In today’s post, I count down my top 10 unusual facts about the Winter Olympics.
10. Athletes at the first Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix, France in 1924 marched in the opening ceremony in full-performance uniform, carrying their skis and hockey sticks, and pulling their sleds
9. Finnish cross-country skier Harri Kirvesniemi competed at six Winter Olympics (1980-98), his 23 races covering a distance of 450km, further than any other Olympian in history.
8. Canadian cross-country skier Beckie Scott finished third in the women’s pursuit in Salt Lake City in 2002 and was presented with the bronze medal at the victory ceremony. However, after the gold and silver medallists both failed drug tests, Scott was awarded the silver medal in October 2003 then finally the gold in June 2004, making her the only athlete in Olympic history to be awarded bronze, silver and gold in the same race.
7. American Eddie Eagan is widely reported as only athlete to win gold medals at both the summer and winter Olympics, but Swedish figure skater Gillis Grafstrom also achieved the feat. Grafstrom won the men’s singles when figure skating was held at the Antwerp 1920 summer Games then won the event again at the winter Games in Chamonix in 1924 and St Moritz in 1928. Eagan won light-heavyweight boxing gold in 1920 in Antwerp and was a member of the four-man bobsled team in Lake Placid in 1932. More correctly, Eagan is the only person to win a gold medal at both the winter Games in a winter sport and at the summer Games in a summer sport.
6. An estimated 150,000 spectators attended the Olympic ski jumping competition in Oslo on February 24, 1952, a record crowd that has never been surpassed at any other Games event, summer or winter.
5. A study conducted at the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympics showed that biathlon is the No.1 sweat-producing sport at the Games. The average female competitor produced 1.4 litres of sweat during the 15km event, while the average male produced 2.3 litres during the 20km event.
4. Several popular winter sports that are not on the Olympic program including wok racing (where modified Chinese woks are used to make timed runs down a bobsled track), broomball, bandy and ringette (all similar to ice hockey), ski archery (biathlon with a bow and arrow) and skijoring (where a person on skis is pulled by horses, dogs or a vehicle).
3. Veteran streaker Mark Roberts took to the rink in the men’s curling bronze-medal game between USA and Great Britain in Turin in 2006, wearing a hanky on his head and a rubber chicken to preserve his modesty.
2. To keep the race from running late, officials started skiers at 40-second intervals in the men’s giant slalom at the 1992 Albertville Games, ensuring history was made when Morocco’s El-Hassan Mahta overtook the previous starter, Raymond Keyrouz of Lebanon, midway down the course. He is the only Olympic skier ever to be overtaken in an Alpine event.
1. Security was tightened around the Olympic cauldron at the Lillehammer 1994 Games after barbecue buffs began grilling sausages over the Olympic flame.