Win a Nikon Super Zoom Digital Camera with Electric Ireland

AlmostQuick

The 100metres. The fastest man on earth. Boom!

BonoVox

Dubliner John Boland 'accidently' won two Olympic golds for tennis in 1896.
He was on holiday in Athens when his Greek friend, who was on the Olympic committee, entered him into the tennis singles and doubles.

Before he won the doubles he asked the organisers to make up an Irish flag of a harp on a green background, which they duly did. He subsequently became a Nationalist MP in the House of Commons. We need more characters like him!

DULLAHAN2

Polo was played at the Olympics in 1900, 1908, 1920, 1924, and 1936

adamski8

running

Karma

Bicycle polo which was created in Wicklow Ireland, was a demonstration sport in the 1908 Olympics where Ireland beat Germany
I thought it became a official sport but no proof
here is a link to some info about it
http://bicyclepoloireland.com/history/

guitarwrist

Did you know... that In 1900, in France, winners got paintings instead of gold medals. Gold, silver and bronze medals weren't given out until the third modern Olympics, in 1904. The French gave the winners paintings because they believed they were more valuable. There ya go!

lotsofthegreen

playing sports is good exercise, and good for your head!

amerie2010

The Olympic rings cover every flag in the world. They picked yellow, green, red, black and blue because at least one of those five colors appears in every flag in the world. (The five rings also allegedly represent the five continents of the world. But wait, you're saying, aren't there seven continents? Yes. But the Olympic committee has spun things to try to appease everyone. The way they've condensed the world into five continents: America, Asia, Africa, Europe and Oceania. Sorry, Antarctica. And apparently, we're now continent mates with Uruguay and Colombia. Cool.)

Chronic Rick

in bejing in 2008 The big display at the center of the NEST required an LED screen which measures 147 meters long and 22 meters wide that embedded 44,000 colorful LED beads.

hellboy99

It is believed that the Greek tradition of athletic nudity started at the games in 720 BC, and it was most likely introduced by the Spartans or Megarian Orsippus. It is from this practice that we have our word “gymnasium” – derived from the Greek word “gymnos” meaning “naked”. Competing naked was meant as a tribute to the gods and to encourage aesthetic appreciation of the male body.

thecelt

Gold medals haven't been pure gold in 96 years. The 1912 Olympics was the last time that gold medals were solid gold. Ever since, they've been silver with gold plating.

pheechad

The five Olympic rings represent the five major regions of the world – Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceana, and every national flag in the world includes one of the five colors, which are (from left to right) blue, yellow, black, green, and red.

BMF Plint

Solo Synchronized Swimming was a sport at the Olympic Games between 1984 and 1992.

the_syco

tradhead wrote: »

Married women were not admitted even as spectators, let alone as competitors on pain of death.

This was because men were expected to be naked when taking part in the games :eek:

=-=

Although the city that the Olympics is held at is often one that is heavily contested, sometimes mother nature can cause well laid plans to be changed. On the 4th April 1906 Mount Vesuvius erupted, and the 1908 games changed from Rome to London.

The Olympics was not returned to returned to Rome until 1960, when it became the first Olympics to be fully covered by television.

unklefiction

I just like to walk, because it's relaxed like me : )

KimHerlihy

Swimming because it's relaxing!

Tommy_NDX

My favourite keep fit regime is lounging around playing video games and eating junk food. Results have been unsatisfactory.

pedatron

Love the hurling and swimming myself. Did you know that John Pius Boland was the first Irish man to win an Olympic medal. It was a gold and he won it in Singles Tennis!

Adrian.Sadlier

Ireland won a bronze medal for "Painting and graphic art" in the 1948 Summer Olympics, Letitia Hamilton "Meath Hunt Point-to-Point Races"

dermiek

I wanted to post an original fact that no-one else had. But...

I'm not going to read 18 pages of facts to see if my one was posted before.

So, I'll post this one:

dermiek (aka me) has never won an Olympic Gold medal and he never will.
(unless they make laziness a sport :pac:)

StupidLikeAFox

My current keep fit activity is doing ten press ups/sit ups etc every time I concede a goal in Fifa. Im getting fitter and better at Fifa at the same time!

DavyD_83

Swimming, cycling, squash and a bit of hiking. in theory.
Would love a fancy camera to encourage me to get back out seeing things worth photographing.
Office life is no life at all

"Better a rainy day on the mountain than a sunny day in the office"

irish1

During the inaugural Olympics, Winners were given a silver medal, an olive branch, and a diploma, Runners-Up received a copper medal, laurel branch, and diploma! ...(Wiki)
IT Sligo -based Company Signs Significant Pre-Olympic Contract ... see Article :- http://www.sligotoday.ie/details.php?id=20072&PHPSESSID=f2fea32233b495852547f1f111cd5fff

EI: Una

Thanks for the fascinating pieces of trivia and inspiring fitness tips, folks - oh to have just slightly better weather for all the great outdoor pursuits!

There can only be one winner here, so make sure also to play our fast-moving Road To London game on Facebook for chances to win some fantastic prizes, including a trip to the Olympics event itself!

evolving_doors

After winning 4 gold medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, it was reputed that hitler refused to shake his hand... not quite true... after the first day of events (which was won by a lot of germans) hitler decided that it would be better not to shake any more peoples hands, and not just Jesssie Owens. In face Jessie Owens claimed that he passed by Hitler and gave him a wave and Hitler Waved Back (although Hitler still loathed his win).

The real snub happened back in the US when a celebration ticker tape parade was thrown for him. At the reception in the Waldorf Astoria Owens wasn't allowed to use the main elevator, instead he had to use the service elevator.

Owens said, "Hitler didn't snub me – it was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram." On the other hand, Hitler sent Owens a commemorative inscribed cabinet photograph of himself. Also Owens was never invited to the white house or bestowed an honours by Roosevelt or Truman..

Ferny

At the Grenoble Olympics in 1968 there were 5,000 torchbearers, they covered a total distance of 7,222 km's crossing Greece and France.
For the final leg of the torch relay the organizers added their own unique touch by fitting a microphone to the chest of Alain Calmat the torchbearer . The sound of his heartbeat could be heard throughout the stadium as Calmat mounted the steps to the Olympic cauldron to light the olympic fire.

AlmostCared

In 490 BCE, Pheidippides, a Greek soldier, ran from Marathon to Athens (about 25 miles) to inform the Athenians the outcome of the battle with invading Persians. The distance was filled with hills and other obstacles; thus Pheidippides arrived in Athens exhausted and with bleeding feet. After telling the townspeople of the Greeks' success in the battle, Pheidippides fell to the ground dead. In 1896, at the first modern Olympic Games, held a race of approximately the same length in commemoration of Pheidippides.

vvhurricane

I have just taken up the super tough sport of roller derby in Dublin (DRG) I would love to win the camera so I can take a few shnaps of my new love and send them to my friends all over the world to try and encourage them to join too so we can all play together when they come home or I go visiting! GO on sure!

Jacob55

The 3 pools used in this summer's games hold around 10 million litres of water!!

paradisepaddy

A spirit of camaraderie emerged during the track and field events at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Two Japanese pole vaulters who had tied for second place simply refused to participate in a tie-breaker. Instead, Jacobs says, they cut their medals in half and fused them to one another so that each 'winner' ended up with a half-silver, half-bronze, medal.