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In 1920, at the Antwerp Olympics, Paavo Nnurmi known as the 'Flying Finn' was pitted against a Frenchman Joseph Guillemot in the 5000 metres. Paavo Nurmi lost the race by five seconds. That was the only long-distance running event he lost in the next eight years. Nurmi displayed single-minded determination to win. For years he subjected himself to endurance training in the forest of his native Finland.
Babe Didrikson declared to press reporters gathered at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932, "I came out here to beat everybody in sight, and that is exactly what I am going to do." She set new world records in javelin and 80 metres hurdles. In the high jump however, she was disqualified because officials ruled that her style of jumping was 'illegal', but strangely she was allowed to share the world record and even the silver medal!
King Gustav of Sweden handed Jim Thorpe the gold medals at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics saying "Sir, you are the greatest athlete of them all." In one of the most brilliant all-round performances in the history of athletics Thorpe won both the pentathlon and the decathlon. He was however stripped of his gold for having received money for playing minor league baseball. The medal was restored to his children 30 years after his death.
Teofilo Stevenson, the Cuban boxer turned down an offer of $ five million from American promoters to turn professional and fight the then world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali. "What is $ five million against five million Cubans who love me?" asked Stevenson. Stevenson won the first of his record three Olympic golds in heavyweight boxing event at Munich in 1972.
Nadia Comaneci was known as 'Little Miss Perfect'. At the age of 14 she scored seven perfect 10s for the first time in Olympic history, at Montreal in 1976. Back in Romania, Nadia received the Hero of the socialist Party award, the youngest Romanian to be so honoured.
Irina Szewinska was born Irina Kirzenstein in 1946 in a Leningrad refugee camp to Polish Jew parents. Between 1964 and 1980, she participated in five Olympics, competing in five different events - 100m, 200m, 400m, 4 x 100m relay and the long jump. Irina won seven medals in all, three of them gold. Little wonder then, she is called 'Queen of the Track' in her native Poland.
Mark Spitz was often told by his father that "swimming is'nt everything winning is". Spitz made his father proud when he won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics, the only athlete to ever to do so at a single Games.
American long jumper Bob Beamon, who had leapt straight into the record books with a mammoth jump of 8.90 metres in the 1968 Mexico Olympics, was one jump away from elimination, when team-mate Ralph Boston offered him a tip on his run-up. Boston took the bronze. The previous record had been bettered by almost 60 cms!
Abebe Bikila of Eithopia, whose name nobody had heard of until 1960 Rome Olympics, ran the marathon bare footed and won it in a record time of two hours and 15 minutes. With that he became the first black African to win a track-and-field gold medal. He was a member of the palace bodyguard of Ethopian emperor Haile Selassie.
American super athlete Florence or 'Flo Jo' as she was called, brought glamour to the track that had never been seen before, with her flowing shoulder-length hair, striking make-up and 10-inch long painted fingernails. "Looking good is almost as important as running well," she once said.
Dick Fosbury just could not master the traditional 'straddle' style of high jumping. Fosbury persuaded the coach to let him use his own technique of jumping just for one high school athletics meet. He turned his back to the bar, flipped his head and shoulder over first and his feet last. In the process he cleared metres and thus was born 'Fosbury Flop'. Today, every high jumper is a Fosbury Flopper.
Al Oerter, the holder of a unique record - golds in the same event at four consecutive Olympics, displayed almost super human courage at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Having come to the Games with a dislocated cervical vertebra, he cast off his neck brace in the qualifying round and in spite of the obvious pain produced an Olympic record throw of 60.54m! Later he said "These are the Olympics, you die for them."
Wilma Rudolph winner of the 100m and 200m sprints at the 1960 Rome Olympics was also nicknamed 'the black gazelle' for her grace and beauty.
She was one of 19 children of a poor black family from Tennessee, USA and had contracted double pneumonia and scarlet fever at the age of four and temporarily lost the use of her left leg, till the age of seven.
The doctors said he would never walk again, but Raymond Ewry decided to prove them wrong. Raymond diligently practiced special exercises, which he had devised to develop exceptionally strong legs. In the 1900 Paris Olympics Ewry won the three standing jumps - high, long and triple. He also went on to win gold medals at 1904 and 1908 Games.
American high-diver Greg Louganis hit his head on the board in mid-dive during the qualifying round, in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. The gash on his head required stitches, but a mere 10 minutes later, he was back to complete his dives. Two days later, Louganis went on to win the gold medal in the springboard and platform diving events.
It is said that Hitler was so put off by Owens' success in the 1936 Berlin Olympics that he walked out of the stadium when the medals were being presented. But, the greatest irony of all was that when Owens returned home, he still had to sit in the segregated section of the bus.
Fanny Blankers-Koen, nicknamed 'Flying Dutchwoman', bagged four gold medals at the 1948 London Games, emulating Jesse Owens' feat at Berlin in 1936. She was 30 years old, mother of two and in the early months of her third pregnancy. She had been advised not to take part in the jumps because of her condition or she might have pouched one more gold.
Dhyan Chand's reputation with hockey skills was such that people thought that he used a special stick. Olympic officials, once, took his stick apart to see if there was a magnet inside. In Japan, they decided he used some sort of super glue. Further, German dictator Adolf Hitler even offered to buy Dhyan Chand's stick.
Milkha Singh lost his parents in the turmoil of Partition. He hid among the corpse in the train that was carrying his family to India. But he survived the horrific experience, and rose to become one of India's greatest athletes earning the Sobriquet 'Flying Sikh'.
Katarina Witt received 35,000 love letters following her victory in the 1984 women's figure skating competition.
Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser startled the Japanese at Tokyo when she climbed the flagpole at the emperor's palace to take the flag as a souvenir! She paid a heavy price for this misdemeanour as she was banned for 10 years. The ban was later reduced to four years.
Johnny Weissmuller, the first to swim 100 metres in less than a minute, was a hero in real life too? He saved the lives of 11 people when an excursion boat capsized on lake Michigan. He also played the role of a hero in reel life - 'Tarzan the Apeman' in the movie series based on Edgar Rice-Burrough's novel.
In 1984, Greg Louganis became the first male diver in 56 years to win both the springboard and platform events.
Jeff Baltnick won the gold medal in the super heavyweight division of the 1984 Greco-Roman wrestling competition. Two years earlier, suffering from Cancer, Baltnick had undergone extensive radiation treatment following the removal of his spleen and appendix.
Twice Olympic equestrian team gold medallist Franke Sloothaak had to pull out of Sydney Games because his horse was injured. The German rider missed what would have been his fifth Olympics because his horse, Joli Coeur, could not fully recover from a leg tendon injury.
Lauri Lehtinen interfered with Ralph Hill during the home stretch of the 1932 (Los Angeles Olympics) 5000-metre run. However, Hill declined to file a protest.
James B Connolly a freshman at Harvard University was refused permission to join the 10-men contingent to Athens by the dean of the University. He, however, became the first medal-winner at the inaugural modern Olympics as Connolly withdrew from Harvard and sailed to Athens as a representative of Suffolk Athletic Club.
Milo of Kroton, a legend of the ancient Olympics, used to clasp a pomegranate in his hand and challenge spectators to take it from him. The fruit used to remain undamaged though he used to clasp it tightly. Milo was a wrestler and won the winner's laurel wreath six times.
Sixteen-year old Rick Demont finished first in 1972 400-metre free style swimming event, but was disqualified for taking an asthma drug he didn't know was on the prohibited list.
The motto of Pierre de Coubertin reads, "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well."
Lance Larson, in lane four, appeared (according to photographs) to touch first at the finish of the 1960 (Rome Olympics) 100-metre freestyle swimming event. Yet John Devitt, in lane three, was awarded the gold medal.
In 1964 Ewa Klobukowska won a bronze medal in the 100-metre dash and a gold in the 4 x 100-metre relay. Three years later she became the first athlete to fail a sex test.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin wrote the Olympic oath. An athlete from the host nation takes the oath while holding a corner of the Olympic flag. Belgian fencer Victor Boin took the oath for the first time during the 1920 Antwerp Games.
Mary Leela Rao was the first Indian woman to participate in the Olympics. Leela Rao, a long jumper, took part in the 1952 Olympic Games held at Helsinki in Finland.
Carl Diem, chairman of the organising committee for the 1936 Berlin Games, proposed that the Olympic flame be lit in Greece and transported to Berlin via a torch relay. The idea was adopted, and continued at every Olympic Games since 1952.
The Olympic flag with the five rings, which was first unveiled at Antwerp in 1920, was finally retired after the 1984 Games at Los Angeles. A new flag was flown to the 1988 Seoul Games. At the closing ceremony of the Games, the mayor of the current host city presents the flag to the mayor of the next host city.
The Olympic flag was presented by Baron de Coubertin at the 1914 Olympic Congress to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the International Olympic Committee. The flag made its debut at the 1920 Antwerp Games.
The Olympic oath reads, "In the name of all competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules that govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams."
The Olympic flame is lit at the ancient site of Olympia by natural rays of the Sun reflected off a curved mirror. Women dressed in robes, resembling those worn in ancient times, light the flame.
The five rings in the Olympic flag symbolise the five inhabited continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and America. It is believed the colours were chosen because at least one of them can be found in the flag of every nation.
The Olympic flame is a symbol carried over from the ancient Olympics, where a sacred flame burned at the altar of Zeus throughout competition. It was finally reintroduced at the 1924 Amsterdam Games.
"Citius, altius, fortius" is a Latin phrase meaning "swifter, higher, stronger", which Baron de Coubertin borrowed from Father Henri Martin Dideon, who used the phrase to describe the athletic achievements of his students".
The Olympic flag has a plain white background with no border. In the centre are five rings forming two rows of three rings above and two below. The rings of the upper row are, from left to right, blue, black and red. The rings of the lower row are yellow and green.
Jesse Owens became the first American to win four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics on August 9, 1936.
