12th

  • Today in 1928 the IX Summer Olympic Games closed in Amsterdam
  • On this day at the 1936 Games, after a 24 year absence a baseball demonstration game was played between two American teams at Berlin Olympics, The ‘World Champions’ beat ‘US Olympics’ 6-5.  American diver Marjorie Gestring takes the 3m springboard title, the then youngest Olympic gold medalist at 13 years 268 days.  The gymnastics competition concluded with Germany dominating – winning 6 of 9 gold medals including the men’s & women’s teams events
  • In 1948 the canoeing programme at the London Olympics came to an end with Sweden winning 4 and Czechoslovakia, who won 3 gold medals, a combined 7 of the 9 competed for.  Indian maestro Balbir Singh Dosanjhscored twice as India beat Great Britain 4-0 in the field hockey final, making this India’s 4th consecutive Olympic hockey title.
  • Today in 1984 Carlos Lopes of Portugal won the men’s marathon at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2:09:21, an Olympic record that stood for 24 years
  • The Swim meet at the 2008 Games today saw American star Michael Phelps win the 3rd of 8 gold medals  when he took the 200m freestyle title in a world record time of 1:42.96. The American team ‘scored’ a 100m backstroke 1-2, with Aaron Peirsol swimming a world record 52.54 to beat team mate Matt Grevers.  Not to be outdone,  the American women also shone when Natalie Coughlin became the first female to successfully defend the 100m backstroke title.
  • The 30th Olympic Games came to a close today in 2012 as London bade a fond farewell to competitors at the closing ceremony.
  • Four years later at the Rio de Janeiro Games today in 2016  – Joseph Schooling of Singapore set a new Olympic record 100m butterfly record, hitting the pads at 50.39 to take the gold while silver was shared in a  rare 3-way tie between Michael Phelps [USA], Chad le Clos [South Africa] and  László Cseh [Hungary]. The American star Katie Ledecky set a world record of 8:04.79 to dominate the women’s 800m field, her medal tally of 4 golds and 1 silver made her most decorated US female athlete at a single Olympics.  Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszú won her 4th medal of the Games,  finishing 2nd in the women’s 200m backstroke, the gold won by the American Maya DiRado in 2:05:99.

13th

  • In Berlin today at the 1936 Games Nida Senff and Rie Mastenbroek made it a Dutch 1-2 in the women’s 100m backstroke final.  Rie Mastenbroek also swam an Olympic record 1:05.9, winning the women’s 100m freestyle,  beating Jeannette Campbell of Argentina by 0:05. The Americans Dorothy Poynton-Hil and Velma Dunn finish in gold and silver positions in the 10m platform diving.
  • On this day at the 1948 Olympics  The United States successfully defended its Olympic basketball title with a 65-21 win over France. Hungarian boxer László Papp won the first of 3 consecutive Olympic gold medals when he beat British middleweight Johnny Wright on points.  José Beyaert of France took the cycling road race, with Belgium taking gold in the team section beating Great Britain & France.  Johan Gren scored twice as Sweden beat Yugoslavia 3-1 to win the football gold medal. Three Finnish gymnasts dead heated for the pommel gold medal in the gymnastics tournament namely ; Paavo Aaltonen, Veikko Huhtanen & Heikki Savolainen.
  • The opening ceremony of the 28th ‘Athens’ Olympic Games took place today in 2004
  • Today in 2008 American Michael Phelps won 3 gold medals, all in world record time, in the one day at the Beijing Olympics. The new marks now stood at – 200m I/M [1:54.23], 200m butterfly [1.52.03] and 4 x 200m freestyle relay [6:58.56]. Still in the swimming pool,  Australian Stephanie Rice wrapped up the medley double when she swam a new world record 2:08.45 winning the 200m I/M gold and Italian Federica Pellegrini also set new world mark at  1:54.82 to claim 200m freestyle gold, runner-up Sara Isaković became Slovenia’s first Olympic swimming medal winner.
  • In Rio on this day in 2016 American swimmer Michael Phelps ended his career  as part of the winning 4×100 medley relay team, thus winning a record 23rd gold medal.  British super-star Mo Farah won the 1st leg of 5,000/10,000m double, in a repeat of his exploits at London 2012, in 27:05.17, Kenya’s Paul Tanui wins silver just 0.47 behind.  Jamaican sprinter Elaine Thompson takes the blue ribband women’s 100m gold in 10.71, with American Tori Bowie second in 10.83 and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica 3rd 10.86. Great Britain set a world record of 3:14.051 to comfortably beat the United States in the women’s cycling team pursuit and the dominant GB rowing men’s crew won the eight, with the US women scoring a comfortable win over GB in the female eight final.

14th

  • On this day in 1920 the 7th Summer Olympic Games opened in Antwerp, it was also the first time the Olympic Oath was voiced with doves released to symbolise peace and the Olympic Flag flown.
  • Today in 1932 the 10th Summer Olympic Games closed in Los Angeles
  • Medals won at the 1936 Berlin Games today included – the USA, who beat Canada, 19-8 in poor conditions outdoors to win the inaugural basketball gold.  American swimmers Adolph Kiefer and Al Vande Veghe take 100m backstroke gold and silver respectively, Kiefer setting a new Games record of 1:05.9 and the bronze awarded to Japan’s Masaji Kiyokawa. In the rowing competition, which concluded today, Germany won 5 of 7 gold medals, although the USA claimed the coveted eights gold.
  • On this day in 1948 the 14th Olympic Games closed in London
  • In the Olympic pool at the 2004 Games, the Australian women’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay team of Alice Mills, Lisbeth Lenton, Petria Thomas and Jodie Henry smashed the world record to take gold in 3:35.94
  • On this day in 2008 the Japanese swimmer Kosuke Kitajima repeated his Athens Olympics 100/200m breaststroke double at the Beijing Games, winning the 200m in an Olympic record – 2:07.64.  Australia’s women also clocked a new Games record in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay – the team of Stephanie Rice, Bronte Barratt, Kylie Palmer and Linda Mackenzie stopped the clocked 7:44.31 to beat China. A popular Chinese 1-2 in the 200m butterfly saw Liu Zige swimming a world record 2:04.18 to beat team mate Jiao Liuyang. The French won the coveted 100m freestyle gold when Alain Bernard hit the pads just 0.11 ahead of Australia’s Eamon O’Sullivan
  • Today in 2010 the 1st Summer Youth Olympic Games opened in Singapore
  • Meanwhile on this day in 2016 Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt won the prestigious 100m Olympic gold in 9.81 at Rio de Janeiro Olympics, thereby becoming the first man to win the event 3 times. South African athlete Wayde van Niekerk set a world record 43.03 in winning the men’s 400m gold with Kirani James [Grenada] taking silver and American LaShawn Merritt bronze.  Kenya’s Jemima Sumgong won the women’s marathon gold in 2:24:04, Eunice Kirwa of Bahrain claimed the silver Ethiopia’s and Mare Dibaba the bronze. Sumgong was banned in November 2017 when her appeal against a drugs ban after her claim she was taking EPO for an ectopic pregnancy was rejected.
  •  2016 An all-British final in the men’s cycling sprint with Jason Kenny beating team mate Callum Skinner at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Justin Rose of Great Britain finished with a score of 16 under par to win the inaugural men’s individual golf title, 2 strokes ahead of Henrik Stenson from Sweden and 3 from American Matt Kuchar. Another British medal came when Andy Murray took the men’s tennis singles gold, winning  7–5, 4–6, 6–2, 7–5 over Juan Martín del Potro of Argentina.

15th

  • Today at the 1936 Olympics, Marshall Wayne and Elbert Root made an American 1-2 in the 10m platform diving and at the conclusion of the fencing competition Italy finished in top spot winning 4 of the 7 gold medals, with Hungary taking the other three. Annibale Frossi scored twice as Italy beat Austria 2-1 in extra time in the football final.
  • In Athens on this day in 2004 the South African 4 x 100m freestyle relay team of Roland Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend and Ryk Neethling smashed the world record with an impressive new mark of 3:13.17.
  • Still in the pool but this time at Beijing today in 2008, German swimmer Britta Steffen beat Australian Libby Trickett by 0.04 to win the blue ribband 100m freestyle title. American breaststroker Rebecca Soni avenges her defeat to Leisel Jones of Australia in the 100m when she swims world record 2:20.22 to beat Jones in 200m.  An American 1-2 in the 200m backstroke saw Ryan Lochte swim a new world record of 1:53.94 to beat team mate Aaron Peirsol. Despite China winning the women’s gymnastics team all-round gold, Americans Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson go 1-2 in the individual all-round
  • At the 2016 Games Anita Włodarczyk of Poland established a new world record, 82.29m,  to win the women’s hammer gold with Zhang Wenxiu of China taking the silver, and Sophie Hitchon of Great Britain bronze. Sophie set a new British record with her throw of 74.54m and became the first GB woman to win an Olympic medal in the event.  Thiago Braz da Silva of Brazil set an Olympic record of 6.03m to win the men’s pole vault gold and Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas dives at the line to win the women’s 400m title beating American 6-time Olympic gold medallist Allyson Felix by 0.07.

16th

  • The 1936 Summer Olympic Games close in Berlin and on this final day the equestrian competition concluded, with Germany winning all 6 gold medals in an unprecedented team achievement
  • On this day 68 years later a the 2004 Games in Athens, Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe set a new Olympic record for the 200m freestyle of 1:44.71, giving him the 200/400m freestyle double.
  • In Beijing today in 2008 Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt set a new world record of 9.69s when he won the 100m gold. British swimmer Rebecca Adlington wrapped up the 400/800m freestyle double with a world record 8:14.10 in the 800m. Britain continued on winning ways with sailor Ben Ainslie convincingly taking  the Finn class, his third gold medal in as many Games and British cyclist Bradley Wiggins becomes the first rider ever to successfully defend his Olympic title in the individual pursuit.
  • Four years later at Beijing in 2008 USA swimmer Michael Phelps wins the 7th of 8 gold medals, taking the  100m butterfly title in a Games record of 50.58, beating Milorad Čavić of Serbia by 0.01. Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe swam a world record [2:05.24] in beating American Margaret Hoelzer to the pads by by 1.01 in the 200m backstroke.  Still with the water, but on it rather than in it and the British team of Tom James, Steve Williams, Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge won the men’s rowing coxless fours, the third straight Olympics that Great Britain had won this event.  New Zealand rowers Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell successfully defend their 2004 Olympic title in the women’s double sculls, beating Germany by 0.01. Romanian rower Georgeta Andrunache claimed the women’s coxless pairs title; her 5th career gold medal, and her 3rd consecutive Olympic gold in the event, her partner in the boat was Viorica Susanu. Back in the pool César Cielo Filho won the men’s 50m freestyle in 21.30, Brazil’s first ever swimming Olympic gold medal. South Korean weightlifter Jang Mi-Ran won the women’s unlimited (+75 kg) division by breaking 5 world records: once in snatch, twice in clean-and-jerk, and twice in total.
  • In Rio on this day in 2016 Georgian weightlifter Lasha Talakhadze set a world record of 473 total kilograms to win the men’s +105kg gold medal.  Croatian discus thrower Sandra Perković retained her Olympic title with a distance of 69.21m.  New Zealand canoeist Lisa Carrington defended her  K-1 200m Olympic title with a time of 39.864 and Russian pair Natalia Ishchenko and Svetlana Romashina kept their Olympic synchronised swimming duet title with final score 194.9910

17th

  • On this day in 2004 at the Athens Games Yana Klochkova of the Ukraine won the 200m individual medley in 2:11.14 and thus claimed the 200/400m medley double.
  • Today in 2008 China won its 33rd gold medal of the Beijing Olympics by beating Singapore in the table tennis women’s team event. It was the most successful Olympiad to date for China in this event, with wins all 10 singles and all 5 doubles matches.  Four years after winning Olympic silver in the rowing quad sculls in Athens, Briton Rebecca Romero became only the 2nd woman to earn medals in 2 different sports at the summer Games when she won the pursuit track cycling gold.  Jamaica dominates the 100m with Shelly-Ann Fraser taking the gold medal in 10.78; her team mates Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart dead-heat for silver in 10.98.  Gulnara Samitova-Galkina of Russia won the 3,000m steeplechase title in world record time, stopping the clock at 8:58.81. US team Michael Phelps, Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen and Jason Lezak win the 4 x 100m medley relay, again in a new world record of 3:29.34. This was Phelps’ 8th gold medal of Games, breaking Mark Spitz’s 1972 record of 7. German swimmer Britta Steffen beat American Dara Torres by 0.01 in the 50m to complete the 50/100m double. The Australian women’s 4 x 100m medley relay team of Emily Seebohm, Leisel Jones, Jessicah Schipper and Libby Trickett upset the United States to win the gold medal, rubbing salt into American wounds by doing so in a new world record 3:52.69. Rafael Nadal of Spain beat Chile’s Fernando González 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 to win the tennis singles, Spain’s first ever Olympic gold medal in tennis.
  • On this day in 2016 American sweep the 100m women’s hurdles at Rio de Janeiro with Brianna Rollins taking gold ahead of Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin; the first time the US had swept medals in an Olympic women’s track and field event. Jamaican sprinter Elaine Thompson won 200m gold in 21.78; wrapping up a 100/200m Olympics double.  Kenyan runner Conseslus Kipruto recorded an Olympic record of 8:03.28 to win the 3,000m steeplechase gold.  German pair Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst upset Brazilian hometown favourites Ágatha Bednarczuk and Bárbara Seixas 21–18, 21–14 to win the Olympic women’s beach volleyball final.

18th

  • On this day in 1964 South Africa were banned from the Olympic Games because of apartheid policies
  • Today in the 2004 shot put event at Athens, held in Ancient Olympia, site of the ancient Olympic Games, the first time women had ever competed in this venue saw Yumileidi Cumbá of Cuba win gold and American Adam Nelson taking the men’s title. The USA women’s 4 × 200m freestyle relay team of Natalie Coughlin, Carly Piper, Dana Vollmer and Kaitlin Sandeno smashed the long-standing world record set by the GDR in 1987 to win gold in 7:53.42. Japanese swimmer Kosuke Kitajima completed the 100/200m breaststroke double when he won the 200m in 2:09.44, an new Olympic record. Dutch swimmer Pieter van den Hoogenband takes the coveted 100m freestyle title in 48.17 ahead of Roland Schoeman of South Africa.
  • At the Beijing Games today in 2008 Russian pole-vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva set a new world record of 5.05m to win the gold medal; her 24th world record. An American 1-2-3 in the 400m hurdles saw Angelo Taylor winning gold in 47.25 ahead of Kerron Clement and Bershawn Jackson.  Emulating the Chinese women, the men win the team table tennis gold medal without losing a match; winning all 10 singles and all 5 doubles matches. Belarus weightlifter Andrei Aramnau broke 3 world records; the snatch, clean & jerk, and total, on the way to winning the men’s 105kg gold.
  • On this day in 2016 Ukranine canoeist Yuriy Cheban set an Olympic record 39.279 to win the men’s C-1 200m gold and retaining the title he won in London 2012. Jamaica’s Usain Bolt takes the 200m title for the 3rd successive Summer Olympics, recording a time of 19.78.  New Zealand’s 2017 America’s Cup winning helmsman Peter Burling teams with Blair Tuke to win gold medal in the 49er class sailing. Great Britain’s Alistair Brownlee records a time of 1:45.01 to retain his Olympic men’s triathlon title; 0:06 in front of second-place finisher, his brother Jonathan Brownlee.