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in the games even though she was just 30. She proved them wrong by winning four gold medals. She was one of the greatest athletes of the twentieth century being the first and only woman to win four gold medals at a single Olympics.


• Cassius Clay won the light heavyweight boxing title at the 1960 Games in Rome, Italy. He later became a famous professional boxer, better known as Muhammad Ali.


• The Ukrainian gymnast, Larissa Latynina was the first female athlete to win nine gold medals. These were won over three Games. In total, she has won 18 Olympic medals.


• At the 1976 Games, held in Montreal, Canada, Nadia Comaneci from Romania became the first gymnast in Olympic history to score a perfect 10. She was 14 years old at the time.


Sonia O’Sullivan


• At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, Sonia O’Sullivan from Cobh, Co. Cork, considered one of Ireland’s greatest ever athletes, won a silver medal in the 5,000 metre race.


• Ireland has performed very successfully in boxing events over the years. In the 2008 Games held in Beijing, China, Ireland won three Olympic medals – all in boxing. Kenneth Egan won a silver medal and Darren Sutherland and Paddy Barnes each won a bronze medal. Boxers have won nearly half of all Ireland’s Olympic medals.


• Also at the 2008 Games, the American swimmer Michael Phelps won eight gold medals and broke eight world records! He set the record for the most number of gold medals won in a career. He has amassed 14 gold medals in total.


Themarathon The marathon is run over a distance of 40 kilometres and is a gruelling test of stamina and endurance. The race commemorates the heroic action of an Athenian named Pheidippides, who lived about 2,500 years ago. At that time, Greece was at war with the powerful kingdom of Persia. The small Athenian army defeated the mighty Persians at a place called Marathon. Pheidippides, who was the best runner among the Athenians, was chosen to run to Athens and proclaim the victory to the anxious citizens there. The distance from Marathon to Athens was about 40 kilometres. Pheidippides was weary after taking part in the battle, but he set off on his task without question. At the end of his exhausting ordeal, Pheidippides gasped out the good news that the city had been saved. He then collapsed and died on the spot. The first women’s marathon took place at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.


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