Athens 1896 suffered from lack of exposure

When the first Olympics of the Modern era were held, at Athens in 1896, they were officially covered by only seven photographers taking less than 100 pictures in total. By comparison, photographers working for Getty Images at Rio 2016 took 1.5 million pictures alone. Five Greek, one American and one German photographer were commissioned to record the photographically at Athens 1896. The most important among them was the German Albert Meyer, who was superior to the other photographers both technically and aesthetically. At least 56 pictures were taken by him, the most famous of which was of the marathon winner Spyridon Louis. Meyer died penniless in 1923 after losing his fortune in the German hyperinflation crisis.

Hockey removed from Olympic programme for Paris 1924 before restructuring

Hockey was removed from the Olympic programme at the 1924 Paris Games due to the lack of an international sporting structure. The International Hockey Federation was founded that year as a response to the omission. Men's hockey was readmitted for Amsterdam 1928 and has appeared on the programme ever since. The sport suffered a scare following London 2012, however, when it was one of several sports considered for exclusion by the International Olympic Committee's ruling Executive Board. In the end, they recommended wrestling be dropped after Rio 2016 before a determined campaign saw the sport saved. 

Form book thrown out of the window when table tennis made its Olympic debut

When table tennis made its debut in the Olympics at Seoul in 1988 the men's competition was notable for the fact that none of the top five seeded players made it to the semi-finals. Among those defeated in the quarter-finals was two-time world champion Jiang Jialiang, one of China's biggest sports stars at the time, who was defeated in four games by tenth-ranked Erik Lindh from Sweden. The shock defeats for the top players meant that the final was an all-South Korean affair between Yoo Nam-Kyu and Kim Ki-Taik. Yoo triumphed in four games. Lindh, meanwhile, won the bronze medal. Yoo also won a bronze medal at Seoul 1988 in the men's doubles. Four years later he won the bronze medal in the men's doubles together with Kim and at Atlanta 1996 he claimed another bronze medal in the men's doubles, this time together with Lee Chul-seung.