Olympics

On July 17, 1976, Queen Elizabeth II presided over the opening ceremonies of the Games of the XXI Olympiad in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. These were the first and only Summer Olympics held in Canada.

Olympic swimmer Helene Emma Madison was born on June 19, 1913, in Madison, Wisconsin.  “Queen Helene” won three gold medals at the 1932 Summer Olympics and broke multiple world records.

Jim Thorpe said he was born on May 28, 1888, in Indian Territory. A world renowned athlete, he helped popularize football in the United States and was the first athlete to win both the decathlon and the pentathlon at the 1912 Olympics.

Edward Patrick Francis Eagan was born on April 26, 1897, in Denver, Colorado.  He’s the only person in Olympic history to win gold medals in both Summer and Winter sports.

On March 11, 1980, the USPS removed all the stamps it had issued for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Moscow from sale as part of an American boycott of the games.  According the USPS, this was the first time they removed stamps from sale for political reasons since the Civil War.

On January 25, 1932, the US Post Office Department issued its first stamp honoring the Olympic Games.  Those games were the first to be held in the US.

Raymond “Ray” Clarence Ewry was born on October 14, 1873, in Lafayette, Indiana.  An eight-time gold medal winner, Ewry was one of the most successful Olympians of all time.

On August 26, 1972, the Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, opened in Munich, West Germany.  The first games held in Germany since 1936, they were overshadowed by the “Munich Massacre.”

On July 30, 1932, the Games of the X Olympiad opened in Los Angeles, California. The games’s opening ceremonies were the largest up to that time, breaking the previous attendance record by 25,000.