Olympics

Hello everyone, well this week I have been mainly gauging peoples reactions to the London 2012 Olympics Logo, seen here:

It sure is a peculiar design, can’t say I am a fan myself, in fact I would go so far that it is a controversial choice! However not as controversial as these.

11 Olympic Shaped Controversies

1. CRUISING TO THE FINISH LINE (1904 marathon)

The first runner to enter the Olympic stadium at the end of the 1904 marathon was Fred Lorz of New York. He was hailed as the winner, photographed with the daughter of the President of the United States, and was about to be awarded the gold medal when it was discovered that he had stopped running after nine miles and hitched a ride in a car for eleven miles before returning to the course. Lorz was disqualified and the victory was given to Thomas Hicks. Although this was only the third Olympic marathon, Lorz was not the first person to cheat in this way. In the inaugural marathon in 1896, Spiridon Belokas of Greece crossed the finish line in third place, but was disqualified when it was discovered that he had ridden part of the way in a carriage.

2. WITH TOO MUCH HELP FROM HIS FRIENDS (1908 marathon)

Italian Dorando Pietri was the first marathon runner to enter the stadium in London in 1908. However, Pietri was dazed and headed in the wrong direction. Track officials pointed him the right way. But then he collapsed on the track. He rose, but collapsed again . . . and again, and again. Finally the officials, fearful that 'he might die in the very presence of the Queen', carried him across the finish line. This aid led to his disqualification and the gold medal went to John Hayes of the United States.

3. CHAMPION WITH A DARK SECRET (1932 and 1936 women's 100 meters)

Competing for Poland, Stella Walsh won the 100 meters in 1932, equalling the world record three times in the process. Four years later, at the Berlin Olympics, Walsh was beaten into second place by American Helen Stephens. A Polish journalist accused Stephens of being a man in disguise. German officials examined her and issued a statement that Stephens was definitely a woman. Forty-four years later, in 1980, Walsh, by then an American citizen living in Cleveland, was shot to death when she stumbled into the middle of a robbery attempt at a discount store. An autopsy concluded that although Helen Stephens may not have had male sexual organs, Stella Walsh did. All the while that Walsh was winning medals and setting records in women's events, she was, by today's rules, a man.

4. CLOCK VS EYES (1960 100-metre freestyle)

Swimmer Lance Larson of the United States appeared to edge John Devitt of Australia for first place in the 1960 100-metre freestyle. Devitt congratulated Larson and left the pool in disappointment. Larson's official time was 55.1 seconds and Devitt's was 55.2 seconds. Of the three judges assigned the task of determining who finished first, two voted for Larson. However, the three second place judges also voted 2-1 for Larson. In other words, of the six judges, three thought Larson had won and three thought Devitt had won. The chief judge gave the victory to Devitt and four years of protests failed to change the results.

John Devitt, right – Lance Larson, Left – Can’t find a photo without a big stamping!

5. THE FOG OF WAR (1968 slalom)

French skier Jean-Claude Killy, competing at home in Grenoble, had already won two gold medals and only needed to win the slalom to complete a sweep of the men's Alpine events. Killy's main challenge was expected to come from Karl Schranz of Austria. But something curious happened as Schranz sped through the fog. According to Schranz, a mysterious figure in black crossed the course in front of him. Schranz skidded to a halt and demanded a rerun. His request was granted and Schranz beat Killy's time and was declared the winner. But two hours later, it was announced that Schranz had been disqualified because he had missed two gates before his encounter with the mysterious interloper. At a four-hour meeting of the Jury of Appeal, the Austrians said that if Schranz missed a gate or two it was because a French soldier or policeman had purposely interfered with him. The French claimed that Schranz had made up the whole story to cover up the fact that he had missed a gate. The Jury voted 3-1 for Killy with one abstention.

Disqualified Karl SCHRANZ of Austria is consoled by his French rival Jean-Claude KILLY, winner of the event.

6. EXTRA SHOT (1972 basketball)

Since basketball was first included in the Olympic program in 1936, teams from the United Stated had gone undefeated, winning 62 straight games over a 36-year period . . . until the 1972 final against the USSR. In an era before professionals were allowed in the Olympics, and with most of the best American college players taking a pass, the US team was hard-pressed against the seasoned veterans of the Soviet squad. The Americans trailed throughout and did not take their first lead, 50-49, until there were three seconds left in the game. Two seconds later, the head referee, noting a disturbance at the scorer's table called an administrative time-out. The officials in charge had failed to notice that the Soviet coach, Vladimir Kondrashkin, had called a time-out. With one second on the clock, the USSR was awarded its time-out. When play resumed, they inbounded the ball and time ran out. The US players began a joyous celebration, but then R. William Jones, the British secretary general of the International Amateur Basketball Federation, ordered the clock set back to three seconds, the amount of time remaining when Kondrashkin originally tried to call time-out. Ivan Edeshko threw a long pass to Sasha Belov, who scored the winning basket. The US filed a protest, which was heard by a five-man Jury of Appeal. Three members of the jury were from Communist countries, and all three voted to give the victory to the USSR. With the final vote 3-2, the United States lost an Olympic basketball game for the first time.

Russian Aleksander Belov scores the controversial winning basket in 1972.

7. WIRED FOR VICTORY (1976 team modern pentathlon)

The favoured team from the USSR was fencing against the team from Great Britain when the British pentathletes noticed something odd about Soviet Army Major Borys Onyshchenko. Twice the automatic light registered a hit for Onyshchenko even though he had not touched his opponent. Onyshchenko's sword was taken away to be examined by the Jury of Appeal. An hour later, Onyshchenko was disqualified. Evidently, he had wired his sword with a wellhidden push-button circuit breaker that enabled him to register a hit whenever he wanted. He was forever after known as Borys Dis-Onyshchenko.

8. THE UNBEATABLE PARK SI-HUN (1988 light middleweight boxing)

The 1988 Summer Olympics were held in Seoul, South Korea, and the Koreans were determined to win gold medals in boxing, one of their strongest sports. This determination turned excessive in the case of light middleweight Park Si-Hun. Park made it to the final with a string of four controversial victories, including one in which he disabled his opponent with a low blow to the kidney. In the final, Park faced a slick, 19-year-old American named Roy Jones, Jr. Jones dominated all three rounds, landing 86 punches to Park's 32. Yet three of the five judges awarded the decision to Park, who won the gold medal. Park himself apologised to Jones. Accusations of bribery lingered for years and it was not until 1997 that an inquiry by the International Olympic Committee concluded that no bribe had occurred.

9. SCORING SCANDAL SYNCH SWIMMER (1992 solo synchronised swimming)

The two leading synchronised swimmers were Sylvie Fréchette of Canada and Kristen Babb-Sprague of the United States. The competition included a round of figures that counted for 50% of the final score. Fréchette, who was strong in figures, hoped to pick up points to offset the gains that Babb-Sprague was expected to make with her free routine. But one of the five judges, Ana Maria da Silviera of Brazil gave Fréchette's albatross spin up 180° the unusually low score of 8.7. She immediately tried to change the score, claiming she had pushed the wrong button. But before the referee could be notified, the judges' scores were displayed and, according to the rules, that meant they could not be changed. When the free routine was completed the next day, it turned out that da Silviera's low score provided the margin of victory that gave the gold medal to Babb-Sprague. Fourteen months later, the International Swimming Federation awarded Fréchette a belated gold medal, while allowing Babb-Sprague to retain hers.

10. IMPAIRED JUDGMENT (2002 pairs figure skating)

The sport of figure skating has a long history of judging controversies; however the problem reached a head at the Salt Lake City Olympics. Russian skaters had won ten straight Olympic championships in the pairs event. In 2002, Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze were in first place after the short program, with Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada in second. In the free skate, the Russians made a series of technical errors, while the Canadians skated a clean programme. Nonetheless, the judges voted 5-4 to award the gold medals to Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze. The ensuing outrage expressed by the North American media was so great and so prolonged that the International Olympic Committee pressured the International Skating Union into giving a second set of gold medals to Sale and Pelletier. Subsequent investigations revealed behind-the-scenes deals among judges and even possible involvement of organised crime figures. Lost in the uproar was the possibility that the five judges who voted for the Russian pair simply preferred their traditional balletic style, while considering the exuberance of Sale and Pelletier's performance to be glitzy and too 'Hollywood'.

11. 1994: Tonya Harding vs. Nancy Kerrigan

It was a story that brought the 1994 Games attention like no other. On 6 January 1994, top US skater Nancy Kerrigan was assaulted at the US National Championships in Detroit.

Her attacker, Shane Stant, clubbed her right knee with a metal baton after a practice session. Then it sensationally emerged the assault was a conspiracy hatched by Jeff Gillooly, the former husband of Kerrigan's ice dance rival Tonya Harding.

The US Figure Skating Association (USFSA) then stripped Harding of her title and banned her for life for hindering an inquiry into the incident. That ruled her out of the Olympics and also meant she was unable to compete for the US in any International Skating Union sanctioned event - including the World Championships.

However, she won a legal battle allowing her to compete at the Winter Games.

Meanwhile, Kerrigan was unable to compete in the nationals, but she recovered to earn a place in the Olympic team at Lillehammer, Norway. Because they were in the same team, the pair had to practice on the rink at the same time. The scene was distinctly frosty.

As the tension grew, the battle to be figure skating queen captured the world's imagination and drew one of the biggest ever audiences for a sporting event on American television.

Harding performed poorly at Lillehammer, sobbing to officials during one performance over a problem with her skate.

Kerrigan claimed silver, finishing second to Oksana Baiul of Ukraine by a 5-4 judges' vote.

REMEMBER KIDS IF YOU’VE GOT TO WIN, BE CAREFUL!

Till Next Time – Keep It Factual

Fact Cow

Caves

As a MooSpacer told me the other day, if yoyu haven’t heard of Fact Cow yet you must have been living in a cave! So with this in mind, I have a cave full of facts.

For starters some basics

The terms cave and cavern are not always precisely used. A cave is a natural underground cavity. A cavern is a connected system of caves and passages. Caves and caverns are often found in the sides of cliffs and hills.

Speleology, one of the newest of the sciences, is the study of caves. One who studies Speleology is known as a speleologist (from the Greek words "spelaion," meaning cave, and "logos," meaning study). A person who explores caves or caverns is known as a spelunker. Spelunking is the act of exploring a cave or cavern.

Largest Bat Cave Population

With a population of around 20 million, Bracken Cave is home to the largest bat population in the world. For over 10,000 years, pregnant Mexican free-tailed bats (tadarida brasiliensis) have been migrating north to this cave just 20 miles from downtown San Antonio, Texas to use this spot as their hatchery.

Grotte De Lascaux

Contains the oldest comic strip of the world, 19,000 years old. The story of the depicted hunts goes from the left to the right, until the prey is captured. These pictures were obviously used to tell stories.

http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/fr/

Caves With Tall Entrances

Gruta Casa de Pedra, Brazil (House of Rock) in Brazil has an entrance which is 215m high.

Gua Payau (Deer Cave), Gunung Mulu Park, Sarawak, Malaysia has the world's largest cave entrance, 100m wide and 120m high, and the largest single cave passage in the world, also about 120 - 150m wide and high.

Porth yr Ogof, Wales, Great Britain.

Porth yr Ogof is the largest cave entrance in Wales and one of the largest anywhere in the United Kingdom. It is nearly 20m wide and some 3m high.

Smoo Cave, Great Britain.

Smoo Cave has the largest entrance of any sea cave in the British Isles. The huge entrance, 33m wide and 16m high, leads into the first chamber which is more than 60m long and 40m wide.

Peak Cavern, Great Britain.

The entrance of Peak Cavern (The Devil's Arse), Castleton, Derbyshire, is the largest cave entrance in the British Isles. It is 15m high and 30m wide.

Cathedral Caverns, AL, USA.

Claims to have the widest entrance of any commercial cave in the world, which is 24m high by 37m wide.

If You Are Going To Visit A Cave – Try These For Size

From the Flintstones to hardy adventurers, people have been suckers for a great cave for centuries. But if you’re planning to get back in touch with your inner Stone Age soul, where are the best places to go across the world? Here are some of the most spectacular.

Sarawak Chamber, Malaysia

If size of cave was a status symbol, then only a Stone Age King would be able to claim the Sarawak Chamber. Discovered only in 1981, this huge cavern on the island of Borneo is the biggest in the world, and is part of an extensive cave system. To get some idea of scale, it takes an hour for even experienced cavers to get from end to end, and headlamps usually aren’t strong enough for them to see the walls.

In terms of what could fit in it, then think St Peter’s Basilica in Rome or a decent collection of jumbo jets.

Bruce’s Cave, Scotland

This is thought to be the place that inspired a legend. The story goes that Robert The Bruce, King of Scotland way back in the early 14th century, retreated to it after a series of crushing military defeats.

With the hated English well on top, Robert had considered giving in. It was then that he saw a spider repeatedly trying to spin a web over the entrance of the cave, and he realised that perseverance would bring rewards. So he left the cave, probably breaking the poor spider’s web again on the way out, and began to wage a successful guerrilla war against the English.

The Jenolan Caves, New South Wales, Australia

Recent tests made in the popular Blue Mountains attraction uncovered some startling information. It seems as though the Jenolan Caves (www.jenolancaves.org.au) are way older than anyone first thought. In fact, at 340 million years old they are the oldest caves on the planet, and by quite a distance.

They’re historic in more than one sense though; Jenolan was Australia’s first proper tourist attraction, whilst Chifley Cave was the first to get electric lighting, back in the 19th century.

Waitomo Caves, New Zealand

If it’s not about the statistics or the decoration, but the fun factor, then Waitomo on New Zealand’s North Island is the place to head to. Here an underground river cuts through a series of caves, and this has led some enterprising souls to develop the sport of black water rafting.

To put it simply, it’s about grabbing the sort of inner tube that you’d get from a truck tyre, and sitting on it as the river current takes you downstream. Over the three hour (or five hour, if you go more the more adventurous option) trip you’ll undoubtedly get cold and wet, but it’s fantastic entertainment. The highlight, though, is turning the lights off and navigating your way underground courtesy of the thousands of glow worms on the roof and walls.

Jeita Grotto, Lebanon

Having a cave without decoration is a bit like having a palace with no furniture, but that’s certainly not an accusation that can be levelled at Jeita’s magnificent efforts.

Just north of Beirut, the first of the caves was discovered here in 1836 and more have been uncovered since, gaining fame for the sheer array of colour and shapes in there. The two biggest drawcards are the Red Chamber, which has eerie colouration due to iron oxide on the rocks, and the White Chamber. This is home to one of the world’s biggest stalactites, an 8.2m monster that hangs down from the ceiling.

Some Cave Records

Tallest stalagmite, 67.2 meters, Cueva San Martin Infierno, Cuba

Note the caver in red on the left side of the formation.

Longest free-hanging stalactite, 12 meters, Sistema Chac Mol, Mexico (underwater cave)

Longest column, 61.5 meters, Tham Sao Hin, Thailand

For scale, note a caver at the base of the column in blue jacket, another sitting in the foreground, and another high on the slope to the right of the column.

Largest Cave: it seems the term largest cave is not easy to understand. In speleology it means the total length of a cave. What Guiness means is the largest single chamber, and their candidate is Sarawak Chamber. It is 700m long and 70m high with an average width of 300m.

Longest Lava Cave: As Guinness reports, Kazumura Cave Hawai'i, U.S.A, is the longest and deepest lava tube on Earth.

Deepest Pothole: Vrtiglavica in Slowenia.

Biggest Underground Lake: Is located in the Drachenhauchloch near Grootfontein in Namibia. The lake has an area of 2,61 ha, is 66m below the surface and the lake is 84m deep. This cave was dicovered in 1986.

Famous Discoveries

Lascaux

Four boys, about ten years old, and their dog, always played in the little forest on the Lascaux hill. One day the dog hunted an animal into a foxhole. The boys thought he would come out after some time, but the dog was lost. So they widened the hole to get in, and soon they discovered a cave behind the foxhole, and a four meter deep pit. The dog fell down the pit and was not able to get out again. But here the first prehistoric painting could be seen, and although it took some time, one of the boys looked at the wall and saw them.

Altamira
This is a really weird story. A cave known for centuries was visited by the owner of the land and his little daughter. The little girl, being used to the fact she always had to look up to the adults, did this in the cave too. So she was the first one to see the pictures at the ceiling, after so many people who already visited the cave before. Her first cry was "Toros! Toros!" (bulls!). Nobody knew which bulls she meant and it took some time until the adults were able to see the pictures.
But this is only half of the story. The other weird story connected with the cave happend some time later. When a scientific meeting was held nearby, the land owner went there to tell the scientists about the paintings. But the scientific world was not able to accept this extrordinary finding, as it did not fit into their theories. They even refused to see them personally. It took several decades, the owner had died in between, until the paintings were accepted as being genuine. And it took more than 100 years, until the dating with C14-dating proved that they were even older than imagined.

Most Pyschedelic Caves

Strange Forms Underground

This amazing stalactite and stalagmite cave, known as the Soreq cave, is a few kilometers east from Bet Shemesh in Israel. There are many caves in the area, but the Soreq cave is no doubt unique in its beauty.

Insert first 3 psych pics here

Discovered accidentally in 1968 after the mining explosion, it only has one 90-meter cavern, but the stalactite and stalagmite growth still continues, as the water keeps flowing down the rocks...

Insert rest of pics here

Deepest Cave

Voronya Cave (Krubera Cave) in Abkhazia, Georgia.

This is, at the moment, the deepest cave of the world. The depth is 2,140m (OCT-2005).

When doing the research about Caves, I cam across the mystery of the Tasaday. Now I haven’t got time to go into everything at this time on the blog, but I recommend you Google “Tasaday” and do a bit of reading. It is truly a bizarre tale.

A brief synopsis can be found on wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasaday

Almost every cave has some kind of statistic highlight, told to astonished visitors by the cave guides. Sometimes it is true, sometimes not, who cares, there is no chance to verify such a statement. There is no institution which collects speleologic world records, not even the Guiness Book of World Records does. Although they tried a few times, with questionable success. Many cave owners want to impress their visitors with some kind of superlative. So they try to find some aspect of their cave, which is extraordinary. Today such a thing is called unique selling proposition

The Worlds Longest Caves

Name Country State Length (Metres)

1	Mammoth Cave System	U.S.A.	Kentucky	563,270
2	Optimisticeskaja	Ukraine	Ukrainskaja	191,500
3	Jewel Cave	U.S.A.	South Dakota	189,597
4	Holloch	Switzerland	Schwyz	165,500
5	Lechuguilla Cave	U.S.A.	New Mexico	154,883
6	Fisher Ridge Cave System	U.S.A.	Kentucky	135,990
7	Siebenhengste-hohgant Hohlensystem	Switzerland	Bern	135,000
8	Wind Cave	U.S.A.	South Dakota	131,033
9	Ozernaja	Ukraine	Ukrainskaja	111,000
10	Gua Air jernih-Lubang Batau Padeng	Malaysia	Sarawak	109,000
11	Systeme de Ojo Guarena	Spain	Burgos	100,000
12	Reseau de la Coumo d'Hyouernedo(e)	France	Naute-Garonne	94,843
13	Sistema Purificacion	Mexico	Tamaulipas	90,470
14	Zolushka	Moldova	Moldarskaja	90,200
15	Hirlatzhohle	Austria	Oberosterreich	84,992
16	Toca da Boa Vista	Brazil	Bahia	71,000
17	Friars Hole Cave System	U.S.A.	West Virginia	70,882
18	Easegill System	United Kingdom	Yorkshire Dales	70,500
19	Raucherkarhohle	Austria	Oberosterreich	65,000
20	Nohoch Nah Chichn	Mexico	Yucatan	64,000