C I P M Y L O RECORDS An Olympic record is a best performance ever in an Olympic Games It could be a fastest time a highest score or a record number of medals The world’s greatest sportsmen and women have set incredible Olympic records since the modern Olympic Games began in 1896 Olympic record performances are measured and confirmed by the International Olympic Committee the IOC Hundreds of technicians work at each Games overseeing electronic timing devices set up at finish lines The timing devices stretch an invisible light beam across the finish and measure when the beam is broken pinpointing the time in hundredths of a second There are also electronic photo-finish cameras In the Olympic swimming pool electronic touchpads at the end of each lane automatically record the time when swimmers touch them T U O B A L L A These judges seated by the Olympic pool are ready to score a swimming event 6
Judging Olympic Sports In some Olympic sports performances are not timed Instead they are given scores by a team of judges Summer sports such as gymnastics dressage diving boxing and synchronized swimming are scored this way along with some winter sports Because this type of scoring is based on personal opinion it has often led to arguments or protests Disqualifications Olympic records are canceled if athletes are caught cheating by taking performance enhancing drugs In 1988 Canadian Ben Johnson broke the record for running the men’s 100 meters m but when he was disqualified for taking drugs the record was canceled When American athlete Marion Jones admitted taking drugs she was stripped of the five medals she had won at the Sydney Games in 2000 and her name was wiped from the record books Officials check equipment on the Olympic track Amazing Olympics An Olympic record might not be the same as a world record if the world record was set at a different event outside the Games Olympic Facts and Stats American swimmer Michael Phelps has won a record 16 Olympic medals 14 of them gold see page 20 American Paralympic swimmer Trischa Zorn has won an incredible record-breaking 55 medals 41 of them gold see page 26 Her total is more than double that of any other Paralympic athlete The first modern Olympic record ever was set at the first modern Olympics held in 1896 The first race was a heat of the men’s 100 m and it was won by American runner Francis Lane in 12 2 seconds Some sports such as the standing jump have been dropped from the Olympics over the years so their final Olympic records will never be beaten 7
Olympic track events are races that take place on the athletics track in the main Olympic Stadium They showcase the world’s fastest athletes Sprints are the fastest running races in the Olympics the 100 m 200 m and 400 m races and the winning sprinters become big stars The world’s fastest man Jamaican Usain Bolt set an incredible Olympic record for the 100 m of 9 69 seconds at Beijing in 2008 He has run faster since then outside the Olympics At Beijing he also smashed the Olympic 200 m record and helped his team to a record 4 x 100 m relay victory Amazing Olympics R E V E N E M T S E T S A F The first Olympic Games ever were held in ancient Greece around 776 B C E and had only one event called the Stadion a men’s sprint of 210 yards 192 2 m Usain Bolt 2008 Olympic champion of the 100 m and 200 m sprint races 8
Paavo Nurmi of Finland a middle-distance runner won three gold medals in 1920 and five more in 1924 Middle and Long-Distance Races Middle and long-distance track races include the 800 m 1,500 m 3,000 m 5,000 m and 10,000 m One of the greatest middle-distance Olympic athletes of all time was Paavo Nurmi nicknamed The Flying Finn Another Finnish long-distance running hero was Lasse Virén who fell during the 10,000 m race in 1972 but still won in record time Great Britain’s Sebastian Coe won four Olympic medals including the 1,500 m gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984 and set eight outdoor and three indoor world records Sebastian Coe won four Olympic medals and held eight world records during his career Olympic Facts and Stats Fastest Olympic Men 100 m sprint Usain Bolt Jamaica 9 69 secs Beijing 2008 200 m sprint Usain Bolt Jamaica 19 3 secs Beijing 2008 400 m sprint Michael Johnson USA 43 49 Atlanta 1996 400 m hurdles Kevin Young USA 46 78 Barcelona 1992 1,500 m run Noah Ngeny Kenya 3 32 07 Sydney 2000 10,000 m run Kenenisa Bekele Ethiopia 27 01 17 Beijing 2008 Cycling sprint Chris Hoy GB 9 815 seconds Beijing 2008 500 m speed skating Casey FitzRandolph USA 34 42 seconds average speed 32 5 mph 52 37 km h Salt Lake City 2002 9
