The Olympics are virtually as old as time itself, OK, that's a vast exaggeration, but Olympic athletes from 13 to over 200 countries have been competing with each other for at least 1300 years, despite a 1500 year lay-off from the games. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-modern-olympic-games / http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-modern-olympic-games
In 776 B.C. the first Olympic games were held in honor of the Greek gods Zeus and his goddess wife Hera. Some historians claim the games started even 500 years earlier. For next the 1200 years, the Olympic games continued until 393 A.D., that same year Roman Emperor Theodosius I ended the games claiming them to be UN Christian, thus the Olympics did not resume until April 6, 1896. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-modern-olympic-games
During Olympic games, wars were halted to allow visitors to travel safely to Olympia Greece to watch the 16 day festivities. It's safe to say the Greeks invented the word 'truce." http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/truce.html /
The tradition of the Olympic truce dates back to the 9th century B.C., in Ancient Greece.
During the Truce period, the athletes, their families and ordinary people, could travel in total safety to participate in or attend the Olympic Games, then return home safely.
"Fierce Five," as Sports Illustrated dubbed them, the USA women's gymnastic team became the first U.S. gymnastic team to win back to back Olympic team gold medals, doing so in the 2012 London Games and this year's Rio Games. Twenty-two-year-old Aly Raisman is the oldest one on the team and often called the grandma of the team. Raisman and Gabby Douglas are the two women returning from the 2012 Olympic team.
Simone Biles, 19-years-old was too young to be on the 2012 Olympic team. She has been a dominate champion from 2013 to present and her four individual gold medals and one bronze in this years Olympics has solidified her as one of the greatest athletes of all time.
Just watching Biles day one trails is amazing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWeecKjJb6s She glides through the air as effortlessly as a politician lies. Laurie Hernandez, 16-years-old is the youngest of the Fierce Five, won a silver medal in the women's balance beam competition and favorite Simone Biles slipped during her routine and took the bronze. Madison Kocian, 19-years-old has both Olympic gold and silver individual medals to her name. She is the uneven bar baron on the team. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9npbGI_Hcw
American swimmer Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian ever with 28 Olympic medals, 23 of them are gold. http://www.foxsports.com/olympics/gallery/28-incredible-facts-about-michael-phelps-28-olympic-medals-23-golds-count-how-many-081316
Phelps counter part on the men's Olympic swimming team, Ryan Lochte tarnished his career with drunken lies and debauchery. Lochte claimed on August 14 that he was robbed at gun point in Rio during the Summer Olympics by four men dressed up as police officers. Rio police proved Lochte’s story wrong, citing surveillance video and witness testimony. Lochte and three other U.S. swimmers (not Phelps) vandalized a Rio gas station restroom in a drunken stupor, and have all since paid for the damages. http://www.wruf.com/headlines/2016/08/22/former-gator-ryan-lochte-under-fire-after-rio-incident/
The most creative writers in the history of time itself could not come up with a better last name for a record holding gold medal sprinter then Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. Bolt is the first man in Olympic history to win both the 100-meter and 200-meter races in record times. Bolt has dominated his sport since 2008 by winning the gold in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, 2012 in London and this year's Summer Games in Rio, giving him nine gold medals. http://www.biography.com/people/usain-bolt-20702091
The American women are currently the most dominant team in women's rowing. They have not lost an Olympic or world rowing championship in 10 years. Sports Illustrated headlined the rowing team as "The Unbeatables.'' The rowing team won their third consecutive gold medal at this Summer Game and their fourth overall. http://www.espn.com/olympics/rowing/story/_/id/17293862/2016-rio-olympics-united-states-women-3rd-straight-rowing-win-new-gold-standard-coxed-8
"Sport alone cannot enforce or maintain peace. But it has a vital role to play in building a better and more peaceful world," Dr Jacques Rogge, International Olympic Committee President said on October 2007. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2007-10-31-2612545205_x.htm
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