A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words pente (five) and -athlon (competition). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Ancient Olympic Games. Five events were contested over one day for the Ancient Olympic pentathlon, starting with the long jump, javelin throwing, and discus throwing, followed by the stadion and wrestling. Pentathletes were considered to be among the most skilled athletes, and their training was often part of military service—each of the five events in the pentathlon was thought to be useful in war or battle.
Swimming has been a sport at every modern Summer Olympics. It has been open to women since 1912. Swimming has the second-highest number of Olympic medal contested events after athletics.
Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully assess that this is maintained throughout the race. Typically held on either roads or running tracks, common distances range from 3,000 metres (1.9 mi) up to 100 kilometres (62.1 mi).
The men's points race in cycling at the 2004 Summer Olympics consisted of a 160 lap points race with 16 sprints where points were awarded. The event was held on 24 August 2004 at the Athens Olympic Velodrome. There were 23 competitors from 23 nations, with each nation limited to one cyclist in the event. The event was won by Mikhail Ignatiev of Russia, the nation's first victory in the men's points race. Spain's Joan Llaneras, the defending champion, took silver; he was the first and only person to win multiple medals in the relatively short-lived points race, and ended with three medals after another gold in 2008. Guido Fulst of Germany took bronze, the first medal in the event for that nation since 1900.
Cycling competitions at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics were held from August 9 to August 23 at the Laoshan Velodrome, Laoshan Mountain Bike Course, Laoshan BMX Field and the Beijing Cycling Road Course.
The men's points race was an event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, for which the final was held on August 3, 1984. There were 43 participants from 25 nations. Each nation was limited to 2 cyclists. 24 cyclists competed in the final after two semifinals. The event was won by Roger Ilegems of Belgium, with Uwe Messerschmidt taking silver and José Youshimatz of Mexico bronze. It was the first medal in the event for each nation, none of which had competed in the previous edition in 1900.
The men's points race was an event at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, for which the final was held on 24 September 1988. There were 34 participants from 34 nations, with 24 cyclists competing in the final. Each nation was limited to 1 cyclist in the event. The event was won by Dan Frost of Denmark, with Leo Peelen of the Netherlands taking silver and Marat Ganeyev of the Soviet Union bronze. It was the first medal in the men's points race for each of the three nations.
The men's points race was an event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. There were 28 participants from 28 nations, with 24 cyclists completing the final, which was held on July 28, 1996. Each nation was limited to one cyclist in the event. The event was won by Silvio Martinello of Italy, the nation's second consecutive and third overall victory in the men's points race. Silver went to Brian Walton of Canada and bronze to Stuart O'Grady of Australia; it was the first medal in the event for both nations.
The men's points race was an event at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. There were 23 participants from 23 nations competing in the final, which was held on 20 September 2000. Each nation was limited to one cyclist in the event. The event was won by Joan Llaneras of Spain, the nation's first medal in the men's points race. Silver went to Milton Wynants of Uruguay and bronze to Aleksei Markov of Russia; those nations also earned their first medals in the event.
A total of 433 competitors competed for Australia at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The team was Australia's second largest away team after the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, which included a team of 482 competitors. Australian athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games of the modern era.
Italy competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China. The country sent a delegation of 344 athletes to compete.
An omnium is a multiple race event in track cycling. Historically the omnium has had a variety of formats. In recent years, road racing has also adopted the term to describe multi-day races that feature the three primary road race events.
Ireland competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China. It was the 19th Summer Games that Ireland contested as a nation under the Olympic Council of Ireland.
China was the host nation of the 2008 Summer Olympics. China was represented by the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC), and the team of selected athletes were officially known as Team China.
The Russian Federation competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China, represented by the Russian Olympic Committee. Russia competed in all sports except baseball, field hockey, football, softball, and taekwondo. They ranked third in the medal table by golds (24) and overall (60). Russia also had 14 medals stripped for doping violations, the most of any nation at the 2008 Olympics.
Bulgaria was represented by 72 athletes at the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Greece competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. They were represented by the Hellenic Olympic Committee, which announced on July 28, 2008, the 156 Greek athletes to compete in Beijing, composed of 84 men and 72 women, the largest Greek Olympic team ever excluding the home team of the Athens 2004 Olympics. Greece took part in archery, athletics, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, diving, gymnastics, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, synchronized swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, beach volleyball, water polo, weightlifting and wrestling.
Hungary competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The country sent 131 individual competitors plus the men's and women's water polo teams and the women's handball team for a total of 171 athletes taking part in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Hungary's gold medal count of 3 was the lowest in the nation's Summer Olympic history since the 1924 Paris Summer Olympics. Its total medal count of 10 was the lowest since the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam.
Peru competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics which was held in Beijing, People's Republic of China from August 8 to August 24, 2008. The country was represented by at least twelve athletes, who competed in the fields of athletics, badminton, swimming, taekwondo, shooting, wrestling, judo and fencing.
The men's points race at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on August 16 at the Laoshan Velodrome. There were 23 competitors from 23 nations. The event was won by Joan Llaneras of Spain, his second victory in the points race and third consecutive medal in the event. Llaneras was the only person, of any gender, to win multiple medals in the points race, which is no longer on the Olympic programme. His two gold medals made Spain only the second nation to win multiple golds in the men's event; Italy had three. Silver went to Roger Kluge of Germany. Great Britain earned its first medal in the men's points race with Chris Newton's bronze.
Joan Llaneras (ESP)
Marianne Vos (NED)
