In the ancient Olympics the philosopher Plato [427-347 BC] was a double winner of the Pankration - a combat sport a mix of wrestling and boxing

The only Olympian ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize was Philip Noel-Baker of Great Britain who won the silver in the 1500 meters in 1920

Sir Dorabji Tata founder President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in 1927 funded India s contingents both for the 1920 and 1924 Olympics

The longest ever Olympic event was the 320 km cycle race in 1912 The winner Okey Lewis of South Africa finished the course in 10 hours 42 minutes 39 seconds

Russell Mark and his wife Lauryn - shooters representing Australia alleged heterosexual bias as they were not allowed to share a bed at London Olympics 2012

Irina Nazarova won a relay gold medal in 1980 following in the footsteps of her mother Elizabeth Bagrinaseva who took gold in the discus in 1952 Olympic Games

London Olympics of 2012 became pretty fashionable as Ralph Lauren designed uniforms for USA Georgio Armani for Italy Stella McCartney for the British Olympic teams

Gold medals haven t been pure gold in 96 years The 1912 Olympics was the last time that gold medals were solid gold Ever since they ve been silver with gold plating

USA did not select Robert Legendre in the long jump in 1924 but only in the pentathlon However he broke the world long jump record while competing in the pentathlon

Christophe Lemaitre of France hopes to thwart the Jamaican and American men in 100 and 200 metres at London Olympics of 2012 He is the first white to breach 10 seconds

Ray Ewry of USA won eight individual gold medals - still a record; including three in the standing long jump and the standing high jump He won his final medals in 1908

The Olympic rings cover every flag in the world They picked yellow green red black and blue because at least one of those five colours appears in every flag in the world

US President Herbert Hoover did not attend the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics becoming the first sitting head of government to not appear at an Olympics hosted in that country

Swimmer Michael Phelps of USA won 8 Gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics It is the highest number of gold medals ever own by a single person in a single Olympics games

When Wolfgang Nordwig of Germany won the men s pole-vault in 1972 he was the first non-American to win the pole-vault in the modern era US had a 100% record from 1896-1968