1) The "gymnasium" comes from a Greek word called "gymnos" meaning nude; the meaning of "gymnasium" is "school for naked exercise." Athletes in the ancient Olympic Games would participate in the nude.

2) The name 'Paralympics' has been made from the words 'Parallel' and 'Olympics'. The first Paralympic Games was held in 1948.

3) The first Olympics covered by US television was the 1960 Summer Games in Rome by CBS.

4) Stadium Australia, which is presently known as ANZ Stadium, is a humongus stadium. It is so huge that four Boeing 747 jumbo jets could fit side by side in the Olympic Stadium.

5) In Beijing Olympics, athletes will produce as much as 2 million pounds of dirty laundry. A family of four would produce the same in 264 years.

6) At the Stockholm Games in 1912, a wrestling match between a Swede, Anders Ahlgren, and a Finn, Ivar Bohling, lasted nine hours. During that time, neither could gain an advantage over the other so no gold medal was awarded. Both of them received a silver medal each.

7) In 1924, young swimmer Johnny Weissmuller took part in the Olympics. He shattered the records in both the 100-metres freestyle and 400-metre freestyle races. In the 400 metres, with the timing of 5:04.2 seconds, Weissmuller shaved a full 20 seconds off the Olympic record. He later became an actor ans is still remembered as Tarzan for his film roles.

8) In 1932, the flagbearer for the Chinese team at the opening Olympic ceremony was sprinter Cheng Chun-liu. Hw was the solitary participant from China.

9) In order for a sport to be considered for inclusion in the Olympics it must be "widely practiced by men in at least 75 countries and on four continents, and by women in at least 40 countries and on three continents".

10) It so happened in 1924 Paris Olympics that American pantathlon player Robert LeGendre broke the world long jump record with a leap of 25 feet, four inches. Since the jump was part of a pantathlon competitin, LeGendre had to satisfy himself with an overall third position finish. The actual long jump competition, though was won by 24 feet and five inches.

11) The official distance of a marathon is exactly 26 miles and 385 yards. Did you ever wonder why? It happened in 1908 London Olympics that the royal family wanted to have a better view of the finish line of the marathon. So the distance of the marathon was increased to 26 miles and 385 yards.

12) Poland's Stella Walsh became the first woman to break the 12-second barrier as she won the 100-meter race at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. However, in the year 1980, she was killed when she fell a victim to a robbery attempt. Later, an autopsy report declared her as a male.

13) China is the most suitable place for any major sporting event. Beijing has successfully hosted many international sporting events.

14) The Chinese capital Beijing will be the capital of culture. It will host concerts and cultural events during the Olympic Games.