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Did you know?
- Harold Abrahams, the winner of the 100m, ranked sixth in the 200m. The third place in the same event was won by Åric Liddell, who did not participate in the 100m due to his religious beliefs, but won the first place in the 400m. The story of the two British Olympic winners is the subject of the film "Chariots of Fire".
- Paavo Nurmi had got a special permission, in order to train. He had impressed many officers and other higher-ups. One of them was Lauri Pihanka, who was the head of sports affairs in the army. During the long routemarches that were part of his military formation, Paavo Nurmi used to cover the distance running and carrying his gun and sack.
- During his athletic career Ville Ritola won eight Olympic medals, five gold and three silver. He won many of them together with Paavo Nurmi in the team cross-country events. Still, competition between them was keen. Nurmi won Ritola in the 5,000m in 1924 and in the 10,000m in 1928, and was beat by the latter in the 5,000m in 1928. It is worth noting that the heads of the Finnish team in the Games of 1924 dissuaded Nurmi from participating in the 10,000m, thus giving Ritola the opportunity to win the gold medal.
- In the architecture contest the second prize was awarded to a former Olympic winner, Alfred Hajos. Hungarian Hajos was the first Olympic winner in swimming. He had won two first places in the 100m and in the 1500m in the first Olympic Games at Athens in 1896.
- Excessive heat was the reason that many track athletes did not complete their efforts, especially in the long distances. It is characteristic that in the 10,000m cross-country running team event the thirty-nine athletes who started the race only fifteen got to the finish line. Paavo Nurmi and Ville Ritola finished in first place and won the gold medal for Finland. The next day, while many of the other athletes tried to recover, Nurmi and Ritola, who ran for the sixth consecutive day in a preliminary or final long-distance race, won another victory for Finland, this time in the 3,000m.
- USA is the only country that has hosted the Olympic Games four times. Twice in Los Angeles (1932, 1984), once in Saint Louis (1904) and once in Atlanta (1996). Athens bid also for those Olympics, invoking the "right" of the centenary celebration of the first modern Olympic Games. Finally, Athens was awarded the Olympic Games of 2004. It is worth noting that in 1906, ten years after the first Olympic Games, the Greek government organized in Athens the so-called Interim Olympic Games.
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