DID YOU KNOW?

• Live Pigeon Shooting took place in the 1900 Paris Games. Over 300 pigeons were slaughtered in an orgy of blood and feathers. Though it's in dispute as to whether the event was sanctioned by the Olympic council, there's no disputing that Parisian sidewalks were cleaner for a brief period at the turn of the century.  It was the only time animals were killed on purpose during an Olympic event.
• The Beijing Olympics, 2008, began at exactly 8:08:08 PM on 8/8/08 because the number 8 is considered lucky in China.
• The Berlin 1936 Olympiad was the first games to be televised.
• There is a study of the 2004 Athens Olympics which shows that athletes who wore red while competing in "combat sports", such as wrestling, scored higher than opponents wearing blue. Very interesting but no scientific evidence can be produced say Will and Guy.
• It wasn't until 1900 that women were allowed to participate in the Olympic Games.
• In 1928 Australian rower, Henry Pearce, stopped halfway through his quarter-final race to let a family of ducks pass in front of his boat.  The French competition overtook him, but Pearce managed to get back in front and win the gold.
• When London hosts the Olympic Games in 2012, they will become the first city to be officially listed as hosting the Games three times: 1908, 1948 and 2012.  (Athens was host in 1896, 1906 and 2004, but the Intercalated games of 1906 were de-listed as being 'Olympic Games'.)
• There are four special Olympic flags that differ from all others in that they have a 6-coloured fringe.  Such a flags will be displayed in the City of London. The flag was presented to Boris Johnson the mayor during the Beijing closing ceremony.
• Olympic cities (not countries) are chosen by secret ballot, so we're not sure how London beat Paris for the 2012 Summer Olympics.  Some blame French President Jacques Chirac, who insulted Britain before the vote by saying, "After Finland, it's the country with the worst food."  France's bid wasn't getting British support anyway, but Finland had two IOC members, and some speculate that they were swing votes in the 54-50 outcome. Who really knows comment Will and Guy?
• At the 1948 games in London, the English national anthem, (God save the King) was played only three times: at the opening and closing ceremonies and when Princess Elizabeth arrived at the stadium for the first time. This was 477 times fewer than the German anthem had been played in the 1936 games held in Berlin.
• The first Paralympic Games was held at London in 1948. The name "Paralympics" comes from the words "Parallel" and "Olympics".
• The reason the extra yards were added to the running distance of the marathon to make the total length a rather strange figure of 26 miles and 385 yards was because of the rather whimsical demand of Queen Alexandra of Great Britain, who demanded, in 1908, that the marathon should end below the royal box at London's White City Stadium, which added the extra 385 yards.
• The only Olympian ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize was Philip Noel-Baker of Great Britain, who won the silver in the 1500 metres in 1920.
• I watched the Princess Royal present the silver medal to her daughter, Zara Phillips, for the Great Britain eventing team finishing second in the London 2012 Olympics it reminded me of another occasion. Princess Anne won a gold medal at the European Eventing Championships in 1971. She won silver in both individual eventing and team eventing at the European Championships in 1975. When Princess Anne won her European gold medal she remarked that it was the only time in history that the Queen had bred both the horse and the rider.
• The Olympics of 1904 were appointed to Chicago.  However, St. Louis blackmailed the IOC with the threat to organise a competing series of sport events if the Games would not instead be held in St. Louis together with their World's Fair. The IOC gave in, and Chicago still wait for their chance to host the Olympics.
• The gold medals won by British runners Harold Abrahams in the 100 meters and Eric Liddell in the 400 in the Paris 1924 Olympics were chronicled in the 1981 Academy Award-winning film 'Chariots of Fire.'