SportsOlympics
The 1900 Olympics were spread over five months inside a Paris trade fair, with no opening ceremony and events listed as sideshows.
Some competitors died without ever knowing they had been Olympians.
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More sports facts
Sports facts from the strangest corners of the rulebook. Barbados once scored an own goal on purpose to win, a 61-year-old potato farmer won an 875 km ultramarathon in wellington boots, and Olympic gold medals are mostly silver. Short, sourced and ready for the group chat.
- A gymnast won Olympic gold with a wooden leg.
- The winner of the 1904 Olympic marathon was carried over the line, having been given strychnine and brandy by his handlers.
- One Olympic runner took 54 years to finish his marathon.
- One Olympic Games shot live pigeons for medals.
- Athletes caught cheating at the ancient Olympics were fined, and the money paid for bronze statues of Zeus inscribed with their names.
- Olympic medals were awarded for painting, sculpture, literature, architecture and music from 1912 to 1948.