Olympics Facts for Kids

Imagine training for years only to win a tree branch! In the ancient Olympics, the top prize wasn't a shiny medal but a crown called a kotinos.

This wreath was cut from a special wild olive tree, and a young boy whose parents were both alive had to cut exactly 17 branches (later changed to 18) using gold scissors!

That wreath was said to give the winner divine qualities, almost like a Greek god. Now that’s a humble prize for being the world’s best!

When the modern Olympics were reborn in 1896 in Athens, Greece, it wasn't the massive global party it is today. Only 241 athletes showed up!

Even crazier- they were all men! Women didn't start competing until the 1900 Paris Games. Talk about a boys' club!

Host nation Greece had the biggest team, but the US won the most gold medals that year.

Forget pure gold, the newest medals have a secret ingredient that makes them super unique: a tiny piece of the Eiffel Tower!

The 2024 Paris gold medal weighs 529 grams—that’s heavier than a large bag of sugar! Only 6 grams of that is real gold plating.

The real treasure is the piece of puddle iron from the Tower, cut into a hexagon shape and placed right in the center. How cool is that for a souvenir?

That’s a thirteen-century break! The ancient games were banned by an Emperor in AD 393 because they were seen as a pagan festival.

For more than 1,500 years, the torch was officially out. It took the vision of Baron Pierre de Coubertin to bring them back in 1896.

Think of all the history that happened during that break—castles built, empires rising and falling—and no Olympics at all!

Most people retire from sports when they are in their 30s or 40s, but not Oscar Swahn! This Swedish shooter was a total legend.

He won his first gold medal in 1908 at the age of 60! That’s older than most teachers or parents!

He then competed in two more Games, making him the oldest Olympian ever when he finished his final competition at age 72.

The very first modern Olympic 100m race in 1896 was won with a time of 12.2 seconds. That’s way slower than your stopwatch might show today!

Today’s men’s Olympic record, set by Usain Bolt, is an unbelievable 9.63 seconds. That means modern runners are blowing past the old record by almost 3 full seconds!

The women’s race wasn't even added until 1928!

You might think the Summer and Winter Olympics are always two years apart, but they used to be roommates! They were held in the very same year.

This happened every four years until 1992. Then the IOC decided to separate them to give each event its own spotlight.

The change meant the Winter Games skipped a cycle and came back two years early in 1994 to start the new, alternating pattern.

We all know the five rings, but the designer, Pierre de Coubertin, chose the colors—blue, yellow, black, green, and red—for a secret reason!

When you add the white background of the flag, those six colors are the ones used on the flags of every single nation in the world at the time!

It’s a powerful symbol of total unity, even though the rings themselves only represent the five inhabited continents.

The men's World Record for the Javelin throw is 98.48 meters, set by Jan Železný way back in 1996! That spear flew over 323 feet!

That throw was so far, they actually changed the rules for the javelin design because it was getting dangerous! Talk about too good!

The current Olympic Record is 92.97 meters, set by Arshad Nadeem in 2024, which is still a massive distance.

The Panathenaic Stadium in ancient Olympia wasn't always a fancy sports venue. When the Games weren't happening, it was basically a field!

Experts believe that between Olympiads, the huge area that held over 40,000 people was sometimes planted with wheat.

So, athletes were running races across an ancient farmer's field! It was less a stadium and more a temporary gathering spot.