The Olympic Torch Relay is not an ancient tradition

The Torch Relay has its roots in the controversial 1936 Berlin Olympics. The chief organiser of the Games conceived of the relay as a propaganda tool for the Nazi Party. The relay passed through Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria and Czechoslovakia, who would all succumb to Nazi rule within 10 years.

Cancelled modern Olympic Games

Only three modern Olympic Games have been cancelled. The games were cancelled due to World War I (1916) and World War II (1940, 1944).

Youngest Olympian

The youngest Olympian in the modern era is Greek gymnast Dimitrios Loundras, who competed in the 1896 Athens Olympics at the age of 10.

Other young Olympian facts: At age 13, springboard diver Marjorie Gestring is the youngest female individual gold medallist in history, while 14-year-old Kusuo Kitamura (swimming) is the youngest male individual gold medallist.

Gold medals are mostly made of silver

The Olympic gold medal hasn’t been composed of pure gold since the 1912 Olympics. Today’s Olympic Gold Medal is made almost entirely from silver with approximately six grams of gold to meet the standard laid out in the Olympic Charter.

The medals for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo were made from 80,000 tonnes of recycled electronics. The Tokyo games’ gold medal weighs about 556 grams.

Olympic Rings’ colours

Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Movement, conceived of the five-ringed symbol. He specifically chose the different colours — blue, green, yellow, black, and red — because at least one of those colours appeared on all the national flags of the world.

New Jurassic Park-themed trainers, anyone?

Reebok has just put out a new collaboration with Jurassic Park – a line of shoes and apparel.

A collaboration 65 million years in the making, Reebok’s motto for this extensive collection, with nine different shoe models, three T-shirts, two hoodies, a utility vest and many kids’ models as well.

The trainers in the collection include one with graphics and colours inspired by the tour vehicles seen in the movie franchise. Another with a cracked dinosaur egg on the collar, bubbles on the heel, a mosquito on the sole and a DNA sequence on the side, and one with the side that looks as if it was ripped by a raptor claw, to name a few.

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 7th, 2021