69 Days

At the 1932 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, only 24 members of Brazil's Olympic team out of 69 were able to compete. Brazil was so poor due to the Great Depression that the only way they could get the team to Los Angeles was to send them on a barge with 25 tons of coffee to sell to ports on the way. At the time, there was a $1 head tax per person to enter the U.S. and a $2 athlete entry fee for the Olympics. The hope was that the profits from selling the coffee at ports along the way would be enough for all 69 athletes. Unfortunately, they were able to sell only $24 worth of coffee by the time they reached L.A. The Brazilian Olympic team then pleaded their case to the Brazilian consulate in San Francisco, which sent a check written out for the equivalent of 45 American dollars. Yet again, the athletes were hit with bad luck, and in the time it took for the check to get from San Francisco to Los Angeles, Brazil's currency devalued and the check was worth only $17 when it arrived. What's more, the check then bounced. Here's hoping that Brazil will be able to make up for that fiasco when the Summer Olympics come to Rio in 2016.

When softball and baseball were dropped from the 2012 Olympics in 2005, they became the first sports in 69 years (counting back from 2008 - the last time it would be played) to be dropped from the Olympics. Before that, Polo was cut after the 1939 Olympics. More recently, softball and baseball were also voted out of the 2016 Games in Rio.