Final Essay

Over 31 cities have seen the fastest, the most incredible athletes in the world breaking records. Over these past two years I have played soccer, basketball and track and field and I know that doing any type of sport requires a lot of dedication and determination to reach a dream or a goal and these Olympic athletes definitely have it.

The first Olympic Games were in around 776 BC in Greece. The main purpose at that time was to value the beliefs of the Greek society as well as to honor Zeus. The official modern Olympics took place in 1896 in Athens; this event featured 280 participants from 13 nations competing in only 13 events. Greece where as compared to the Greek beliefs modern Olympics give an opportunity for athletes to compete against

The United States has the most athletes with 555, followed by Brazil who has 469 athletes. The most expected events in these games are Track and Field, Swimming, Soccer, and Gymnastics is also growing in popularity. Over 2488 medal are given out, 812 gold 812 silver and 864 bronze. Something really interesting that I learned while doing this research was that the United States gives out money to any athlete who earns a gold medal in the Olympics $ 25,000 exactly while Singapore gives the athlete $757,000 in US dollars that’s the most any other country gives to an athlete. As of Monday the US still holds the commanding lead in the medal count with 69 medals in total 26 gold, 21silver and 22 bronze. Some of the strangest facts about the Olympics are that the youngest Olympian ever was a 7 year old French boy whose name was never recorded because as he was waiting to receive his medal be became bored and wandered off. As for the oldest athlete was an 83 year old man Anders Haugen who participated in the Winter