Infographic by Karlo C. Amparo

THE MODERN Olympic Games is the foremost international sporting event in the world today. Winning in the Olympics is considered an honor in the athletes’ respective countries, and thus the Olympics is highly anticipated by people across the globe.

With more than 200 participating countries, the Olympics takes place biennially, alternating between the Summer and Winter Olympics. The GUIDON highlights some important Olympic events since 1896 to the recently concluded 2012 games in London.

Infographic by Karlo C. Amparo

Athens 1896

First Modern Olympic Games

All 14 countries—Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA—were represented by men.

Paris 1900

First Olympic Games where women were allowed to compete.

11 women competed in lawn tennis and golf.

1916

Games were cancelled because of World War I.

Antwerp 1920

The Olympic flag and oath were introduced for the first time.

Paris 1924

The Philippines debuted in the Olympic Games. David Nepumuceno was the only athlete who represented the country. He competed in the 100-meter and 200-meter athletics events.

Amsterdam 1928

The Olympic flame was introduced.

Swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso bagged the Philippines’ (and Southeast Asia’s) first medal in the Olympics. He got the bronze in the 200-meter backstroke event.

Los Angeles 1932

The Philippines won three medals, its biggest medal haul, in the Olympics. Jumper Simeon Toribio (men’s high jump), boxer Jose Villanueva (men’s bantamweight) and swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso (200- meter backstroke) each got a bronze.

Berlin 1936

Miguel White of the Philippines finished with a bronze medal in the men’s 400 meter hurdles event.

The Philippine basketball team finished fifth, the best an Asian team has gone so far.

1940–1944

Games were cancelled because of World War II.

London 1948

The Philippine basketball team became the first country to score 100 points in an Olympic basketball game after defeating Iraq, 100-30.

Melbourne 1956

First Olympic Games in the Southern Hemisphere

Tokyo 1964

First Olympic Games held in Asia.

Boxer Anthony Villanueva gave the Philippines its first silver medal (men’s featherweight division) after a 28-year, five-Olympiad medal drought. He is the son of 1932 bronze medalist Jose Villanueva.

Munich 1972

Terrorist attacks threatened the Games as Palestinian group Black September took hostage and later on, killed members of the Israeli Olympic team. Their demand was to release 234 Palestinians held in Israeli jails as well as German Red Army Faction founders Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof who were detained in German prisons.

The Philippines sent 53 athletes, its biggest delegation in the Olympic Games so far.

Also, the Philippines became the first tropical nation to compete in the Winter Olympic Games held earlier that year in Sapporo, Japan.

It was also the last year a Philippine basketball team would compete in the Olympics.

Moscow 1980

The Philippines joined the US-led boycott of the Olympic Games because of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.

Seoul 1988

Boxer Leopoldo Serantes clinched the bronze in the men’s light flyweight division after another 24-year, four-Olympiad medal drought. Boxing, specifically the light flyweight division, gave the Philippines another two medals in the next two Olympic Games.

Filipina Arianne Cerdena won a gold medal in bowling. However, her medal was not official because bowling was still a demonstration sport then.

Barcelona 1992

Every single country with an Olympic Committee participated. A total of 172 countries and 10563 athletes competed.

Boxer Roel Velasco takes the bronze for Team Philippines in the men’s flyweight division.

Atlanta 1996

The modern Olympic Games turned 100 years.

A bomb exploded at the Centennial Olympic Park killing two and wounding 111.

Boxer Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco (men’s flyweight division; younger brother of 1992 bronze medalist Roel Velasco) became the second Filipino silver medalist and the last Filipino medalist to date. The final fight against Bulgarian, Daniel Petrov Bojilov, over the gold medal became very controversial as the results were deemed to have been tampered with. The game ended with scores 19-6 although many believed Velasco was said to have performed fiercely.

Beijing 2008

Due to excessive pollution, Chinese officials halt construction work and enforced 30% emissions reduction for power plants in and around Beijing.

Mongolia wins its first gold medal, making the Philippines the country with the most medals without a single gold.

Infographic by Karlo C. Amparo

SOURCES: london2012.com, olympic.ph, olympic.org, philstar.com, inquirer.net, usatoday.com, Philippine Sports Network on angelfire.com, and wikipedia.org