Margaret Abbott was the first American woman to win an Olympic event when she won the women's golf tournament at Paris in 1900

Margaret Abbott was the first American woman to win an Olympic event when she won the women's golf tournament at Paris in 1900. Abbott won a porcelain bowl for her first place as these were the only Games where the winners received valuable artifacts instead of medals. Historical research did not establish that the game was on the Olympic programme until after Abbott's death at the age of 78 in 1955, so she herself never knew it. Abbott had traveled to Paris to study art under Edgar Degas and Auguste Rodin. Her mother, Mary Perkins Ives Abbott, a novelist and Chicago Tribune book reviewer, also competed in the event, finishing equal seventh, making it the first - and still only - Olympic event in which a mother and daughter competed at the same time.

Los Angeles were the only bid for the 1984 Summer Olympics following the withdrawal of Tehran before the final selection in 1978

Los Angeles were the only bidders for the 1984 Summer Olympics following the withdrawal of Tehran before the final selection in 1978. Los Angeles had unsuccessfully bid for the two previous Summer Olympics, in 1976 and 1980, awarded to Montreal and Moscow respectively. The United States Olympic Committee had at least one bid for every Olympics since 1944, but had not succeeded since the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932, the previous time there had been a single city in the race. Los Angeles is bidding to host the 2024 Olympics and will follow London as the only city to stage them three times if they are successful when the International Olympic Committee votes at its Session in Lima in 2017.