Olympics: Vancouver 2010 - Ilanaaq

If anyone has been wondering about that big figure made out of stone blocks you see in some of the broadcasts from the Winter Olympics, the following is from the Vancouver Olympics website:

For centuries, the Inuit people of Canada’s Arctic stacked rock in human form to create the inukshuk, a steadfast guidepost that provided direction across the vast horizons of the North. Over time, the inukshuk has become a symbol of hope and friendship, an eternal expression of the hospitality of a nation that warmly welcomes the people of the world with open arms every day.

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games emblem is a contemporary interpretation of the inukshuk. It is called Ilanaaq which is the Inuktitut word for friend. This is the symbol of Canada’s Games – our friend who will help us greet the world in 2010.

Above:  Ilanaaq
Below:  An example of an inukshuk and the 2010 Olympic poster/emblem.

Olympic Facts and Trivia

(The item below is a reprint from 2008 from prior to the Beijing Olympic Games).

The first women's swimming gold medal was won by the Australian Sarah 'Fanny' Durack, who won the 100m freestyle in 1912.

The colours of the rings on the Olympic flag (designed by De Coubertin in 1914) were selected because they appear on the flag of every country in the world.

The last Olympic gold medals that were made entirely out of gold were awarded in 1912. They are now to be covered in 6 grams of gold.

There will be 28 sports at the Beijing games, 302 events are scheduled and 10,708 athletes from around the world will be competing.

The extra 385 yards in the marathon distance of 26 miles and 385 yards (42.2k) was so that the race would finish below the royal box in London 1908.