It took world record cardstacker Brian Berg 120 days and 140,000 playing cards to recreate the Beijing Olympic Village. Watch the video of the construction.

While reading a very interesting blog I came across an article, originating from the New York Times, regarding the various designs for the Olympic torch. Spanning from 1936 till 2008 the interactive presentation includes names of the designer as well as trivia regarding each game. Although most of them look like either a cup-on-a-stick or a spindle there are some interesting concepts. Enjoy the interactive presentation here.

It is now just a matter of days before we see the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in China, the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (or for those who don’t like Roman numerals, the Games of the 29th Olympiad.) This lends us the perfect opportunity to present a list of fascinating facts about the Ancient Olympics – held in Olympia, Greece.

1. No one actually knows what the origins were of the very first games. One myth suggests that Heracles (the divine son of the god Zeus) ran a race in Olympia and decreed that it be repeated every four years.

2. The olympic games were one of two central rituals in Ancient Greece. The other was the Eleusinian Mysteries – initiation ceremonies for people joining the cult of Demeter and Persephone.

3. The Statue of Zeus – the father of the Gods and one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World, was housed in a temple at Olympia – the site of the Ancient Olympics.

4. An Olympiad (a period of 4 years which refers to the time between two games) was used as a measure of years by the Ancient Greeks in much the same way as we now use AD and BC. This idea was devised by the historian Ephorus. Previously, every Greek state used its own different method of time measurement which led to a great deal of confusion.

5. The only event at the first olympics was the Stadion race – a race of around 190 meters (measured after the feet of Zeus). The race was named after the building in which the race took place (the source of the English word “stadium“.

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