Sports in Modern Olympics

The Summer and Winter Olympic games includes a total of thirty five sports with fifty three disciplines. The Summer Olympics comprise of twenty sports with thirty-eight disciplines and the Winter Olympics consists of seven sports with fifteen disciplines. On a whole four hundred events are conducted. Each of the sport has an International Governing Body. More athletes and nations participate in the Summer Olympics.

The IOC or International Olympic Committee arranges the sports, disciplines and events in a hierarchical manner. Sports are subdivided into disciplines and disciplines are subdivided into events. The IOC after analyzing the popularity of a sport around the globe and decides whether it should be a part of the Olympics or not. To be a part of the Olympics, an event should be participated by men from fifty countries from three continents and women from thirty-five countries from three continents, at least.

Sports, which are no longer a part of today’s Olympics, are polo, golf, rugby union, tug of war, cricket, water skiing, etc. The reason for their discontinuation is lack of adequate participation, lack of interest and lack of a governing body. Tennis and archery are also some of the dropped sports, which were again a part of the Olympics in the year 1988 and 1972, respectively. Sports, which are included in the Olympics to promote the local sports of a particular region, are known as demonstration sports. Some of the demonstration sports, which are a part of the Olympics sports, are curling and baseball.

In the first modern Summer Olympic games, held in 1896, there were a total of nine sports. Now the count is twenty-eight and it has been decided that in the 2012 Summer Olympics, the count will be reduced to twenty

Science and Swimming

Swimming is as old as the Stone Age. Writing references can be dated back to 2000 BC and drawings were found in the cave of swimmers near Sura, Egypt. Competitions in swimming started somewhere around 1800, in Europe. Until then the breaststroke was very famous and John Arthur Trudgen started the front crawl or the trudgen in 1873. It was added as a sport in the 1896 Athens Summer Olympics, which were the first modern Olympics. Butterfly stroke was recognized in 1952, before which it was known as a variation of breaststroke.

The water within the human body has a little less density compared to that of the water outside, which forces the body to the surface. To move forward, the water around should be pushed backward and to float, the water should be pushed downward. The pushing is done by using hands as paddles and kicking with the legs. It takes less effort to swim and float in the ocean than in a swimming pool because salty water has more density than fresh water because of the salts.  

The basic principle involved in all swimming styles is that the body should be kept parallel to the surface of the water and the hands should be positioned in outward direction, inline with the head, so as to cut though the water and reduce the friction. The more the body is slanted, the more the drag. Also, by extending the hands, the average length at the water line is increased which is directly proportional to the increase in the speed. 

Olympic Games in Ancient Greece

Olympic Games in Ancient Greece

The very first Olympic games were held in Olympia, Greece, in the year 776 BC and they were stopped in 393 AD. In the beginning, the games were conducted for participants from various cities of Ancient Greece. It was one of the important ceremonial rituals that were held at that time. The games where held in the sanctuary of Olympia and not on Mount Olympus, where Greek gods were assumed to dwell, and hence, the name Olympic was derived. Otherwise it would have been Olympian games. 

There are many stories about how the Olympic games originated. One of the stories is that Heracles, the well-known hero of that time had won a race in Olympia, after which he declared that the race would be held every four years. According to another myth, the king of Olympia, Pelops defeated Oenomaus to marry his daughter, Hippodamia. For this his former lover, Poseidon, helped him. In the beginning funeral sacrifices were offered to Pelops, but now there is no sacrifice, only offerings, at every Olympic games. While another story claims that king of Elis, Iphitos sought the help of Pythis, who was the Oracle at Delphi, to protect his kingdom from war and foreign invasion. Pythis ordered him to please the gods by holding games in honor of them. Others say that Zeus started it after he defeated Titans Cronus, the leader of a very powerful race of deities.

The sanctuary of Zeus where the first Olympic games were staged has a twelve-meter tall gold and ivory statue of Zeus, the father of all the Greek Gods. This status was one of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World. The only game that was held in the beginning was Stadion or Stade race. It was an ancient two hundred yard foot race, which was considered to be of great supremacy, and the winner was given great respect and large amount of money. Participants had to pass five stakes, divisions in the racetrack, and there was no time limit for the race. Who ever reached the end line first was declared as the winner. Two stade, four hundred meter long, race was started in 724 BC, in the fourteen Olympic games, and was known as the Diaulos.

Muhammad Ali – The Boxing Legend

Born on January 17, 1942, Muhammad Ali was one of the fearful boxers of his time. He has won the World Heavyweight Championship thrice and also a gold metal at the Olympics. BBC and the Sports Illustrated gave him the title of Sportsman of the Century.

His birth name was Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., named after his father who was a billboard painter by profession, and his birthplace is Louisville, Kentucky. Muhammad Ali changed his name after converting to Islam in 1975, after which he joined Nation of Islam. 

Joe E. Martin, a Louisville police officer, was his first encouragement when he caught Ali fighting over his stolen bicycle. He used to do a show named Tomorrow’s Champions, with Martin and at the same time went to Stoner’s Gym, as Stoner was a better coach. Stoner was Ali’s coach for his amateur career. Under the coaching of Stone, Ali won six Kentucky Golden Gloves titles, two national Golden Gloves titles, one Amateur Athletic Union national title and 1960 Olympic gold medal in light heavyweight. In his amateur career, he had hundred wins and five losses.

After the victory at the Olympics, Muhammad Ali went back to Louisville to start his professional career. His first victory in the professional career was a six-round decision over Tunney Hunsaker. Some of boxers who were defeated by Ali are Jim Robinson, Tony Esperti, Donnie Fleeman, George Logan, Alonzo Johnson, Lamar Clark, Willi Besmanoff, Henry Cooper and Doug Jones.

When Ali converted to Islam, he refused to respond to his surname as he was told that that was the name given by white men to his slave ancestors. His refusal to react to his name and to join the American military,

Baseball

Baseball


Baseball is a popular sport played in all parts of the United States. Is the national sport in the United States. The sport involves two teams of nine members. The game is usually played with the bat and ball. Can cover skin difficult to take the ball to the dam, discounts, beat with a wooden cylinder. While the other team tries to catch the ball, you should clockwise mixture of four characters as bases. The game is divided into nine parts than halved. Both teams run the ball and score in each half. When a team three outs, it's half half.
There are three versions of baseball, including the modern version, developed in the eighteenth century. There are many arguments about the game originated, how and where. According to some reports, the game is an extension of the old baseball game, and from the UK. Bringing the UK to the U.S. in the late 1700s the sport. Professional League Baseball sub-classified in the American University and the National Association of the East and the West and the core of each. In the United States, the tenth player, also known as the designated hitter to reach expected, where the average in the National League, pitchers bat.
Cincinnati Red Stockings are a professional baseball club was formed for the first time. Fever began to American citizens in the 1860s and taken to the newspapers call it a game or a national pastime national. National League was founded in 1876 and, after a few tries, American University, founded in 1901. At that time the game is played very strong in comparison with the game being played. It's like war as the dead-ball