France, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Greece, and Australia have always been in the modern Olympics since it began in 1896

The Olympic Games are considered to be the world’s foremost sports competition with more than 200 nations participating. The Olympic Games are held quadrennially, (every four years) with the Summer and Winter Games alternating, meaning they each occur every four years but two years apart. Their creation was inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. BaronPierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894. The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority.

The evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries has resulted in several changes to the Olympic Games. Some of these adjustments include the creation of the Winter Games for ice and winter sports, the Paralympic Games for athletes with a disability, and the Youth Olympic Games for teenage athletes. The IOC has had to adapt to a variety of economic, political, and technological advancements. As a result, the Olympics shifted away from pure amateurism, as envisioned by Coubertin, to allow participation of professional athletes. The growing importance of mass media created the issue of corporate sponsorship and commercialization of the Games. World wars led to the cancellation of the 1916, 1940, and 1944 Games. Large boycotts during the Cold War limited participation in the 1980 and 1984 Games.

A top freestyle swimmer achieves a speed of only 4 miles per hour. Fish, in contrast, have been clocked at 80 mph

The black marlin (Istiompax indica) is a species of marlin found in tropical and subtropical Indo-Pacific and east Pacific oceans from near the surface to depths of 915 m (3,002 ft). It is a large commercial game fishwith a maximum published length of 4.65 m (15.3 ft) and weight of 750 kg (1,700 lb). It is one of the largest marlins and bony fish. This marlin is one of the fastest fish on earth reaching speeds up to 80 mph (130 km/h). This fish is highly prized if caught.

Frank Hayes was a jockey who died in the midst of a race, but won anyway

Frank Hayes (1888–1923) was a jockey who, in 1923, suffered a fatal heart attack in the midst of a race at Belmont Park in New York. His horse, a 20-1 outsider called Sweet Kiss, finished and won the race with his lifeless body still atop, making him the first, and thus far, only, jockey to win a race after death.

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Sir Ranulph Fiennes, has run 7 marathons, on 7 consecutive days, in 7 continents after a heart attack and bypass operation

Ranulph Fiennes, is a British adventurer and holder of several endurance records. He is also a prolific writer.

Despite suffering from a heart attack and undergoing a double heart bypass operation just four months before, Fiennes joined Stroud in 2003 to complete seven marathons in seven days on seven continents in the Land Rover 7x7x7 Challenge for the British Heart Foundation. “In retrospect I wouldn’t have done it. I wouldn’t do it again. It was Mike Stroud’s idea”.Their series of marathons was as follows:

26 October – Race 1: Patagonia - South America

27 October – Race 2: Falkland Islands - “Antarctica”

28 October – Race 3: Sydney - Australia

29 October – Race 4: Singapore - Asia

30 October – Race 5: London - Europe

31 October – Race 6: Cairo - Africa

1 November – Race 7: New York - North America

Originally Fiennes had planned to run the first marathon on King George Island, Antarctica. The second marathon would then have taken place in Santiago, Chile. However, bad weather and aeroplane engine trouble caused him to change his plans, running the South American segment in southern Patagonia first and then hopping to the Falklands as a substitute for the Antarctic leg.

Speaking after the event, Fiennes said the Singapore Marathon had been by far the most difficult because of high humidity and pollution. He also said his cardiac surgeon had approved the marathons, providing his heart-rate did not exceed 130 beats per minute. Fiennes later said that he forgot to pack his heart-rate monitor, and therefore did not know how fast his heart was beating.

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There is a sport where hawks are trained to fly paragliders. It's called Parahawking

In parahawking, birds of prey are trained to fly with paragliders, guiding them to thermals.

Parahawking was developed by British falconer Scott Mason in 2001. Mason began a round-the-world trip in Pokhara, Nepal, where many birds of prey – such as the griffon vulture, steppe eagle and black kite – can be found. While taking a tandem paragliding flight with British paraglider Adam Hill, he had the opportunity to see raptors in flight, and realised that he could combine the sports of paragliding and falconry. He hopes that others will also be interested in the combined endeavours. He has been based in Pokhara ever since, training and flying birds during the dry season between September and March.

The team started by training two black kites, but have since added two Egyptian vultures, Kevin and Bob, to the team. Only rescued birds are used – none of the birds have been taken from the wild.

Mason and Hill documented their endeavours, with help from colleague Graham Saunders-Griffiths, in a film entitled Parahawking. In addition to being named Best Debut Film at the 2003 Festival International du Film de Vol libre in St-Hilaire, France (held as part of the Coupe Icare), and winning top prize in the ‘Air’ category at the 5th Hory a Mesto international festival of mountain films in Slovakia, Parahawking was a finalist in the category of ‘Best Film on Mountain Sports’ at the 2003 Banff Mountain Film Festival, and competed for the title of ‘Best Documentary’ at the 2004 Cervino International Film Festival.

Mason’s work has been featured in many publications around the world, from falconry-related journals and newsletters, to paragliding publications, mainstream magazines and newspapers.

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The Baby Ruth candy bar was actually named after Grover Cleveland's baby daughter, Ruth.

Although the name of the candy bar sounds like the name of the famous baseball player Babe Ruth, the Curtiss Candy Company traditionally claimed that it was named after President Grover Cleveland‘s daughter, Ruth Cleveland. The candy maker, located on the same street as Wrigley Field, named the bar “Baby Ruth” in 1921, as Babe Ruth‘s fame was on the rise, over 30 years after Cleveland had left the White House, and 17 years after his daughter, Ruth, had died. The company did not negotiate an endorsement deal with Ruth, and many saw the company’s story about the origin of the name to be a devious way to avoid having to pay the baseball player any royalties. Curtiss successfully shut down a rival bar that was approved by, and named for, Ruth, on the grounds that the names were too similar.

In the trivia book series Imponderables, David Feldman reports the standard story about the bar being named for Grover Cleveland‘s daughter, with additional information that ties it to the President: “The trademark was patterned exactly after the engraved lettering of the name used on a medallion struck for the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, and picturing the President, his wife, and daughter Baby Ruth.” He also cites More Misinformation, by Tom Burnam: “Burnam concluded that the candy bar was named … after the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Williamson, candy makers who developed the original formula and sold it to Curtiss.” (Williamson had also sold the “Oh Henry!” formula to Curtiss around that time.) The writeup goes on to note that marketing the product as being named for a company executive’s granddaughter would likely have been less successful, hence their “official” story.

The 1960 Summer Olympics were the first Olympics to be aired on television by CBS

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Luis Suarez was banned for more than 28 matches in three years!

The uruguayan football player Luis Suarez has a personal record of controversies. Without counting the usual matches lost by yellow or red cards, Suarez was banned seven matches for biting Otman Bakkal when he was playing for Ajax, then he got hit for eight more matches for a racial incident with Evra and ten more matches add for biting the Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanović.

Also, in the quarter-final against Ghana, the score was 1–1 at the end of regulation and the game went into extra time. Late in extra time, Ghana sent a free kick into the box; Suárez blocked Stephen Appiah's shot on the goal line. He then blocked Dominic Adiyiah's goalbound header with his hands to save what would have been the game winner and was sent off. Asamoah Gyan hit the crossbar with the ensuing penalty kick and Suárez, who had stopped to watch, celebrated the miss before heading down the tunnel. Uruguay won the shootout 4–2 and advanced to the semi-finals.

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The White House has a movie theater, swimming pool, bowling lane, jogging track, and a tennis court

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In the United States, approximately 50 million people fish per year

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On November 29, 2000, Pope John Paul II was named an "Honorary Harlem Globetrotter."

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Soldier Field is the oldest field in the NFL

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By walking an extra 20 minutes every day, an average person will burn off seven pounds of body fat in an year

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It has been suggested that shepherds are responsible for inventing the game golf. It is said that they used to use their staffs to hit the stones

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During WWII, because a lot of players were called to duty, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles combined to become The Steagles

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The highest consumption of Pizza occurs during Super Bowl week

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St. Louis, Missouri was the first U.S. city to host the summer Olympics in 1904

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The first Olympic games only had one event - a foot race

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Left-handed people are better at sports that require good spatial judgment and fast reaction, compared to right-handed individuals.

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A regulation baseball has exactly 108 double stitches

Under the current rules, a major league baseball weighs between 5 and 51⁄4 ounces (142 and 149 g), and is 9 to 91⁄4 inches (229–235 mm) in circumference (27⁄8–3 in or 73–76 mm in diameter)

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