How many people watched the Olympics? How much do governments really care about the medals their athletes win? Find out these, and 10 other fun facts about the Beijing Olympics.
So you probably watched the 2008 Olympics,
but do you know all of these facts about it?
1. 4.7 billion people watched the Beijing Olympics. That's a lot of people. No wonder I started by saying that you probably watched it.
2. For the first time, India managed to win a gold in an individual event - the 10m air rifles event was won by Abhinav Bindra. But with 17% of the world's population, they still only won 0.31% of Olympic medals.
3. Medals mean a lot to participating countries. That's why the US Swimming Association paid Michael Phelps $60,000 per gold medal, and he received another $200,000 from the US Olympic Committee.
4. The 2008 Olympics would not have ben possible without the 70,000 volunteers who made sure the games ran smoothly - compared to the 10,708 athletes. And you would not have watched the games without the 12,000 broadcasting staff.
5. The Beijing Olympics cost $43 billion to set up, and the buildings will be used as entertainment facilities afterwards.
6. 1,104 rain-dispersing rockets were launched up into the sky in an attempt to prevent rain before the opening ceremony.
7. There were no medals awarded in the 1900 Paris Olympic games - winners were given pieces of art instead.
8. Also in the 1900 Olympics, a French boy under 10 years of age filled in for the Dutch coxswain and scored a gold medal for the Dutch team: he is the youngest ever gold medalist.
9. Beijing used a digital system to manage the launch of fireworks to reduce the time difference between launches to mere milliseconds.
10. The Olympic motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius" in Latin means "Swifter, Higher, Stronger".
11. The Beijing Olympics saw the setting of 43 new world records - and 132 new Olympic records. The number of countries to win a medal also hit 87, a new record.
12. The 2008 Olympics luckily coincided with an uncommon rise in Beijing's air quality - the city had the best air quality in ten years.
These facts should have told you something about the latest Olympics that you didn't know - now it's time to wait till London 2012.
