Vancouver bid for the
1976 Winter Games, but lost badly. When Denver bitched out on hosting, the IOC offered the games to Whistler. When they used a recent election as an excuse not to host, the games went to Innsbruck.
McDonalds offered a promotion in 1984 that gave away Bic Macs when the Americans won gold, fries if they won silver and cokes if they won bronze. Thanks to the
Soviet boycott of the games, Americans went ape-shat in the medal standings, and McDonalds lost money. The Simpsons parodied this. I will personally spit in every 50th Krusty Burger!
Speaking of McDonalds, Ronald MacDonald competed for Canada in the
1904 Marathon
The New Zealand All-Blacks toured South Africa in 1976, which pissed off numerous African countries. When the IOC refused their demands to ban New Zealand from the
1976 Olympics, 28 African nations boycotted the Montreal Games.
Canada first competed at the
1900 Summer Olympics. George Orton won our first gold medal, in the 2500m steeplechase.
Figure Skating was the first winter sport in the Games, first being competed in the
1908 Summer Games. Hockey was added in 1920 after Antwerp refused to host figure skating unless hockey was also added to the program. Yay Belgium!
CODA made four attempts to win the games for Calgary. After losing in bids for 1964 and 1968, we looked certain to win for 1972 until environmentalists ruined it all. Damn Hippies.
Upset at the chosen location of the
Calgary Olympic Coliseum, Victoria Park residents threatened to oppose Calgary's bid for 1988 to the IOC. Faced with delays caused by unending arguments and threats of legal action, Ralph Klein finally short-circuited the entire mess by dumping it all in the province's lap.
Canada's
medal haul has grown dramatically since the Calgary Games.
Olympic fun facts, courtesy of Wikipedia
