The flag used at the Olympic Games has a white background with five interlaced circles representing the five inhabited continents: Africa, America, Asia, Australasia and Europe. Each symbol has a different colour: red, yellow, green, black and blue. But the colours are merely decorative and in no way represent particular continents.
Most of the race competitions involve running but now walking races are also found as Olympic events. Another name for the walking race is heel and toe racing.The rules for walking races are more strict than usual races. No contestant is allowed to break into a run to beat his rivals. The runner should never break the contact with the ground. One foot must always be in touch. The legs must also be held straight as if walking and not be bent as when running. A competitor is entitled to one warning signalled by a white flag. A red flag is a signal of final disqualification for an erring competitor. Action is taken against a competitor after the independent recommendation of three judges, or two judges if one is the chief judge.
Walking races are different than marathon races. In marathon races running is allowed but not in walking races.
The method for race walking is nothing like normal walking. The hips are rolled rhythmically, the legs are pulled or jerked up and down very rapidly and the shoulders and arms are swung in very exaggerated pumping movements. The overall effect is very comical to watch. It is something like a penguin’s waddley yet it enables racers to move upto 16 kilometres per hour.
The walkers are entitled to take refreshments at official refreshment stations if the race exceeds 20 km. Stations are sited at 10 km apart and after 20 km, every 5 km apart. No other unofficial refreshments are allowed for the walkers. Additional sponging points, supplying water only are provided at points after 20 kms.
Events of walking races are very long. In the Olympics the events cover 20 kilometres and 50 kilometre distances. Walk-races present an interesting and entertaining scene to the spectators.
Though, with the rise of pop music in the 1960s, jazz started fading from the public eye yet its contribution to the world of occidental music can never be under-mined. In fact, pop owes much to jazz as a source of its origin. But what is jazz and how did it originate?
Jazz is a kind of music which was first played by the Black American musicians in the 1800s and enjoyed much popularity in the western world till the 1960s. It was greatly influenced by the musical traditions of the black slaves of Southern USA. Their musical traditions mainly consisted of the traditions of their West African ancestors as well as their own distinctive style of spirituals.
In jazz, the players use unexpected rhythm. They can play any notes they like but such changes must fit the music played by the rest of the band. This implies that one or more of the players can create new musical ideas and play them as they go along. These way most jazz musicians express their feelings and ideas which, therefore, permit them to improvise while performing. Jazz players often manage to get a personal tone which distinguishes them from others. ‘Swing’ is another important feature of jazz which means that emphasis is laid on the off-beats in the music.
The earliest jazz was played in New Orleans, USA, but later Chicago became the centre of jazz from where it developed into an international music. Now many new jazz styles have arisen as musicians of different countries have added their own ideas and traditions to the music to create their own variety. Jazz greatly enriched itself through its inherent flexibility and being receptive enough to accommodate new elements.
Among the few outstanding players of jazz of the earlier times, Joe ‘King’ Oliver and Louis Armstrong were well-known.
Ballet is a theatrical form of dance based on a strict technique. The dancing form is very beautiful and precise which, generally, presents an idea or tells a story and is accompanied by music.
The origin of ballet can be traced to a kind of dance which appeared in Italy in the 1400s. But the present form of ballet, as it is danced today, started in France during the 1500s. Ballet was officially recognized as a form of art in France during the reign of King Louis XIV in the 1600s.
In Ballet, a ballerina is a female dancer and the chief female dancer is called the prima ballerina. The person who plans and arranges the dancing is called a choreographer. The whole group of performers is called corps de ballet.
Strict rules and traditions are followed in classical ballet. There are standard positions for the arms, legs and hands, as well as special movements that allow the dance a smooth flow. Classical or traditional ballet is accompanied by orchestras, elaborate scenery and splendid customs. The dancers do not speak a word though the dance itself communicates an idea or tells a story. The performers convey the story through their body movements.
Incorporation of more modern and liberal dance steps have changed the colour of classical ballet as we find in modern ballets of present times. Though the dance originated in Italy and later developed in France, yet Russians are considered to have excelled others in performing this art. Among the most famous ballets composed, ‘Swan Lake’ and ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ by Tchaikovsky are the all time favourites. Ballet has also produced a number of great stars - Anna Pavlova occupies a prominent place among them.
Rigorous training and hard work are necessary to become a good ballet dancer and for this reason some students prefer to learn it at a very young age.
Man has lived in the mountains since prehistoric times. He often used to journey across difficult mountain regions. However, mountaineering became a sport about a hundred years ago. It does not involve any competition among people. Mostly many individuals, making up a party, climb together as a team. They depend upon one another for their protection and safety. It is a challenging sport.
Mountaineers attempt to scale peaks in a convenient group. As they move up the dangerous peaks, they are generally tied together with a rope at a distance of about six metres. They do climb all at once. The leader climbs first and guides the rest. Mountaineers use special equipments for climbing. They wear special climbing boots, the soles of which are made of moulded rubber. It helps them gain a firm foothold on the dry rocks as well as snow. They wear protection suits against cold and wind at higher altitudes. They wear snow goggles for protection against the blinding glare. Each team carries a 40 metre long rope. They also carry things like oxygen cylinders, a compass, ice-axes, karabiners and pitons for different uses.
The earliest recorded rock climbing was made in the British Isles by Sir Robert Moray who climbed the Stac Na Biorrach, St. Kilda (71.9 m 236 ft.) in 1698.
Only about the year 1949 mountaineering became popular as a sport and climbers approached it scientifically. On 29 May, 1953, Tenzing Norgay of India and Edmond Hillary of New Zealand succeeded in scaling Mount Everest for the first time. And within the next five years all the top ten peaks in the world were conquered.
Swimming is the skill of staying afloat (on top of water) and moving through water. Swimming is a healthy exercise, and learning it may help you in times of emergency and crisis.
In ancient times swimming was taught to warriors in Rome, Assyria and Greece. Gradually it became competitive and was included in the 1896 Olympics as a sport. To start with only males could participate in it. From the year 1912, women too were allowed to contest. Today swimming is a very popular sport throughout the world. Many swimming competitions take place on the national and international levels.
There are several styles of swimming. The most efficient way of travelling through water is by a stroke called the ‘crawl’. With this stroke, the body cuts through the shallowest amount of water. The crawl is the fastest of all swimming styles and is used by record-setting champions. The crawl was developed in Australia early in the 20th century from a stroke used by the people of the South Seas.
Other major styles of swimming include the backstroke and the breaststroke. Breaststroke was used in Europe as back as in the 16th century. With these strokes, the body of the swimmers enters more deeply into the water and therefore they are slower.
There are separate races for different strokes and over different distances. The fastest swimmer is declared the winner. Now long distances like the length of a channel or a lake are set for the competitors of swimming competitions.
The Sphinx Stela of Amenhotep II (1450 -1425 B.C) records that he stroked a boat for some three miles.
According to the available records, sometime in 2000 B.C. the Mesopotamians used to hold a kind of boat race on the river Euphrates. A few centuries later, the Egyptians started having rowing competitions on the river Nile. Today, boat racing is a popular sport in the world.
Rowing is divided into two basic types of competition. Regatta events are knocking out competitions, ending with a race between two or more finalists. Head, the other type of the river races, which are not used in international championships, are processional; the boats set off at intervals and the result is decided by their times over the course. Regattas are held over a stretch of river, lake, coast or artificial course while Head races are held over a stretch of river of variable length.
The first boat race of modern times was held in England in 1716. This was organized by an actor called Thomas Doggette. He arranged for a single-sculling race (light racing boat having a single rower) among the Thames ferrymen. This became a popular and regular annual feature. It is called Doggette’s Coat and Badge.
The first boat race at the University level took place between Oxford and Cambridge at Henley on Thames in 1829. This was an eight-oar race, i.e. eight participants rowing one boat. By the late 19th century, rowing as a sport was known in most of the countries. Since the World War II, however, boat racing became a professional and prestigious sport.
In such competitions the number of oarmen in a boat varies. There are eight, four or even two oarmen in one boat. In the eight oar competitions there is also a coxswain (man in charge of a rowing boat and its crew) to steer the boat. In other contests, the boat is steered by connecting the rudder (broad flat piece of wood) to a pivoted pad under one of the oarmen’s feet.
The European and Americans are very good at rowing but now the Chinese too give stiff competition.
The highlight of long distance racing in the Olympics or in any other great athletic meet is the marathon. It gets its name from a legendary run made by a Greek soldier, Pheidippides, in 490 B.C. He raced from the plains of Marathon to Athens to convey the news of a great victory for Athens over an army of invading Persians. The distance he covered was 40 km (25 miles).
In remembrance of the legendary run, in 1896, at the first modern Olympics in Athens, it was decided to stage a long road race. Most of the 16 runners in the first Marathon were Greek, but they were untrained and inexperienced and most of them soon collapsed with exhaustion. The winner, a Greek called Spiros Louis, was finally joined by the Greek royal family who jogged alongside him on the last lap to the finishing line. His victory was a great sensation. The first Boston marathon, the world’s longest-lasting major marathon, was held on 19 April, 1897 for a distance of 39 km (24 miles 132 yds). And the first national marathon championship was that of Norway in 1897.
Since 1924, the marathon has been fixed at 42.195 kilometres (26 miles 385 yds.) This distance was also used for the race at the 1908 Olympic Games, run from Windsor to the White City Stadium – a distance regularly run in about two and a half hours nowadays. However, as marathon courses differ in distance, so the International Amateur Athletic Federation does not list a world record for this event. The marathon race is a fascinating event because neither age nor training seems to play a vital role in winning this race.
Originally the game of Pok-ta-Pok was played in the 10th century BC, by the Olmecs in Mexico and closely resembled the basketball in its concept. ‘Ollamalitzli’ was a variation of this game played by the Aztecs in Mexico as late as the 16th century. If the solid rubber ball was put through a fixed stone ring the player was entitled to the clothing of all the viewers.
Modern basketball which may have been based on the German game Korbball was played for the first time in mid-December 1891. This game was invented by the Canadian born Dr James A. Naismith. He was the physical education instructor at the Training School of the International YMCA College at Springfield in Massachusetts, USA. He was asked to invent a new game to enthuse the students as they were bored with their daily physical education classes.
Naismith used ideas from games such as the Red Indian lacrosse, hockey, football, soccer and blended them with his own ideas and invented basketball. This new game unlike lacrosse did not require a stick. It did not even involve kicking the ball, as in soccer. It involved throwing the ball into the basket hence it was named basketball.
Soon the new game aroused the interest of the bored students at the YMCA. News of the game spread rapidly to other parts of America. During the next ten years it was introduced in Canada, France, Britain, China, India and Japan.
The first goals were two peach-baskets. The iron hoop and net were introduced two years later. Initially people had to climb a ladder to get the ball from the net. But later a hole was made at the bottom of the net so that the ball could drop through.
The game gained popularity after the Second World War. It is played by two teams, each having five players. Its field is rectangular, measuring 92 ft (28 m) in length and 50 ft (15 m) in breadth. Close to the centre of both the smaller sides, two baskets are suspended from two poles at a height of 10 ft (3 m). To score a goal a team has to send the ball through the basket.
The first basketball match, played under modified rules, was on 20th January, 1892. Americans are considered the best players of basketball. The International Amateur Basketball Federation was founded in 1932; it has now dropped the word ‘Amateur’ from the title. It was first included in the Olympic Games in 1936.
The game of polo is considered the oldest game in the world. It was played in Persia (modern Iran) during the 1st century A.D. Some scholars even claim that it was invented by the Persians around 2000 B.C. However, Iran is generally regarded as its originator. From Iran it was carried to Arabia and from there to Tibet. In Tibet, it was called ‘Pulu’. In fact, the word ‘polo’ has been derived from ‘pulu’ which means ‘ball’.
In India polo was introduced by the Mohammedan conquerors in the 13th century. From here it was taken to England in 1860. Nowadays, it is played not only in India but also in Argentina, England, USA, and some other countries of the world. The earliest polo club of modern times was the ‘Cachar Club’ in Assam.
Polo is played with a stick and a ball on horseback. The polo stick is called a ‘mallet’. It is an outdoor game. Its grass-field is 274.32 metres long and 146.3 metres wide. There are lightweight goal posts, 7.3 metres apart at each end. A goal is scored by hitting the ball through these goal posts. Two teams, each having four players play, the game. To be good at this game one has to be an expert horse-rider.
Polo is played in six, seven or eight rounds. These are called ‘chukkers’. The duration of one chukker is 7.5 minutes. After every chukker there is a break.
Polo is an expensive game and only the rich can afford it. Perhaps that’s why it is called the game of the princes.
The first game of elephant polo was played at Jaipur in 1976 which was watched by about 40,000 spectators. In 1978, a camel polo was played at the same venue. Now, people have started playing even cycle polo. The world’s biggest trophy for polo is the Bangalore Limited Handicap Polo Tournament Trophy. It is a cup six feet in height.
Football is one of the most popular games in the world; the best football player may logically be regarded as the most celebrated one. Pele has been one of the best football players of the world. According to a French newspaper, Pele, in an informal poll, was voted to be the best player of the century.Pele was born in a poor family on October 23, 1940 in Brazil. His full name is Edson Arantes Do Nascimento. But people affectionately call him Pele. He is a Negro and thus has earned the name of Black Pearl of football. He is also called ‘King’ of football. Because of his poverty he had to drop out from school in the fourth class. He used to play soccer barefooted with a football made from cotton cloth. Once even he stole peanuts from a goods train to buy a leather football. Later he took up a job with a cobbler on a meagre salary.
At an early age of 11, he came in contact with the famous football instructor Waldimar Do Brito. Under his coaching Pele became an ace football player. When he was only 18, he became a member of the Brazilian Football Team and participated in the world football competition. Because of his skillful play Brazil became world champion in football. Subsequently he took part in the world football competition of 1962, 1966 & 1970.
Wearing the number 10 shirt, that was to become his trade mark, Pele scored 1216 goals in 1254 matches between 7th September 1956 to 2nd October 1974 – a world record for a single soccer player.
Pele has become a legend in his lifetime. Even today he receives more than 300 letters every week, most of which carry just the two-word address, “Pele, Brazil”. Now he has retired from football and established a football academy to train the budding footballers of his country.
Football has enabled Pele to earn a big fortune, but for him the most precious possession is a letter written to him by a blind boy from Columbia. The letter reads: “I have not been able to see any of the thousand goals scored by you. But after I heard that you had scored 999 goals, I constantly prayed to God to enable you to score the 1000th goal”. Pele says that he wept like a child after reading this letter.
Dhyan Chand is most prominent hockey player that India has ever produced. He was called the Hockey Wizard. Whenever he entered the field he always stole the limelight. His game had an electric swiftness in it. Seeing his swift moves and the constant movement of the ball with his stick, the Germans even once suspected that Dhyan Chand’s hockey stick had some magnet in it. The stick was broken and nothing of that sort was found in it. He resumed the play with another stick and went on scoring goals, one after another.
Dhyan Chand was born on 29th August 1905 at Allahabad. He pursued his studies there in a higher secondary school. To support his family, Dhyan Chand joined the Brahmin Regiment of the Indian army as a sepoy. Nobody knows when he developed a liking for hockey. But somehow he was so much infatuated with the game that he started devoting his entire spare time to it. There were no official facilities for training the hockey players during those days. Dhyan Chand had to learn it all on his own.
Dhyan Chand, a player of the Infantry Regiment, was included as a member in the Indian team that visited New Zealand in 1926. India earned the first gold medal in hockey in the Olympic Games played at Amsterdam (Holland) in 1928. Dhyan Chand was a member of this winning team. When the final match was about to be played between India and Holland on 26th May, Dhyan Chand was running very high fever. But as a valiant soldier, he did not shirk his duty. He entered the field like a lion and helped India to register a 3-0 victory by personally scoring two magnificent goals.
In the Olympic hockey in 1932, India earned the gold medal after playing only two matches. In one of these matches India defeated America by 24 goals to 1 which is still an Olympic record. Dhyan Chand alone scored 8 of the 24 goals. In 1935, India played 48 matches against Australia and New Zealand. In these matches Dhyan Chand alone contributed 200 goals out of a total of 584 scored by India. When told of this feat, the great cricket player Donald Bradman remarked: “It appears that the Indian hockey players score goals like cricket runs”.
India once again won the gold medal in the 1936 Olympic hockey and out of the total of 38 goals scored by India, 11 goals were scored by Dhyan Chand alone.
In recognition, the then British government of India promoted him from the rank of a sepoy to that of a naik. When the German dictator Hitler heard of this, he shook hands with Dhyan Chand and told him, “Had you been a resident of my country, I would have made you a Colonel”.
In 1947, when India won freedom, Dhyan Chand was promoted as a Major and was awarded the coveted ‘Padma Bhushan’ in recognition of his services to hockey. On 3 December 1979 this great player of hockey breathed his last.
The people of Japan always keep a keen interest in their old customs and traditions. The case of Japanese sport lovers is no exception. Traditional games of the past awaken their curiosity and enthusiasm. Every traditional sport in Japan has been ritualized. Participants mostly follow a strict code which results in quality and artistic performance of the games.Sumo is one such traditional style of wrestling which is still popular in Japan. It is believed that the sport originated in Japan in the 1st century B.C. This game finds a mention in many Japanese literatures. Originally the objective of the game was to kill the opponent or force him to surrender. But the killing part of the game was eliminated from the rules in the 8th century A.D.
The game, in fact, has been professionally practiced in Japan since the 16th century A.D. Modern sumo wrestlers are stoutly built with well-developed muscles. They are trained by a master wrestler in a traditional training school.
A sumo match takes place in a small circular sand-covered area which is slightly over 15 feet in diameter. The heavily built wrestlers, wearing only elaborate belts and loin clothes grapple each other, making sudden forward movements of their body.
One wrestler tries to force his opponent either to step out of the ring or touch the ground with some part of his body other than the soles of his feet.
The contest seldom lasts for more than two minutes. The contestants devote about six minutes to some proceedings before the game that include the rituals of squatting up, scattering purified salt etc. The wrestlers approach each other several times only to be waved back by a gesture of the referee who is generally bearded and clad in a tinted robe, wearing an ancient court hat. The wrestlers fight barefoot and their hairs are long and tied up in a traditional knot. The more the weight of the wrestler, the better the advantages for him in the competition. Weight is amassed by over-eating with a high protein stew called chankonabe.
Kuramac Kokngikan arena of Tokyo is famous for sumo wrestling. Another interesting fact is that in 858 A.D., the two sons of the then emperor of Japan wrestled for the throne. These days it is attaining increasing popularity.
Man has been fond of competition and races since ancient times. In the Middle Ages, he used to participate in horse and chariot races. Later, he got bicycle as an excellent vehicle for racing. Then came the development of motor cars which generated tremendous speed and thrill in such competitions.The first motor race of the world was held at 8 a.m. on July 22, 1894. Twenty-one cars participated in this race from Paris to Rouen. But this was only an exhibition race. A real race first took place on June 11, 1895 from Paris to Bordeaux, covering a distance of 1,178 km. Later, most of the races were held in circular tracks.
The oldest motor race of the world first took place on September 14, 1905. This was conducted for awarding the R.A.C. Tourist Trophy. The first inter-continental motor race was held in Sicily on May 9, 1906. The Grand Prix motor race was held on June 26-27, 1906 in France.
The fastest motor race of the world was held on February 8, 1964 in the US. In this race Richard Peri of North Carolina covered a distance of 80km in 17 minutes 27 seconds, averaging a fantastic speed of 275 km per hour. Francois Lecket of France established an interesting record of covering a distance of 4,00,000 kilometres by driving for 363 days out of 370 days from the 22nd July 1935 to 26th July 1936. Eight persons of France drove a distance of 1, 85,353 miles and 1741 yards in a period of 133 days, 17 hours, 37 minutes and 38.6 seconds between March to July 1933, thus averaging a speed of about 93 km per hour.
Juan Manual Fangio, born on June 24, 1911 in Argentina is known to be the most successful motor racer of the world. He had won twenty-four races by 1958 when he finally retired.
There are many advantages of participating in motor races. While participants receive instant fame around the world, they also get fabulous prize money on winning these races. The biggest advantage is reaped by the motor company whose car comes first in the race as it gets highly publicized.
As you know, Olympic Games are played after every four years and almost all the countries of the world participate in them. The history of Olympic Games is very old. Although much information about them is not available, it is certain that the first Olympics were played in the year 776 B.C. at a place named Olympia in south-east Greece from where they take their name. The first Olympic Games were played for five days and were witnessed by many people of Greece.In the beginning, only the Greek players took part in these games. At that time, these games were treated as a religious festival. They were played as a mark of honour for Zeus, the chief god of the Greeks. Every player would worship at the temple of Zeus before taking part in the competition. The winner of game used to be given a branch of an olive tree which was planted in the courtyard of the temple. During those days, women did not participate in the games. So much so that they could not even see the games as spectators.
The Olympic Games continued for almost 1100 years, but in the year 393 A.D. King Theodosius of Rome, put a ban on the Olympic Games after capturing Greece. This ban continued for 1465 years. After this, in 1859, Japas of Greece organized four Olympic Games in the years 1859, 1870, 1875 and 1989. But after his death, these games were again interrupted.
A French teacher named Baron Pierre de Coubertin started the old Olympic Games once again in 1896. These games were played in Athens, the capital of Greece. 311 players hailing from 13 countries took part in them, 230 of them were from Greece alone.