Olympic Sports
Olympic Games, athletic festival that originated in ancient Greece and was revived in the late 19th century. Before the 1970s the Games were officially limited to competitors with amateur status, but in the 1980s many events were opened to professional athletes. Currently, the Games are open to all, even the top professional athletes in basketball and football (soccer).
Olympic Sports Encyclopedia Articles
Featured Articles
swimming
Swimming, in recreation and sports, the propulsion of the body through water by combined arm and leg motions and the natural flotation of the body. Swimming as an exercise is popular as an all-around body...
Torvill and Dean
Torvill and Dean, English figure skaters who revolutionized the sport of ice dancing. At the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (now in Bosnia and Herzegovina), Jayne Torvill (b. October 7, 1957,...
Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps is an American swimmer, who is the most-decorated athlete in Olympic history with 28 medals, which include a record 23 gold. At the 2008 Games in Beijing, he became the first athlete to...
Olympic Village
Helsinki 1952 Olympic Games: …were dropped, but a separate Olympic Village for Eastern bloc countries was created in Otaniemi. The Games themselves, however, were friendly, and by the end of the competition...
gymnastics
Gymnastics, the performance of systematic exercises—often with the use of rings, bars, and other apparatus—either as a competitive sport or to improve strength, agility, coordination, and physical conditioning....
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are Canadian ice dancers who became the first North Americans to win the Olympic gold medal in ice dancing when they triumphed at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver....
cycling
Cycling, use of a bicycle for sport, recreation, or transportation. The sport of cycling consists of professional and amateur races, which are held mostly in continental Europe, the United States, and...
Winter Olympic Games
Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games: …22nd occurrence of the Olympic Winter Games.
Olympic Games
Olympic Games, athletic festival that originated in ancient Greece and was revived in the late 19th century. Before the 1970s the Games were officially limited to competitors with amateur status, but in...
weightlifting
Weightlifting, sport in which barbells are lifted competitively or as an exercise. For other activities using weights but distinct from weightlifting, see weight training, bodybuilding, and powerlifting....
Doherty brothers
Doherty brothers, English tennis players who dominated the sport from 1897 to 1906. As a team, Laurie Doherty (in full Hugh Lawrence Doherty; b. Oct. 8, 1875, London, Eng.—d. Aug. 21, 1919, Broadstairs,...
skiing
Skiing, recreation, sport, and mode of transportation that involves moving over snow by the use of a pair of long, flat runners called skis, attached or bound to shoes or boots. Competitive skiing is divided...
Linger brothers
Linger brothers, are a team of two Austrian brothers who competed together in men’s doubles luge, winning gold medals at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, and the 2010 Winter Olympic Games...
