Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Special Olympics: see Shriver, Eunice Mary Kennedy. ...

(Encyclopedia) Olympic Mountains, highest part of the Coast Ranges, on the Olympic Peninsula, NW Wash. Mt. Olympus (7,965 ft/2,427 m) is the highest point in the mountains, which are composed mainly of sedimentary r...

(Encyclopedia) Seven Wise Men of Greece, list of men drawn from among the outstanding politicians and political philosophers of ancient Greece. Although such listings differed widely, a usual one included Bias, Chil...

(Encyclopedia) Olympic elk: see wapiti.

(Encyclopedia) Phelps, Michael Fred, 1985–, American swimmer, b. Baltimore. One of the world's greatest competitive swimmers, Phelps became (2001) the youngest world record holder (in the 200-m butterfly) at 15 an...

(Encyclopedia) Larissa läˈrēsä [key], city (1991 pop. 113,090), capital of Larissa prefecture, E Greece, in Thessaly on the Piniós River. It is an agricultural trade center and a transportation hub, linked by r...

(Encyclopedia) Brundage, Avery āˈvərē brŭnˈdĭj [key], 1887–1975, American sports executive, b. Detroit, Mich. A member of the 1912 U.S. Olympic track and field team, he became a leader of the Olympic moveme...

(Encyclopedia) marathon race, long-distance foot race deriving its name from Marathon, Greece. According to legend, in 490 b.c., Pheidippides, a runner from Marathon, carried news of victory over the Persians to Ath...

(Encyclopedia) Bach, Thomas, 1953–, German sports executive, b. Würzberg. A lawyer and businessman, he won a gold medal in team fencing representing West Germany in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Bach served as pres...

(Encyclopedia) Elis ēˈlĭs [key], region of ancient Greece, in W Peloponnesus, W of Arcadia. It was divided into three parts—Elis proper, Pisatis, and Triphylia. A plain watered by the Alpheus and the Peneus riv...