As of right now there are 36 sports in the summer Olympics. There have been many sports added and dropped over the years. (Dropped- baseball, softball, lacrosse, cricket, croquet, polo, tug of war, and many more.) ( events that have been around since ancient times- Chariot racing, Riding, Pentathlon: Discus, Javelin, Jump, Running, Wrestling )
Are there any new sports?
Some of the recently added items are rugby and golf for the 2016 Olympics, A sport category they may add in the future are roller sports
How many team events are there and what are they?
There are about 12 team sports including soccer, basketball, badminton, rowing, table tennis, beach volleyball, volleyball, handball, field hockey, water polo, synchronized swimming, and rugby.
What are the Triathlon, Pentathlon, and Decathlon?
The triathlon has three parts. You may not have any breaks. In the triathlon you must do a 9 mile swim, followed by a 25 mile bike ride, and lastly a 6.2 mile run. The winner was Simon Whitfield who represents Canada.
The decathlon consist of 100, 400, and 1500 meter run, a 110 meter hurdle, long jump, high jump, shot-put, discus, pole vault and javelin
The pentathlon consists of 5 events; including pistol shooting, fencing, 200 meter freestyle swimming, show jumping, and the 3k cross country.
What is the first event of this Olympic Games?
The first event of this Olympics was women's football (soccer). Great Britian took on New Zealand at the Millenium Stadium. This event took place two days earlier than the official start of the Olympics. The official start took place on the 27th of July, so the women's football (soccer) game took place on the 25th of July.
What is the last event of this Olympic Games?
The final event was the pentathlon, women’s individual, running, and shooting
Some of the detailed articles on sports:
Soccer- For soccer in the Olympics, 16 men's and 12 women's teams are divided into groups of four teams. Each team would play every team that is in it's group. You receive points per win and the top two teams per group qualify to the next round. and from there on they play a single elimination tournamnet. This year women's soccer champions were the U.S. national team. This year the women’s soccer champions were the U.S. national team. The team beat Japan; Japan was the team who had beaten them in the previous world cup. The men’s title was won by Mexico over Brazil for their first ever soccer gold medal. ''Yet again we came close but didn't quite get it,'' Brazil coach Mano Menezes said. ''Defeat is part of the maturing process. This group will continue on this path and get ready for 2014.'' - Said the Brazil coach after suffering defeat in the gold medal match
Gymnastics- The world champion is an American named Jordyn Wieber, and the Olympic record holder is also an American named Nastia Liukin. Gymnastics started over 2000 years ago. It’s been a competitive sport for about 100 years. The first large competition was the 1896 Olympics in Athens, Greece. It was mostly dominated by Germany during those Olympics. The first men’s competition was held in the 1904 Olympics. During 1924 Olympics in France, men started to compete for individual Olympic titles in each gymnastic event. In 1962, rhythmic gymnastics were finally recognized as a sport. United states joined the rhythmic gymnastics in 1973. Many different types, it is viewed as one of the most “beautiful” sports in the Olympics, gymnastics has many different types- (artistic, rhythmic and trampoline) this year the U.S. women’s Olympic team won the Olympic title for the first time since 1996.
Basketball- The first actual men’s basketball competition In the Olympics was during 1936 in Berlin, Germany. The U.S. earned the first ever gold medal. The men’s team won every gold medal from 1938-1968. After that they lost in 1972 but regained the gold in 1976, 1984, 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2008. The Soviet union won the first two women’s Olympics in 1976 and 1980. The U.S. women won in 1984 and 1988. The U.S. women have won every gold from 1996-2008. Up until the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona only amateurs were allowed to play on team U.S.A and as a result a dream team was created. This team included Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, Chris Mullin, Clyde Drexler, John Stockton and Christian Laettner. They won every game of the 92 Olympics on average of 44 points. The tournament consists of different countries to compete for one of the 12 top spots. The teams are broken into two groups of six and each team plays every team in its group, the top four teams will advance to the semi-finals. The two winning teams play for the gold medal.
