Interesting Facts about Olympic Games    [03-08-2012] The whole world is excited about the London 2012 Olympics. It began on July 28 and will end on August 13. The early Olympic Games were celebrated as a religious festival since 776 B.C. However, today they became an international festival that brings all the people together through sports. This week, let’s learn more about Olympic Games! London became the first city to officially host Olympic Games for the third time. The city had held Olympics in 1908 and 1948 before. At the 1948 London Olympics, the U.K. won only three gold medals and finished 12th in the medal tables. The U.S. came first in the medal tables with 84 medals. The winners were awarded paintings instead of medals at the 1904 Paris Olympic Games. This was because the French believed that the paintings would be more valuable. Solid gold medals were awarded to Olympic champions for the last time at the 1912 Stockholm Games. Olympic mascots were first introduced in 1968 at the Mexico City Olympics. Mexico used a red jaguar and a white dove as their Olympic mascots. The first woman to light the Olympic Flame at an opening ceremony was Mexican hurdler named Norma Basilio at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games. The Olympics are held every four years. The first modern-day Summer Olympic Games were held in 1896 in Greece. The first Winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix, France in 1924. Norway won the most medals at the first Winter Games. The country won a total of 263 medals. No country in the Southern Hemisphere has ever hosted a Winter Games. Three continents - Africa, South America, and Antarctica - have never hosted an Olympics. The five Olympic rings represent the five major continents of the world - Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceana. Interestingly, every national flag in the world includes one of the five colors, which are blue, yellow, black, green, and red.     출처: 어린이 영자신문 키즈타임즈 (www.kidstimes.net)