very least half the questions proper?
By Matt Garrow, The Conversation and Niall Seewang, The Conversation
The fashionable Olympic Video games provide a window into virtually 130 years of social and cultural change.
They replicate the fall of nations, war, the shifting winds of tradition and the best way individuals engage with sports, health and competitors.
We’ve taken information from each fashionable summer time Olympics to see which sports activities have stood the take a look at of time, the altering age of athletes, and whether or not internet hosting actually offers your crew a bonus.
Summer season Olympics through the years
The Olympics have evolved dramatically through the years, gaining new sports activities and dropping others.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics had the largest number of sports of any video games, with 33 sports activities (and 339 medal occasions). Whereas the primary fashionable video games in Athens in 1896 solely had 9.
Some sports activities which are not within the Olympics embrace ballooning, fishing, firefighting, alpinism (mountaineering, judged by the mountains climbed within the 4 years between video games), kaatsen (a sort of handball) and bicycle polo.
New sports activities that entered not too long ago are browsing, sports activities climbing and, within the 2024 Paris video games, breaking (recognized by some as breakdancing).
Olympics are a youngster’s sport
On common, for the reason that begin of the fashionable Olympics in 1896, about 2/3 of athletes who competed have been 20 to 30 years outdated. Most athletes compete of their first video games between the ages of 20 to 25. Only a few athletes compete over the age of 40: fewer than 4% of all athletes.
Age – and demise! – didn’t cease John Quincy Ward, nevertheless. Although he died in 1910 on the age of 79, his artwork competed on the 1928 Olympics within the (now defunct) sculpture occasion. He didn’t win. Ward is one among solely 24 athletes who competed posthumously. They competed largely within the arts, although just a few have been a part of the alpinism occasion and died whereas climbing mountains.
Whereas the overwhelming majority of athletes solely compete in a single or two Olympics, virtually 900 individuals attended 5 or extra video games. Extremely, three athletes have competed in 9 video games. And one athlete, equestrian athlete Ian Millar, has competed in 10 Olympics.
Probably the most aggressive occasions within the Summer season Olympics
Athletics occasions (observe and area) entice probably the most rivals via the historical past of the fashionable Olympics.
Nonetheless, digging deeper into the info reveals some nations have cumulatively despatched extra athletes in numerous sports activities:
- Argentina, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Malaysia and New Zealand despatched extra hockey gamers than every other sport
- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Mongolia, Syria and Turkey largely ship wrestling athletes
- Round 9,385 footballers from around the globe have competed on the video games. However virtually 20% (1,632) of these got here from simply 18 nations, together with Brazil (341), Korea (209) and Egypt (195).
Residence crew benefit
Internet hosting the Olympics appears to ship a hometown benefit.
The chart under exhibits the highest 12 nations by medal tally and the way they stacked up once they hosted the Olympics. Virtually all have a significant enhance, both making or breaking their prime tallies throughout residence video games.
There’s one distinctive standout, although. Hungary has turn out to be a powerhouse in choosing up medals. Astounding, contemplating it hasn’t hosted an Olympics.
France is about to embark on its third Olympic video games, sharing the silver medal for variety of video games hosted with the U.Okay. Gold goes to the U.S., which has hosted 4 instances. It stays to be seen if France can reside as much as their unimaginable medal success within the 1900 Paris video games, however the information present that 2024 is their finest hope.
Australia’s medal tally is on the rise
Australia has hosted two Olympic Video games – Melbourne in 1956 and Sydney in 2000 – and its medal numbers shot up within the video games earlier than and after. Nonetheless, Australia had its finest gold medal run within the 2020 Tokyo and 2004 Athens video games.
Medals can convey big money to the athletes who win them. Since 2019, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) pays A$20,000, $15,000 and $10,000 for gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively. That is prone to go up as Australia prepares to host the 2032 video games.
Matt Garrow, Editorial Net Developer, The Conversation and Niall Seewang, Sport + Society Editor, The Conversation
This text is republished from The Conversation underneath a Artistic Commons license. Learn the original article.
Backside line: Paris hosts the Summer season Olympics from July 26 to August 11, 2024. See a historical past of the sports activities and athletes in 5 charts right here.
Read more: Olympic success: Is it genes or training?
