The Olympics

In honor of the Olympics beginning tonight I thought I would list a few nuggets of Olympic history.

The original Olympic Games were held in Olympia, Greece from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD.  Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894.  In 1912 The Baron designed the Olympic Flag with the rings in the colors of blue for Europe, black for Africa, red for America, yellow for Asia, and green for Oceania.

The Olympic motto is "Citius, Altius, Fortius," which is Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger."  The more informal motto is, "The most important thing is not to win but to take part!"

There are many well known American Olympians.  This is a short list of the American Olympians with the most medals.

Babe Didrickson - Track and Field - 1932,  2 Gold 1 Silver
Jesse Owens - Track and Field - 1936,  4 Gold 
Wilma Rudolph - Track and Field - 1956, '60  3 Gold 1 Bronze
Al Oerter - Track and Field - 1956, '60, '64, '68  4 Gold (discus throw)
Mark Spitz - Swimming - 1968, '72 - 8 Gold  1 Silver  1 Bronze
Jackie Joyner-Karsee - Track and Field - 1984, '88, '92 - 3 Gold  1 Silver  2 Bronze
Carl Lewis - Track and Field - 1984, '88, '92, '96 - 9 Gold  1 Silver 
Michael Johnson - Track and Field - 1992, '96, 2000 - 4 Gold
Michael Phelps - Swimming - 2004, 2008 - 14 Gold  2 Bronze 

Good luck to all the 2012 American Olympians from National Write Your Congressman.