If you searched the entire world — distributing surveys, conducting focus groups, and taking polls over the phone — I highly doubt you could find a greater fan of the Olympics than I.

Oh, you might find a few who come close. Maybe even equal. But surpass? Unlikely.

I’ve hardly missed an Olympic moment — Summer or Winter — since 1992’s Barcelona games when I was 10. Those two weeks seemed to last forever as I sat glued to our family’s television, mesmerized by the performance of U.S. gymnast Shannon Miller. As the decades have passed, my fascination with the Olympics and my dedication to following them have continued. In high school, I scheduled summer babysitting jobs around the Olympic schedule, at one point forcing the children I was watching to endure the opening ceremonies. In college, I skipped class at the beginning of the semester (something I never did) to catch the U.S. Women’s Soccer team capture the gold in Athens. As I entered the working world, I stayed up until the early morning hours catching every minute of coverage possible before stumbling into work the next morning bleary-eyed and incoherent.

But although I may have witnessed an almost disturbingly high number of Olympic moments in my lifetime, not even I know everything about the history of the Games and their significance worldwide.

So, in honor of this summer’s Olympic games in London, I thought I would share these ten fun Olympic facts to help boost your knowledge of the Olympics, as well as my own.

Did you know …

1.) The first of the modern-day Olympic games were held in 1896 in Athens, Greece (seems fitting).
Greece also took home the most medals at these games. Home field advantage.

2.) The five Olympic rings represent each of the five major regions of the world — the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
The rings are inter-connected to symbolize friendship and unity to be gained through such competitions. In addition, the colors of the rings, blue, yellow, black, green, red, were chosen as the flag of each nation in the world contains at least one of these colors.

3.) The 1960 Summer Games in Rome were the first to be televised in the United States.
Although CBS had the honors that year, the contract now belongs to NBC through 2020.

4.) The Olympics has never been hosted on the continents of Africa, Antarctica (understandable), or South America.
This will change in 2016 when the Summer Games come to Rio de Janeiro.

5.) The first Winter Games were held in Chamonix, France in 1924.
I had no idea they went back that far. Impressive.

6.) The Summer and Winter Games were held in the same year every four years until 1994, when the decision was made to hold them two years apart from each other, but each respective season would still only be competed every four years.
This makes Olympic maniacs like me very happy.

7.) The Olympics were a religious event for the ancient Greeks.
They also competed in the nude. I’m not sure if the two were related.

8.) The practice of the Olympic flame dates back to the ancient Greeks as well.
The flame was ignited by the sun (that must have been cool) and continued to burn throughout the games, as it does today. It symbolizes perseverance and the striving for perfection, among other things.

9.) Olympic gold medals were made of real gold until 1912.
After that, they discontinued the practice because too many athletes had their medals stolen. Just kidding, I don’t know why it was discontinued, but I can imagine they were getting quite pricy to produce.

10.) The Marathon is competed in honor of the ancient Greek Pheidippides.
In 490 BC, he ran from Marathon to Athens to inform the Athenians of their success in the battle against the Persians. After delivering his message, he collapsed and died. And now everyone wants to run one!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief Olympic history lesson. Here’s to a fantastic two weeks of Olympic magic in London!

What fun Olympic trivia can you share?