The last Olympic medal that was actually solid gold was awarded in 1912. Today, "gold" medals are 92.5% silver.

The Olympic motto is "Citius, Altius, Fortius", which is Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger". It was proposed by Pierre de Coubertin upon the creation of the International Olympic Committee in 1894.

The United States boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Owens' success at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin was an unpleasant surprise for Adolf Hitler, who had hoped the games would showcase a resurgent Nazi Germany. Instead, Owens was the most successful athlete, winning international fame with four gold medals: 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump, and 4x100 meter relay.

While competitors typically shot at disc-shaped targets called clay pigeons, the 1900 Games in Paris featured livelier targets--real pigeons.

Liljenwall reportedly had "two beers" to calm his nerves before the pistol shooting event. As a result, the entire Swedish team was disqualified.

During the 1920 Summer Olympics, Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn won a silver medal in the double shot running deer contest. He was 72 years old.

In the wrestling semifinal of the 1912 Summer Olympics, Martin Klein and Alfred Asikainen grappled for 11 hours and 40 minutes before Klein finally managed to pin Asikainen. Klein was so exhausted from the bout that he was unable to wrestle for the gold the next day, leaving Swedish wrestler Claes Johansson with the gold medal.

The first team to enter the stadium is always Greece, in honor of the fact that the Olympics has its origin in ancient Greece. The last team is the host country.

In the quarter final he was easily beating French opponent Saurin when a family of ducks strayed into his lane. Pearce momentarily stopped rowing to let the ducks pass; he still won with the fastest time of all 8 competitors in that round.