Olympic firsts
Beijing will mark the first Olympics covered using high-defintion TV technology, and certainly it will be the first Olympics to sell more than 6 million tickets. Other Olympic firsts from the archives:
1896 鈥� Opening of Games by a head of state, King George of Greece
1908 鈥� Parade of nations
1912 鈥� Use of electronic timing devices and PA system
1920 鈥� Olympic flag first flown and Olympic oath sworn
1928 鈥� Lighting of cauldron; track and field events for women
1936 鈥� Torch relay
1948 鈥� Participation by Communist countries
1956 鈥� Boycott (by several countries for different reasons)
1960 鈥� Summer Games covered by US television
1964 鈥� First Asian Olympics (Tokyo)
1968 鈥� First, and only, Central/South American Olympics (Mexico City)
1980 鈥� Athlete wins eight medals at a single Games (Soviet gymnast Aleksandr Dityatin)
1984 鈥� First Games since 1986 staged without government financing
2000 鈥� Australian Aborigine to win gold (sprinter Cathy Freeman)
2004 鈥� More than 200 countries compete
Compiled by Ross Atkin
