Vancouver, the largest city in the Canadian province of British Columbia, was the host of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The Winter Olympics are held every four years and feature competitors from around the world facing off in a number of different sporting events including hockey, downhill skiing, speed skating, figure skating, bobsledding, luge, and more. Here are seven things you don’t know about the 2010 Winter Olympics.

1. In 2003, the International Olympic Committee voted that Vancouver had won the bidding process and would be rewarded with the opportunity to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. In second place in the voting for those Olympics was the city of Pyeong Chang in South Korea, and Salzburg, Austria came in third place.

2. The opening ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics were the first Olympic opening ceremonies, summer or winter, to ever be held indoors.

3. The venue hosting Olympic Ice Hockey events is named Canada Hockey Place. Before and after the Olympics, this building hosts Vancouver Canucks NHL hockey games and is known by the name of GM Place. This name change occurred because Olympic rules state that corporate sponsorship is not allowed.

4. The Olympic medals and mascot of the 2010 Winter Olympics were designed by Leo Obstbaum. Obstbaum was born in Argentina and then grew up in Spain, before moving to Vancouver in 2005. He died unexpectedly in 2009 at the age of 39, less than six months before the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics of which he played such a visible and important role.

5. The first video game to be officially licensed by the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver was Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. It became available for the Wii and Nintendo DS in late October of 2009.

6. The Olympic Torch set a record for the longest route within one country when it traveled more than 45,000 kilometers (27,900 miles) inside the nation of Canada before reaching Vancouver in time for the opening ceremonies.

7. Seven countries sent teams to the Winter Olympics for the first time ever in 2010, they are: The Cayman Islands, Columbia, Ghana, Montenegro, Pakistan, Peru, and Serbia.

The 1932 Summer Olympics were a fascinating event in sporting history. There were many dramatic story lines that took place both in and around the Olympic events. Due to their natural appeal to a worldwide audience, a great deal of information is known about Olympic games, but here are seven things you don’t know about the 1932 Summer Olympics.

1. The 1932 Summer Olympics was the first Olympics where the head of the host nation did not appear at the games. Herbert Hoover was the President of the United States during this time and he chose not to travel to Los Angeles where the games were being held.

2. The 1932 Summer Olympics were the first Olympic Games where an Olympic Village had been built to house the athletes.

3. The 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles were the first Olympics where a victory podium was used for the medal presentations.

4. The USA won a bronze medal in field hockey in the 1932 Summer Olympics, this was mainly due to the fact that only three countries competed in the sport that year.

5. Japan’s Takeichi Nishi would win the gold medal in the equestrian event, individual show jumping. This would be the only equestrian gold medal that Japan would ever win. Nishi would go on to fight for Japan in World War II and die defending Iwo Jima.

6. American football was a demonstration sport at the 1932 Summer Olympics.

7. The USA finished first in the medal count with 103 different medals won during the 1932 Summer Olympics, Italy finished second with 36 and Finland was third with 25.

The 1932 Summer Olympics were an important event during their time and affected more than just the sporting world. The entire world focused on Los Angeles during those summer days in the early part of the last century, and people were not disappointed as some great drama unfolded both inside and outside of the main coliseum. The Summer Olympics have the ability to capture the imagination and wonder of the entire world’s population every four years. It is no wonder that they are some of the most watched events in recent world history.

One of the most popular football teams in the entire National Football League is the San Francisco 49ers. From the success they found early as an organization in the mid 1940s to their dominant teams of the 1980s and 1990s, the 49ers have not only played in some of the biggest games in league history, they have also had some of the best players in NFL history. A great deal is known about this pro football team, but here are 7 Things You Don’t Know About The San Francisco 49ers:

1. During the strike shortened 1982 NFL season, the San Francisco 49ers finished with a 3-6 record. Interestingly, the team won three of its four road games and lost all five of their home games.

2. The San Francisco 49ers posted double digit victory totals in every season from 1983 through 1998, a total of sixteen seasons.

3. Though the San Francisco 49ers are one of the best teams to ever play in the National Football League, they didn’t originally start out as an NFL team. The organization was a founding member of the All American Football Conference along with fellow future NFL franchise, the Cleveland Browns.

4. During a 1957 game against the Chicago Bears, onetime San Francisco 49ers owner Tony Morabito collapsed and died of a heart attack. The team, after being notified during halftime of their owner’s passing, would rebound from a 17-7 deficit to win the game 21-17.

5. Though thought of as one of the more successful teams in NFL history, the San Francisco 49ers did not win a division title until 1970 and would not win their first NFL Championship until the 1980s. During the decade of the 1980s though, the team would go on to win four Super Bowl titles, cementing itself as one of the greatest teams in league history.

6. The original coach of the San Francisco 49ers, Buck Shaw, coached the team from their inception in 1946 through the 1954 season. During his tenure and even though it was a brand new franchise, Shaw and the 49ers only had one season where there win-loss record was below .500.

7. The 1980s San Francisco 49ers teams were built largely through the successful drafting of college players. In 1979, the team drafted both Joe Montana and Dwight Clark (in the tenth round incidentally). In 1981, the 49ers would add both Ronnie Lott and Eric Wright to their defensive backfield. The 1982 and 1983 NFL Drafts would see Bubba Paris, Roger Craig, Riki Ellison, and Jesse Sapolu added to the team. 1984 would bring Guy McIntyre, Michael Carter, and Jeff Fuller to the team. And after adding future legend Jerry Rice to the team in the 1985 draft, the 49ers would gain the services of Tom Rathman, Tim McKyer, John Taylor, Charles Haley, Steve Wallace, and Don Griffin in the 1986 NFL Draft.

The 49ers popularity remains incredibly high, even in times when the team is not as successful on the field as it once was. With the track record the franchise has, fans always feel that the team is just one or two personnel moves away from rejoining the best teams in the league, a place they feel their team always deserves to be. The San Francisco 49ers truly are one of the best teams in National Football League history.