1.
Sport of athletics
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Athletics is a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running. The results of racing events are decided by finishing position, while the jumps, the simplicity of the competitions, and the lack of a need for expensive equipment, makes athletics one of the most commonly competed sports in the world. Athletics is mostly an individual sport, with the exception of relay races and competitions which combine athletes performances for a team score, organized athletics are traced back to the Ancient Olympic Games from 776 BCE. The rules and format of the events in athletics were defined in Western Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th century. Most modern top level meetings are conducted by the International Association of Athletics Federations, the athletics meeting forms the backbone of the Summer Olympics. The foremost international athletics meeting is the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, other top level competitions in athletics include the IAAF World Cross Country Championships and the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. Athletes with a disability compete at the Summer Paralympics and the IPC Athletics World Championships. The word athletics is derived from the Ancient Greek ἀθλητής from ἆθλον or ἆθλος, initially, the term was used to describe athletic contests in general – i. e. sporting competition based primarily on human physical feats. In the 19th century, the term acquired a more narrow definition in Europe. This definition continues to be the most prominent one in the United Kingdom, furthermore, foreign words in many German and Roman languages which are related to the term athletics also have a similar meaning. In much of North America, athletics is synonymous with sports in general, the word athletics is rarely used to refer to the sport of athletics in this region. Track and field is preferred, and is used in the United States and Canada to refer to most athletics events, including racewalking, Athletic contests in running, walking, jumping and throwing are among the oldest of all sports and their roots are prehistoric. Athletics events were depicted in the Ancient Egyptian tombs in Saqqara, with illustrations of running at the Heb Sed festival, the Tailteann Games were an ancient Celtic festival in Ireland, founded around 1800 BCE, and the thirty-day meeting included running and stone-throwing among its sporting events. The original and only event at the first Olympics in 776 BCE was a running event known as the stadion. This later expanded to include throwing and jumping events within the ancient pentathlon, Athletics competitions also took place at other Panhellenic Games, which were founded later around 500 BCE. The Cotswold Olimpick Games, a festival which emerged in 17th century England. Annually, from 1796 to 1798, LOlympiade de la République was held in revolutionary France, the premier event of this competition was a running event, but various ancient Greek disciplines were also on display
2.
Decathlon
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The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word decathlon is of Greek origin, from δέκα and ἄθλος, events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a system in each event, not by the position achieved. The decathlon is contested mainly by athletes, while female athletes typically compete in the heptathlon. Traditionally, the title of Worlds Greatest Athlete has been given to the person who wins the Olympic decathlon. This began when King Gustav V of Sweden told Jim Thorpe, You, the current decathlon world record holder is American Ashton Eaton, who scored 9045 points at the 2015 IAAF World Championships. The event developed from the ancient pentathlon, pentathlon competitions were held at the ancient Greek Olympics. Pentathlons involved five disciplines – long jump, discus throw, javelin throw, sprint, introduced in Olympia during 708 BC, the competition was extremely popular for many centuries. By the sixth century BC, pentathlons had become part of religious games, the modern decathlon first appeared on the Olympic athletics program at the 1912 Games in Stockholm. The vast majority of international and top level mens decathlons are divided into a competition, with the track. Traditionally, all decathletes who finish the event, rather than just the winner or medal winning athletes, at major championships, the womens equivalent of the decathlon is the seven-event heptathlon, prior to 1981 it was the five-event pentathlon. However, in 2001, the IAAF approved scoring tables for a womens decathlon, the current world record holder is Austra Skujytė of Lithuania. Womens disciplines differ from mens in the way as for standalone events, the shot put, discus and javelin weigh less. The points tables used are the same as for the heptathlon in the shared events, the one-hour decathlon is a special type of decathlon in which the athletes have to start the last of ten events within sixty minutes of the start of the first event. The world record holder is Czech decathlete Robert Změlík, who achieved 7,897 points at a meeting in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, in Masters athletics, performance scores are age graded before being applied to the standard scoring table. This way, marks that would be competitive within an age division can get rated, additionally, like women, the age divisions use different implement weights and lower hurdles. Based on this system, German Rolf Geese in the M60 division, using the same scale, Nadine OConnor scored 10,234 points in the W65 division, the highest decathlon score ever recorded. The decathlon tables should not be confused with the scoring tables compiled by Bojidar Spiriev, on those tables, for example, a decathlon score of 9,006 points equates to 1,265 comparison points, the same number as a triple jump of 18 m
3.
2007 World Championships in Athletics
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The 11th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAFs 212 member federations entered a total of 1,978 athletes, sarah Brightman, the worlds best-selling soprano, performed her single Running at the opening ceremony. By the IAAFs October 1,2002 deadline, Budapest and Berlin had both withdrawn their bids, and Osaka was announced as the host city on November 15,2002 as the remaining candidate. Berlin later bid successfully for the 2009 World Championships, the IAAF stepped up its war on doping at the Osaka games, and for the first time, the number of drug tests exceeded 1,000. The IAAF lobbied the World Anti-Doping Agency to adopt stiffer penalties for first-time doping offences in WADAs code of practice, despite these fears, the IAAF announced that only one of the samples taken over the course of the Championships was suspicious and required more examination. The governing body refused to elaborate further until more was known, the IAAF later confirmed that Keïta had tested positive for testosterone in an out-of-competition test at a training camp, and labelled the World Championships drug-free. The Championships were held during a hot summer in Japan, in contrast to the cool, wet. Temperatures earlier in the month had reached 40 °C, killing several people, casualties of the heat were not as high as initially feared, but dozens of athletes failed to finish the walks and marathons and a few did require medical treatment. Some athletes in shorter events blamed poor performances on the difficult conditions, concerns had been raised in the week running up to the Championships about the low level of ticket sales - only 46% of seats had been filled by August 20. The Nagai Stadium was less than half full for the opening ceremony, a number of reasons were cited for the poor attendance, including high ticket prices, the hot weather and the disappointing performance of the Japanese team. IAAF vice-president Sebastian Coe also suggested that the length of the Championships may have to be shortened in future to sustain the publics interest, despite no world records being broken, the Championships saw a number of significant personal and team achievements. The United States dominated the overall standings ahead of Kenya and Russia, equalling its best ever medal haul with 26, the U. S. also set another Championship first by triumphing in all four relay races. Perhaps the most unlikely American medal came from 110 m hurdler David Payne, russias Tatyana Lebedeva just missed out on an unprecedented long jump/triple jump double, but still ended up with a gold and a silver medal. African countries were well represented in the middle and long-distance events. Chinese athlete Liu Xiang, the only sprinter of non-African origin to clock sub-13 second 110m hurdles, word Record Holders for the 20 km Walk, Jefferson Pérez, and 50 km Walk, Nathan Deakes, both won their respective events, confirming their dominance of the event. In Perezs case, this was his third World Championship Gold Medal in a row, host nation Japan gained its only medal on the final day with a bronze for Reiko Tosa in the womens marathon. org 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics Osaka Official Site
4.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
5.
Aries Merritt
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Aries Merritt is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 110 meter hurdles, and currently holds the world record in that event with a time of 12.80 s set on September 7,2012. He won the medal in the 110 meter hurdles at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Born in Chicago, Illinois, he moved to Marietta, Georgia at an age, attending Joseph Wheeler High School. Merritt ran for the University of Tennessee from 2003 to 2006 and had a college career. He took the 110 meter hurdles gold at the 2004 World Junior Championships, also in 2006, he won the NCAA Championships, was undefeated in all hurdles events that year, and broke Willie Gaults Tennessee Volunteers hurdles record. His victory at the NCAA Championships in 13.21 s was the second fastest ever time in the United States. He reached the World Athletics Final in 2008, finishing in fourth, Merritt is the first hurdler to ever win gold in the US Indoor Championship, the World Indoor Championship, the US Olympic Trials, and the Olympic Games all in the same year. In the final of the 110m hurdles at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, after Dayron Robles was disqualified, Merritt was promoted to 5th. His seasons best was 13.12 s, achieved in Eugene, Oregon, Merritt began the 2012 campaign by altering his approach to the first hurdle, switching from eight to seven steps. In an interview he stated, was pretty risky to make a change like that, the change allows me to maintain my momentum going into the first barrier. Merrits change was successful for the 2012 indoor season as he became the indoor world champion in the 60 meters hurdles at the 2012 World Indoor Championships in Istanbul. In the final, he beat Liu Xiang and Pascal Martinot-Lagarde with a time of 7.44 s. At the Olympic trials in Oregon, Merritt won the 110 meter hurdles final in a world leading time of 12.93 s, Merritt subsequently matched the time at two consecutive Diamond League events, at Crystal Palace and Monaco, winning both races. At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Merritt began by running the fastest qualifying time in the heats with a time of 13.07 s, in the semi-finals, he was again dominant with a time of 12.94 s. In the final, Dayron Robles and Merritt got the fastest starts and he continued to a personal best of 12.92 s and a 0.12 s win over reigning world champion Jason Richardson. On September 7,2012, at the final Diamond League meet in Brussels, Belgium, Merritt ran a time of 12.80 s in the 110 meter hurdles, merritts performance was the largest drop in the world record for 110 meter hurdles since Nehemiah in 1981. Merrit ran consistently throughout the 2012 season, the following are his times that lead-up to his world record performance in the 110 meter hurdles, Merritt finished 6th in 2013 World Championships in Athletics – Mens 110 metres hurdles. After several months of treatment, he was eventually able to return to competition on the following year
6.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
7.
Hurdling
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Hurdling is the act of running and jumping over an obstacle at speed. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle, after experimenting with different step patterns the 3-step for high hurdles, 7-step for low hurdles, and 15-step for intermediate hurdles was decided on. In the sport of athletics, hurdling forms the basis of a number track, in these events, a series of barriers known as hurdles are set at precisely measured heights and distances which each athlete must pass by running over. Failure to pass over, by passing under, or intentionally knocking over hurdles will result in disqualification, accidental knocking over of hurdles is not cause for disqualification, but the hurdles are weighted to make doing so disadvantageous. Hurdle design improvements were made in 1935, when they developed the L-shaped hurdle, with this shape, the athlete could hit the hurdle and it will tip down, clearing the athletes path. The two shorter distances take place on the straight of a track, while the 400 m version covers one whole lap of a standard oval track. Events over shorter distances are commonly held at indoor track and field events. Women historically competed in the 80 meters hurdles at the Olympics in the mid-20th century, hurdles race are also part of combined events contests, including the decathlon and heptathlon. In track races, hurdles are normally between 68–107 cm in height, and vary depending on the age and gender of the hurdler, events from 50 to 110 meters are technically known as high hurdles races, while longer competitions are low hurdles races. The track hurdles events are forms of sprinting competitions, although the 400 m version is less anaerobic in nature, a hurdling technique can also be found in the steeplechase, although in this event athletes are also permitted to step on the barrier to clear it. Similarly, in cross country running athletes may hurdle over various natural obstacles, such as logs, mounds of earth, horse racing has its own variant of hurdle racing, with similar principles. The standard sprint or short hurdle race is 110 meters for men and 100 meters for women, the standard amount of steps to the first hurdle should be 8. The standard long hurdle race is 400 meters for men and women. Each of these races is run over ten hurdles and they are all Olympic events, the mens 200 meters low hurdles event was on the Olympic athletics programme for the 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympics. These low hurdles events were widely participated in the part of the 20th century. However, beyond these two Olympic outings, they never gained a consistent place at international competitions and became increasing rare after the 1960s and this 10-hurdle race continues to be run in places such as Norway. Other distances are run, particularly indoors but occasionally outdoors, the sprint hurdle race indoors is usually 60 meters for both men and women, although races 55 meters or 50 meters long are sometimes run, especially in the United States. A60 meter indoor race is run over 5 hurdles, a shorter race may occasionally have only 4 hurdles
8.
Track and field
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Track and field is a sport which includes athletic contests established on the skills of running, jumping, and throwing. The name is derived from the sports venue, a stadium with an oval running track enclosing a grass field where the throwing and jumping events take place. Track and field is categorised under the sport of athletics, which also includes road running, cross country running. The foot racing events, which include sprints, middle- and long-distance events, the jumping and throwing events are won by the athlete who achieves the greatest distance or height. Regular jumping events include long jump, triple jump, high jump and pole vault, while the most common throwing events are shot put, javelin, discus and hammer. There are also combined events or multi events, such as the pentathlon consisting of five events, heptathlon consisting of seven events, in these, athletes participate in a combination of track and field events. Most track and field events are individual sports with a victor, the most prominent team events are relay races. Events are almost exclusively divided by gender, although both the mens and womens competitions are held at the same venue. It is one of the oldest sports, in ancient times, it was an event held in conjunction with festivals and sports meets such as the Ancient Olympic Games in Greece. The ancient Olympic Games began in the year 776 BC, when Koroibos, a cook from the city of Elis, won the stadium race. According to some traditions, this was the only athletic event of the games for the first 13 Olympic festivals. In modern times, the two most prestigious track and field competitions are athletics competition at the Olympic Games and the IAAF World Championships in Athletics. The International Association of Athletics Federations is the governing body. Records are kept of the best performances in specific events, at world and national levels, however, if athletes are deemed to have violated the events rules or regulations, they are disqualified from the competition and their marks are erased. In North America, the track and field may be used to refer to other athletics events, such as the marathon. The sport of track and field has its roots in human prehistory, Track and field-style events are among the oldest of all sporting competitions, as running, jumping and throwing are natural and universal forms of human physical expression. The first recorded examples of organized track and field events at a festival are the Ancient Olympic Games. At the first Games in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece, only one event was contested, Track and field events were also present at the Panhellenic Games in Greece around this period, and they spread to Rome in Italy around 200 BC
9.
Summer Olympic Games
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The Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad, first held in 1896, is an international multi-sport event that is hosted by a different city every four years. The most recent Olympics were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the International Olympic Committee organizes the games and oversees the host citys preparations. In each Olympic event, gold medals are awarded for first place, silver medals are awarded for second place, and bronze medals are awarded for third, the Winter Olympic Games were created due to the success of the Summer Olympics. The Olympics have increased in scope from a 42-event competition with fewer than 250 male competitors from 14 nations in 1896 to 302 events with 10,768 competitors from 204 nations in 2012, eighteen countries have hosted the Summer Olympics. The United States has hosted four Summer Olympics, more than any other nation, four cities have hosted two Summer Olympics, Athens, Paris, Los Angeles, and Tokyo. Tokyo is the first city outside of the Western world to host the Summer Olympics multiple times, asia has hosted the Summer Olympics four times in Japan, South Korea, and China. The only Summer Olympics held in the Southern Hemisphere have been in Australia, the 2016 Games are the first Summer Olympics to be held in South America and the first to be held during the local winter season. Africa has yet to host a Summer Olympics, only five countries—Greece, Australia, France, Great Britain, and Switzerland—have been represented at every Summer Olympic Games. The only country to have won at least one medal at every Summer Olympic Games is Great Britain. The United States leads the medal table. Qualification rules for each of the Olympic sports are set by the International Sports Federations that governs that sports international competition, for individual sports, competitors typically qualify through attaining a certain place in a major international event or on the IFs ranking list. There is a rule that maximum three individual athletes may represent each nation per competition. Nations most often qualify teams for team sports through continental qualifying tournaments, each nation may be represented by no more than one team per competition a team is two people in some sports. The United States has hosted four Summer Olympic Games, more than any other nation, the United Kingdom hosted the 2012 Olympic Games, its third Summer Olympic Games, in its capital London, making London the first city to host the Summer Olympic Games three times. Australia, France, Germany, Greece, and Japan have all hosted the Summer Olympic Games twice. Other countries that have hosted the Summer Olympics are Belgium, Brazil, China, Canada, Finland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, the Soviet Union, asia has hosted the Summer Olympics three times and will host again in 2020. In 2016, Rio de Janeiro hosted the first Summer Olympics in South America, three cities have hosted two Summer Olympic Games, Los Angeles, Paris, and Athens. Stockholm has hosted events at two Summer Olympic Games, having hosted the games in 1912 and the events at the 1956 Summer Olympics—which they are usually listed as jointly hosting
10.
100 metres hurdles
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The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women. For the race, ten hurdles of a height of 83.8 centimetres are placed along a course of 100 metres. The first hurdle is placed after a run-up of 13 metres from the starting line. The next 9 hurdles are set at a distance of 8.5 metres from each other, the hurdles are set up so that they will fall over if bumped into by the runner, but weighted so this is disadvantageous. Fallen hurdles do not count against runners provided that they do not run them on purpose. Like the 100 metres sprint, the 100 m hurdles begins with athletes in starting blocks, the fastest 100 m hurdlers run the distance in a time of around 12.5 seconds. The world record set by Kendra Harrison stands at 12.20 seconds, the Olympic Games had included the 80 m hurdles in the program from 1932 to 1968. Starting with the 1972 Summer Olympics the womens race was lengthened to 100 m hurdles, the hurdles sprint race has been run by women since the beginning of womens athletics, just after the end of World War I. The distances and hurdle heights varied widely in the beginning, while the men had zeroed in on the 110 m hurdles, the International Womens Sport Federation had registered records for eight different disciplines by 1926. At the first Womens World Games in 1922 a 100 m hurdles race was run, from 1926 until 1968 on only the 80 m distance was run. For the 80 m race women had to clear eight hurdles placed at a distance of 8 metres from each other and a height of 76.2 cm. Just like with the races, until 1935 no more than three hurdles could be knocked over and records were only officially registered if the runner had cleared all her hurdles clean. In 1935, this rule was abandoned, and L-shaped hurdles were introduced that fell over forward easily and greatly reduced the risk of injury to the runner. Hurdles are weighted, so when properly set for the height, the 80 m hurdles was on the list of womens sports demanded by the International Womens Sport Federation for the Olympic Summer Games in 1928, but wasnt included as an Olympic discipline until 1932. Starting with 1949 the 80 m hurdles was one of the disciplines included in the womens pentathlon, during the 1960s some experimental races were run over a distance of 100 metres using hurdles with a height of 76.2 cm. The modern 100 m race has an extra 2 hurdles compared to the 80 m race, the home stretch is shorter by 1.5 m. A version of the 100 metres hurdles is also used for 50- to 59-year-old men in Masters athletics and they run the same spacing as women, which coordinates with existing markings on most tracks, but run over 36-inch hurdles. In the 60-69 age range, the spacings are changed, women over age 40, men over age 70 run 80 metre versions with different heights and spacings
11.
Hurdles
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Hurdling is the act of running and jumping over an obstacle at speed. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle, after experimenting with different step patterns the 3-step for high hurdles, 7-step for low hurdles, and 15-step for intermediate hurdles was decided on. In the sport of athletics, hurdling forms the basis of a number track, in these events, a series of barriers known as hurdles are set at precisely measured heights and distances which each athlete must pass by running over. Failure to pass over, by passing under, or intentionally knocking over hurdles will result in disqualification, accidental knocking over of hurdles is not cause for disqualification, but the hurdles are weighted to make doing so disadvantageous. Hurdle design improvements were made in 1935, when they developed the L-shaped hurdle, with this shape, the athlete could hit the hurdle and it will tip down, clearing the athletes path. The two shorter distances take place on the straight of a track, while the 400 m version covers one whole lap of a standard oval track. Events over shorter distances are commonly held at indoor track and field events. Women historically competed in the 80 meters hurdles at the Olympics in the mid-20th century, hurdles race are also part of combined events contests, including the decathlon and heptathlon. In track races, hurdles are normally between 68–107 cm in height, and vary depending on the age and gender of the hurdler, events from 50 to 110 meters are technically known as high hurdles races, while longer competitions are low hurdles races. The track hurdles events are forms of sprinting competitions, although the 400 m version is less anaerobic in nature, a hurdling technique can also be found in the steeplechase, although in this event athletes are also permitted to step on the barrier to clear it. Similarly, in cross country running athletes may hurdle over various natural obstacles, such as logs, mounds of earth, horse racing has its own variant of hurdle racing, with similar principles. The standard sprint or short hurdle race is 110 meters for men and 100 meters for women, the standard amount of steps to the first hurdle should be 8. The standard long hurdle race is 400 meters for men and women. Each of these races is run over ten hurdles and they are all Olympic events, the mens 200 meters low hurdles event was on the Olympic athletics programme for the 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympics. These low hurdles events were widely participated in the part of the 20th century. However, beyond these two Olympic outings, they never gained a consistent place at international competitions and became increasing rare after the 1960s and this 10-hurdle race continues to be run in places such as Norway. Other distances are run, particularly indoors but occasionally outdoors, the sprint hurdle race indoors is usually 60 meters for both men and women, although races 55 meters or 50 meters long are sometimes run, especially in the United States. A60 meter indoor race is run over 5 hurdles, a shorter race may occasionally have only 4 hurdles
12.
100 metres
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The 100 metres, or 100-metre dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, it is one of the most popular and it has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1928 for women. The reigning 100 m Olympic champion is named the fastest runner in the world. The World Championships 100 metres has been contested since 1983, jamaicans Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce are the reigning world champions, Bolt and Elaine Thompson are the Olympic champions in the mens and womens 100 metres, respectively. On an outdoor 400 metres running track, the 100 m is run on the home straight, runners begin in the starting blocks and the race begins when an official fires the starters pistol. Sprinters typically reach top speed after somewhere between 50–60 m and their speed then slows towards the finish line. The 10-second barrier has historically been a barometer of fast mens performances, the current mens world record is 9.58 seconds, set by Jamaicas Usain Bolt in 2009, while the womens world record of 10.49 seconds set by American Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988 remains unbroken. The 100 m emerged from the metrication of the 100 yards, the event is largely held outdoors as few indoor facilities have a 100 m straight. US athletes have won the mens Olympic 100 metres title more times than any country,16 out of the 28 times that it has been run. US women have dominated the event winning 9 out of 21 times. At the start, some athletes play psychological games such as trying to be last to the starting blocks, at high level meets, the time between the gun and first kick against the starting block is measured electronically, via sensors built in the gun and the blocks. A reaction time less than 0.1 s is considered a false start, the 0. 2-second interval accounts for the sum of the time it takes for the sound of the starters pistol to reach the runners ears, and the time they take to react to it. For many years a sprinter was disqualified if responsible for two false starts individually, however, this rule allowed some major races to be restarted so many times that the sprinters started to lose focus. The next iteration of the rule, introduced in February 2003, meant that one false start was allowed among the field, but anyone responsible for a subsequent false start was disqualified. To avoid such abuse and to improve spectator enjoyment, the IAAF implemented a change in the 2010 season – a false starting athlete now receives immediate disqualification. This proposal was met with objections when first raised in 2005, justin Gatlin commented, Just a flinch or a leg cramp could cost you a years worth of work. The rule had an impact at the 2011 World Championships. Runners normally reach their top speed just past the point of the race
13.
Starting blocks
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Starting blocks are a device used in the sport of track and field by sprint athletes to hold their feet at the start of a race so they do not slip as they push out at the sound of the gun. For most levels of competition, including the whole of high level international competition, the invention of starting blocks is credited to Australian Charlie Booth and his father in 1929. Prior to their invention, runners would dig holes in the dirt track, trowels were provided at the start of races. This was not the most consistent or stable system and it also was destructive to the track surface with the holes having to be filled for subsequent runners. When George Simpson became the first person to run 10.4 seconds for the 100 yard dash in 1930, wood was the first material used, with some tracks having permanently placed wooden starting blocks with golden structures at the start line. Portable blocks were held by long metal spikes that needed to be pounded into the ground and these devices evolved to metal blocks. The common blocks of the 1960s were heavy and adjusted by screws that were broken or became rusted over the years. Lighter weight blocks were made of sheet metal, nick Newtons innovative design uses cast aluminum. The rubberized surfaces of new all-weather running tracks that became common starting in the 1970s, original Tartan tracks left long holes to secure the blocks but most tracks today require blocks to be held by small spikes similar to the ones used in shoes. Block slippage was common enough that it is a loophole in the rules to recall the start of a race without calling a false start against an athlete whose blocks slip. Generally most races of 400 meters or shorter allow athletes to use starting blocks, most runners in the 800 meters at the 1956 Olympics used starting blocks from a waterfall start. Modern blocks used for records now must have sensors that detect the pressure from the athlete. Athletes who react faster than 1/10th of a second can be charged with a false start, many also carry electronic speakers so the sound of the gun arrives at the ears of the athletes at exactly the same time
14.
Olympic Games
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The Olympic Games are considered the worlds foremost sports competition with more than 200 nations participating. The Olympic Games are held four years, with the Summer and Winter Games alternating by occurring every four years. Their creation was inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee in 1894, leading to the first modern Games in Athens in 1896. The IOC is the body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure. The evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries has resulted in changes to the Olympic Games. The IOC has had to adapt to a variety of economic, political, as a result, the Olympics has shifted away from pure amateurism, as envisioned by Coubertin, to allowing participation of professional athletes. The growing importance of mass media created the issue of corporate sponsorship, World wars led to the cancellation of the 1916,1940, and 1944 Games. Large boycotts during the Cold War limited participation in the 1980 and 1984 Games, the Olympic Movement consists of international sports federations, National Olympic Committees, and organising committees for each specific Olympic Games. As the decision-making body, the IOC is responsible for choosing the host city for each Games, the IOC also determines the Olympic programme, consisting of the sports to be contested at the Games. There are several Olympic rituals and symbols, such as the Olympic flag and torch, over 13,000 athletes compete at the Summer and Winter Olympic Games in 33 different sports and nearly 400 events. The first, second, and third-place finishers in each event receive Olympic medals, gold, silver, the Games have grown so much that nearly every nation is now represented. This growth has created numerous challenges and controversies, including boycotts, doping, bribery, every two years the Olympics and its media exposure provide unknown athletes with the chance to attain national and sometimes international fame. The Games also constitute an opportunity for the host city and country to themselves to the world. The Ancient Olympic Games were religious and athletic festivals held every four years at the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia, competition was among representatives of several city-states and kingdoms of Ancient Greece. These Games featured mainly athletic but also combat such as wrestling. It has been written that during the Games, all conflicts among the participating city-states were postponed until the Games were finished. This cessation of hostilities was known as the Olympic peace or truce and this idea is a modern myth because the Greeks never suspended their wars. The truce did allow those religious pilgrims who were travelling to Olympia to pass through warring territories unmolested because they were protected by Zeus
15.
1972 Summer Olympics
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The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11,1972. The sporting nature of the event was overshadowed by the Munich massacre in which eleven Israeli athletes and coaches. Five Black September Palestinian terrorists died, the 1972 Summer Olympics were the second Summer Olympics to be held in Germany, after the 1936 Games in Berlin, which had taken place under the Nazi regime. The logo of the Games was a blue solar logo by Otl Aicher, the Olympic mascot, the dachshund Waldi, was the first officially named Olympic mascot. The Olympic Fanfare was composed by Herbert Rehbein, a companion of Bert Kaempfert, the Olympic Park is based on Frei Ottos plans and after the Games became a Munich landmark. The competition sites, designed by architect Günther Behnisch, included the Olympic swimming hall, the Olympics Hall and the Olympic Stadium, and an Olympic village very close to the park. The design of the stadium was considered revolutionary, with sweeping canopies of acrylic glass stabilized by metal ropes, Munich won its Olympic bid on April 26,1966, at the 64th IOC Session at Rome, Italy, over bids presented by Detroit, Madrid, and Montréal. Montreal would eventually host the following Olympic games in 1976, the Games were largely overshadowed by what has come to be known as the Munich massacre. Two of the hostages who resisted were killed in the first moments of the break-in, the German authorities planned to ambush them there, but underestimated the numbers of their opposition and were thus undermanned. During a botched attempt, all of the Israeli hostages were killed. Four of them were shot, then incinerated when one of the terrorists detonated a grenade inside the helicopter in which the hostages were sitting, the five remaining hostages were then machine-gunned to death. All but three of the terrorists were killed as well, although arrested and imprisoned pending trial, they were released by the West German government on October 29,1972, in exchange for a hijacked Lufthansa jet. Two of those three were supposedly hunted down and assassinated later by the Mossad, jamal Al-Gashey, who is believed to be the sole survivor, is still living today in hiding in an unspecified African country with his wife and two children. A memorial ceremony was held in the Olympic stadium. The attack prompted heightened security at subsequent Olympics beginning with the 1976 Winter Olympics, security at Olympics was heightened further beginning with the 2002 Winter Olympics, as they were the first to take place since September 11,2001. The massacre led the German federal government to re-examine its anti-terrorism policies and this led to the creation of the elite counter-terrorist unit GSG9, similar to the British SAS. It also led Israel to launch a campaign known as Operation Wrath of God, in which those suspected of involvement were systematically tracked down, the events of the Munich massacre were chronicled in the Oscar-winning documentary, One Day in September. An account of the aftermath is also dramatized in three films, the 1976 made-for-TV movie 21 Hours at Munich, the 1986 made-for-TV movie Sword of Gideon and Steven Spielbergs 2005 film Munich
16.
Imperial units
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The system of imperial units or the imperial system is the system of units first defined in the British Weights and Measures Act of 1824, which was later refined and reduced. The Imperial units replaced the Winchester Standards, which were in effect from 1588 to 1825, the system came into official use across the British Empire. The imperial system developed from what were first known as English units, the Weights and Measures Act of 1824 was initially scheduled to go into effect on 1 May 1825. However, the Weights and Measures Act of 1825 pushed back the date to 1 January 1826, the 1824 Act allowed the continued use of pre-imperial units provided that they were customary, widely known, and clearly marked with imperial equivalents. Apothecaries units are mentioned neither in the act of 1824 nor 1825, at the time, apothecaries weights and measures were regulated in England, Wales, and Berwick-upon-Tweed by the London College of Physicians, and in Ireland by the Dublin College of Physicians. In Scotland, apothecaries units were unofficially regulated by the Edinburgh College of Physicians, the three colleges published, at infrequent intervals, pharmacopoeiae, the London and Dublin editions having the force of law. The Medical Act of 1858 transferred to The Crown the right to publish the official pharmacopoeia and to regulate apothecaries weights, Metric equivalents in this article usually assume the latest official definition. Before this date, the most precise measurement of the imperial Standard Yard was 0.914398416 metres, in 1824, the various different gallons in use in the British Empire were replaced by the imperial gallon, a unit close in volume to the ale gallon. It was originally defined as the volume of 10 pounds of distilled water weighed in air with brass weights with the standing at 30 inches of mercury at a temperature of 62 °F. The Weights and Measures Act of 1985 switched to a gallon of exactly 4.54609 l and these measurements were in use from 1826, when the new imperial gallon was defined, but were officially abolished in the United Kingdom on 1 January 1971. In the USA, though no longer recommended, the system is still used occasionally in medicine. The troy pound was made the unit of mass by the 1824 Act, however, its use was abolished in the UK on 1 January 1879, with only the troy ounce. The Weights and Measures Act 1855 made the pound the primary unit of mass. In all the systems, the unit is the pound. For the yard, the length of a pendulum beating seconds at the latitude of Greenwich at Mean Sea Level in vacuo was defined as 39.01393 inches, the imperial system is one of many systems of English units. Although most of the units are defined in more than one system, some units were used to a much greater extent, or for different purposes. The distinctions between these systems are not drawn precisely. One such distinction is that between these systems and older British/English units/systems or newer additions, the US customary system is historically derived from the English units that were in use at the time of settlement
17.
Oxford
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Oxford is a city in the South East region of England and the county town of Oxfordshire. With an estimated 2015 population of 168,270, it is the 52nd largest city in the United Kingdom, the city is situated 57 miles from London,69 miles from Bristol,65 miles from both Southampton and Birmingham and 25 miles from Reading. The city is known worldwide as the home of the University of Oxford, buildings in Oxford demonstrate notable examples of every English architectural period since the late Saxon period. Oxford is known as the city of dreaming spires, a term coined by poet Matthew Arnold, Oxford has a broad economic base. Its industries include motor manufacturing, education, publishing and a number of information technology and science-based businesses. Oxford was first settled in Saxon times and was known as Oxenaforda, meaning Ford of the Oxen. It began with the establishment of a crossing for oxen around AD900. In the 10th century, Oxford became an important military frontier town between the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex and was on several occasions raided by Danes, Oxford was heavily damaged during the Norman Invasion of 1066. Following the conquest, the town was assigned to a governor, Robert DOyly, the castle has never been used for military purposes and its remains survive to this day. DOyly set up a community in the castle consisting of a chapel. The community never grew large but it earned its place in history as one of Britains oldest places of formal education and it was there that in 1139 Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote his History of the Kings of Britain, a compilation of Arthurian legends. Mary at Oseney and to the canons serving God in that place and we have made this concession and confirmation in the Common council of the City and we have confirmed it with our common seal. These are those who have made this concession and confirmation, a grandson of King John established Rewley Abbey for the Cistercian Order, and friars of various orders all had houses of varying importance at Oxford. Parliaments were often held in the city during the 13th century, the Provisions of Oxford were instigated by a group of barons led by Simon de Montfort, these documents are often regarded as Englands first written constitution. Richard I of England and John, King of England the sons of Henry II of England, were born at Beaumont Palace in Oxford, on 8 September 1157 and 24 December 1166 respectively. A plaque in Beaumont Street commemorates these events, the University of Oxford is first mentioned in 12th century records. Of the hundreds of Aularian houses that sprang up across the city, what put an end to the halls was the emergence of colleges. Oxfords earliest colleges were University College, Balliol and Merton and these colleges were established at a time when Europeans were starting to translate the writings of Greek philosophers
18.
Cambridge
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Cambridge is a university city and the county town of Cambridgeshire, England, on the River Cam about 50 miles north of London. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, its population was 123,867, there is archaeological evidence of settlement in the area in the Bronze Age and in Roman Britain, under Viking rule, Cambridge became an important trading centre. The first town charters were granted in the 12th century, although city status was not conferred until 1951, the University of Cambridge, founded in 1209, is one of the top five universities in the world. The university includes the Cavendish Laboratory, Kings College Chapel, the citys skyline is dominated by the last two buildings, along with the spire of the Our Lady and the English Martyrs Church, the chimney of Addenbrookes Hospital and St Johns College Chapel tower. Anglia Ruskin University, evolved from the Cambridge School of Art, Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology Silicon Fen with industries such as software and bioscience and many start-up companies spun out of the university. More than 40% of the workforce has a higher education qualification, the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, one of the largest biomedical research clusters in the world, is soon to be home to AstraZeneca, a hotel and the relocated Papworth Hospital. Parkers Piece hosted the first ever game of Association football, the Strawberry Fair music and arts festival and Midsummer Fairs are held on Midsummer Common, and the annual Cambridge Beer Festival takes place on Jesus Green. The city is adjacent to the M11 and A14 roads, settlements have existed around the Cambridge area since prehistoric times. The earliest clear evidence of occupation is the remains of a 3, the principal Roman site is a small fort Duroliponte on Castle Hill, just northwest of the city centre around the location of the earlier British village. The fort was bounded on two sides by the lines formed by the present Mount Pleasant, continuing across Huntingdon Road into Clare Street, the eastern side followed Magrath Avenue, with the southern side running near to Chesterton Lane and Kettles Yard before turning northwest at Honey Hill. It was constructed around AD70 and converted to use around 50 years later. Evidence of more widespread Roman settlement has been discovered including numerous farmsteads, evidence exists that the invading Anglo-Saxons had begun occupying the area by the end of the century. Their settlement—also on and around Castle Hill—became known as Grantebrycge, Anglo-Saxon grave goods have been found in the area. During this period, Cambridge benefited from good trade links across the hard-to-travel fenlands, by the 7th century, the town was less significant and described by Bede as a little ruined city containing the burial site of Etheldreda. Cambridge was on the border between the East and Middle Anglian kingdoms and the settlement slowly expanded on both sides of the river, the arrival of the Vikings was recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 875. Viking rule, the Danelaw, had been imposed by 878 Their vigorous trading habits caused the town to grow rapidly. During this period the centre of the town shifted from Castle Hill on the bank of the river to the area now known as the Quayside on the right bank. In 1068, two years after his conquest of England, William of Normandy built a castle on Castle Hill, like the rest of the newly conquered kingdom, Cambridge fell under the control of the King and his deputies
19.
Alvin Kraenzlein
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Before, Carl Schuhmann, a German athlete, won four Olympic titles in gymnastics and wrestling at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. As of 2016, Alvin Kraenzlein is the only athlete who has won four individual titles at one Olympics. Kraenzlein is also known for developing a technique of straight-leg hurdling. He is an Olympic Hall of Fame and USA Track & Field inductee, Kraenzlein was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a son of Johann Georg Kränzlein, a brewer, and Maria Augusta Schmidt, both of a German origin. After his family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he attended the Milwaukee’s East Side High School, in 1895, during the Wisconsin Interscholastic Championships, he won first places in the 100-yard dash, 120-yard high hurdles, 220-yard low hurdles, high jump, and shot put. He attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he studied engineering, in 1896, he won the 220-yard low hurdles, the high jump and placed second in the 100-yard dash and shot put at the freshman-sophomore track-and-field meet. During the 1897 Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship, Kraenzlein won the 220-yard low hurdles and he led the Wisconsin team to the team title. He also won the 1897 Amateur Athletic Union title in the 220-yard low hurdles, in 1897 Alvin Kraenzlein set an indoor world record of 36.6 seconds in the 300-yard low hurdles. In 1898, after being recruited by Mike Murphy, the University of Pennsylvania track-and-field coach, he moved to Philadelphia, where he studied at the Dental School and graduated in 1900. Being a student at the University of Philadelphia, he established world records for the 120 meter high hurdles and the 220 meter low hurdles, in 1899, Kraenzlein established the long jump world record of 243 1/2. He was a leader of the Penns track-and-field team that won four consecutive team IC4A titles, Kraenzlein was especially noted for his hurdling technique, as he was among the first to practice the modern method of straight-lead-leg hurdle clearing. Arthur C. M. Croome from Great Britain first attempted the straight-lead-leg style in 1886, however, Alvin Kraenzlein perfected it and this was significant development, as it enabled athletes to over-come the hurdles without reducing speed. In 1900, Kraenzlein was training for the Summer Olympics in England and he won the British Amateur Athletic Association Championships in London in the 120 yards hurdles and the long jump before entering the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris. He established a record in the 120 yards hurdles for grass tracks. Alvin Kraenzlein became the most successful athlete of the 1900 Olympics.0 seconds and his victory in the long jump was remarkable, as Kraenzlein defeated silver medallist Meyer Prinstein, his great rival from Syracuse University, only by a single centimeter. Prinsteins mark had been set in the qualification, and he did not attend the final, altogether, thirteen student athletes from the University of Pennsylvania competed in the track events in Paris. They distinguish themselves with twenty medals including eleven gold awards, after the 1900 Olympic Games, Kraenzlein retired from athletic competition in late 1900, as the owner of six world and four Olympic records. He came back to Milwaukee and started a dental practice, Kraenzlein also became a manager of the Milwaukee Athletic Association
20.
International Association of Athletics Federations
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The International Association of Athletics Federations is the international governing body for the sport of athletics. It was founded on 17 July 1912 as the International Amateur Athletic Federation by representatives from 17 national athletics federations at the organizations first congress in Stockholm, since October 1993, it has been headquartered in Monaco. Beginning in 1982, the IAAF passed several amendments to its rules to allow athletes to receive compensation for participating in international competitions. However, the organization retained the word amateur in its name until its 2001 congress, the IAAFs president is Sebastian Coe of the United Kingdom. He was elected at the 2015 congress before the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, the process to found the IAAF was started at a meeting in Stockholm, Sweden on July 17,1912 soon after the completion of the 1912 Summer Olympics in that city. The congress that started on August 20,1913 in Berlin is when the foundation of the IAAF was formally completed, in 2015, a whistleblower leaked IAAFs blood test records from major competitions. After reviewing the results, Robin Parisotto, a scientist and leading anti-doping expert, said, so many athletes appear to have doped with impunity, and it is damning that the IAAF appears to have idly sat by and let this happen. Craig Reedie, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said his organisation was very disturbed by these new allegations, which will, once again, shake the foundation of clean athletes worldwide, and that its independent commission will investigate the claims. On 1 November 2015, former IAAF president Lamine Diack was arrested in France and is under investigation on suspicion of corruption, Diack allegedly accepted $1.2 million from the Russian athletics federation to cover up the positive doping tests of at least six Russian athletes in 2011. The report continued that the IAAF allowed the conduct to occur and must accept its responsibility and that corruption was embedded in the organization. In January 2016, as a result of the scandal and WADAs report. The BBC reported that as a result the IAAF would lose $33 million worth of revenue, the 11-year sponsorship deal with Adidas was due to run until 2019. World-record holding sprinter, Michael Johnson, described the scandal as more serious than that faced by FIFA, in February,2016, Nestle announced that it was ending its IAAF sponsorship. In June 2016, following a meeting of the IAAFs ruling council, in Ferbuary 2017, All-Russia Athletic Federation disqualified by decision of the IAAF Council for 8 years for the creation of a doping system. Since the establishment of the IAAF, it has had six presidents, The IAAF has a total of 215 member federations divided into 6 area associations
21.
Andy Turner (hurdler)
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At the 110 m hurdles, he is the 2013 World Championship bronze medallist, the 2010 European Champion and the 2010 Commonwealth Champion. Also in 2010, he broke the automatically timed world record in the 200 metres hurdles and he was coached by Lloyd Cowan. Turner was born in Hucknall, Nottingham, England and educated at Nottingham High School, Turner competed at the 2004 Athens Olympics, but failed to progress beyond the heats. Turner was third over the 110 m hurdles at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in a time of 13.62 seconds and he won the bronze medal in the 110 m hurdles at the 2006 European Athletics Championships, and finished fourth at the 2007 European Indoor Athletics Championships. Andy Turner represented Great Britain for a time at the 2008 Summer Olympics. At the beginning of the 2009 athletics season, he finished fourth in the 60 metres hurdles in the European Athletics Indoor Championships, narrowly missing out on a medal. After competing in the 150 metres street race at the Great CityGames in Manchester, Turner won the 110 m hurdles at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games in 13.30 seconds, close to a personal best. He won the 110 m hurdles at the 2009 European Team Championships, and said he intended to prove to UK Athletics and he entered the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, but was eliminated in the heats stage while carrying an injury. He went on to finish the season at the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final, Turner went on to his most significant victory to date in the 110 m hurdles at the 2010 European Athletics Championships in Barcelona later that year.28. Turner completed a successful 2010 season by winning the Commonwealth Games 110 m hurdles title in New Delhi in 13.38, at the 2011 Manchester City Games, Turner ran the rarely run 200 meters hurdles on a straight in 22.10. That time was superior to the automatically timed best by Laurent Ottoz. Ottoz had run his race in 22.55 around the bend on a conventional track, turners time still did not exceed the last officially ratified record in the event, a hand timed 21.9 by Don Styron that had already stood for more than half a century. The IAAF currently recognises all three times as records in non-IAAF World Record events, Ottoz around a bend, Styron hand timed on a straight and Turner automatically timed on a straight. He then went on to win a medal at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics after Dayron Robles was disqualified for putting Liu Xiang of China off balance. A year later on English soil at the 2012 Olympics, Turner was one of the hurdlers to help Liu off the track after his injury, turners defence of his Commonwealth title at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow was halted when he crashed out of his first round heat. At the 2014 European Athletics Championships Turner announced that he would retire from athletics at the end of the year. After retiring from athletics, Turner initially took up a career as a trainer, before deciding to follow in the footsteps of his brother, Garry. All information taken from IAAF profile and UKA profile, Andy Turner profile at IAAF Power of 10 profile for Andy Turner 2010 Article from European Athletics
22.
Great Manchester Run
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The Great Manchester Run established in 2003, is an annual 10-kilometre run through Greater Manchester and is the largest of its type in Europe. Usually held in mid-May, it is the third-largest mass participation running event in the United Kingdom, behind the Great North Run and the London Marathon. It is part of the Great Run series of races in the UK. It was formerly sponsored by Bupa and Morrisons, the course starts and finishes in Manchester city centre. It starts on Portland Street and heads southwest, out of the city centre, after entering Trafford it leaves this road and passes Old Trafford stadium. The course loops around Trafford Park, passing the Coronation Street set and it then returns to Manchester city centre along the Chester Road, finishing by the Beetham Tower in Deansgate. The 2007 race had an estimated 28,000 participants, briton Jo Pavey won the womens event while Kenyan Micah Kogo won the mens, beating the UK all-comers record by four seconds with a finishing time of 27,25 minutes. Celebrity participants included Kelly Holmes, Amir Khan and members of the cast of Coronation Street, the following year saw almost 25,000 runners complete the course. Pavey successfully defended her title at the event while Rose Cheruiyot and Bezunesh Bekele took second, austrian Günther Weidlinger took the title in the mens race. Unusual for a distance dominated by African runners, the top three finishers in the race were all European competitors. The race was upgraded to IAAF Gold Label Road Race status, around 33,000 runners signed up for the 10 kilometres race and both events were contested on 17 May. Previous 10 km winner Haile Gebrselassie stated that he wanted to regain his UK All-Comers record, despite a strong first half of the race, Gebrselassie failed to break the record after he was impeded by wet and windy conditions. Vivian Cheruiyot won the race in 32,01 minutes but conditions also slowed her time. Brian Alldis and Shelly Woods won their mens and womens wheelchair races. The addition of The Great City Games brought much attention to the Great Run event, comprising a number of 150 metres races to be run on the streets near Manchesters Deansgate, Olympic Champions Usain Bolt and Christine Ohuruogu accepted invitations to compete. Other competitors included Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie, Ivory Williams, British Olympians Marlon Devonish and Donna Fraser, Bolt suffered minor leg injuries after crashing his car near Kingston, Jamaica, but after cancelling a track meet and resuming training he stated that he would be fit to compete. Bolt completed the distance in a world best time of 14.35 seconds while Ferguson-McKenzie won the race in 16.54 seconds. Key, Course record General Tergat and Adere win inaugural Great Manchester Run, tadesse and Adere win, as numerous national 10km records fall in Manchester
23.
Harrison Dillard
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William Harrison Bones Dillard is an American former track and field athlete, the only male so far to win Olympic titles in both sprinting and hurdling events. Dillard was born in Cleveland, Ohio, attended East Technical High School and he returned to college in 1946 and resumed athletics, to which he had been inspired by Jesse Owens, who was also from Cleveland and had attended East Technical High School as well. He won the NCAA and AAU 120-yard and 220-yard hurdles in both 1946 and 1947 and he tied world records in events with a 22.3 in the 220 in 1946 and a 13.6 in the 120. At the trials for the 1948 Summer Olympics, however, Dillard failed to qualify for the 110 m hurdles event, though he qualified as third for the 100 m, not his specialty. At the Games, Dillard reached the final, which seemed to end in a dead heat between Dillard and another American, Barney Ewell, the finish photo showed Dillard had won, equalling the World record as well. This was the first use of a finish at an Olympic Games. As a member of the 4 ×100 m relay team, four years later, still a strong hurdler, Dillard did qualify for the 110 m hurdles event, and won the event in Helsinki. Another 4 ×100 m relay victory yielded Dillards fourth Olympic title, Dillard attempted to qualify for a third Olympics in 1956, but failed. Dillard took part in the 1953 Maccabiah Games, Dillard worked for the Cleveland Indians baseball franchise in scouting and public relations capacities, and hosted a radio talk show on Clevelands WERE. He also worked for the Cleveland City School District for many years as its Business Manager, four-time Olympic Gold Medalist U. S. Olympic Hall of Fame inductee James E. Sullivan Award winner Statue at Baldwin Wallace University McGraw, Daniel. Interview with Harrison Dillard, recorded Sept.13,2012, Harrison Dillard 100m win at 1948 Olympics
24.
Allen Johnson
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Allen Kenneth Johnson is a retired American hurdling athlete who won the gold medal in the 110 metre hurdles at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He is also a world champion. Born in Washington, D. C. an all-round athlete, Johnson attended University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and excelled at high jump, long jump and decathlon as well as hurdles. Johnson was troubled by injury in 2000 but still made the final at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, at the 2004 Summer Olympics he tripped over a hurdle in the 2nd preliminary round and was unable to finish the race and reach the final. He was however ranked worlds number 1 throughout 2004s season, Johnson was trained by Curtis Frye, at the University of South Carolina where he served as a volunteer assistant coach. Formerly, the sprint and hurdles coach at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO and his personal best is 12.92 seconds, only 0.01 seconds short of the then-world record held by Colin Jackson. Johnson has legally finished 11 races in less than 13 seconds, Johnson officially retired in July 2010, at the age of 39. Daughter, Tristine Johnson, competes as a 2014 senior at his alma mater University of North Carolina. S, olympic Team bio Allen Johnson profile at IAAF Curtain draws on career of 7-time World champion Johnson, article from IAAF
25.
Colin Jackson
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Colin Ray Jackson, CBE is a Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete who specialised in the 110 metres hurdles. His world record of 12.91 seconds for the 110m hurdles stood for over a decade, Jackson won his first major medal, a silver, in the 110 m hurdles, at the age of nineteen at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. He soon established himself on the scene, taking bronze at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics. After winning another silver in the 60 metres hurdles at the 1989 IAAF World Indoor Championships, he won European and Commonwealth gold medals in 1990. The 1993 season saw him reach the pinnacle of his sport, after a silver at the 1993 Indoor Worlds and this mark was unbeaten for almost thirteen years and remains the world championship record. Jackson also helped the British 4×100 metres relay team to the silver medal. This period was perhaps Jacksons most successful – he had a streak of 44 races undefeated between 1993 and 1995, in addition to European and Commonwealth golds outdoors in 1994, he set another world record, running 7.30 seconds in the 60 m hurdles. A double gold at the 1994 European Athletics Indoor Championships in the 60 m hurdles, injury affected his 1995–1996 seasons and he finished only fourth at the 1996 Olympics. He returned to the podium in 1997 but took silver twice – behind Anier García at the Indoor World Championships. After winning the European Championships for a consecutive time in 1998 he became world champion indoors. He finished fifth at the 2000 Summer Olympics and his last major medals came in 2002, taking European indoor and outdoor gold, after a period of sports management and coaching, he now works as a sports commentator for athletics and television presenter. He has appeared in Strictly Come Dancing in 2005, as well as a number of entertainment and factual TV shows. Jackson, born in Cardiff, South Wales, is of Jamaican, Maroon, Taino and he is the brother of actress Suzanne Packer who played Tess Bateman in the BBC One hospital drama Casualty. Jackson grew up in Birchgrove, attending Birchgrove Primary School and then Llanedeyrn High School and he played football and cricket for the county and rugby union and basketball for his school and joined the athletics club Birchgrove Harriers, which nurtured his talent. Under coach and close friend Malcolm Arnold, Jackson started out as a promising decathlete before switching to high hurdles and he won gold at the 1986 World Junior Championships and he soon switched to the senior ranks. Following a silver medal in the 1986 Commonwealth Games, he won the 110m hurdles silver at the 1988 Olympic Games behind Roger Kingdom, in 1992 he was restricted by a minor injury and could only finish 7th, and in 1996 he came fourth and in 2000, fifth. He set his record for the 110 metres hurdles on 20 August 1993, winning his first World Championships gold medal in Stuttgart. The new mark shaved 0.88 s, however, Jackson remains sole holder of the indoor world record at the 60 metres hurdles with a time of 7.30 seconds set in Sindelfingen, Germany on 6 March 1994
26.
Dayron Robles
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Dayron Robles is a Cuban track and field athlete who specialises in the 110 metre hurdles. He won his first major medal in the 60 metres hurdles at the 2006 World Indoor Championships and he finished the 2006 season having improved his outdoor best to 13 seconds and become the Central American and Caribbean Games champion. Pan American gold came the year in which also set a meet record of 12.92 seconds at the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Final – making him the joint fourth fastest ever. Injury ruled him out for much of 2009, but he returned strongly with a record win at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He was disqualified at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics – Mens 110 metres hurdles and he won his first international medal at the 2004 World Junior Championships in Athletics, taking the silver medal in the 110 m hurdles which was Cubas only medal of the competition. At the 2006 World Indoor Championships in Moscow he finished second with a new personal best time of 7.46 seconds. He improved upon this time with a run of 7.33 s at the 2008 PSD Bank Meeting – this was a Panamerican record and made him the second-fastest ever indoors, behind Colin Jackson. At the 2008 World Indoor Championships in Valencia he didnt advance from the due to fact that he stopped running, thinking that fellow hurdler Liu Xiang had made a false start. This was great disappointment for Robles, who had posted nine of the 11 fastest times of the season and was a favorite for winning the gold medal. At the Beijing Olympics in 2008, many anticipated a Robles and Liu showdown in the final, Robles went on to comfortably win the gold medal, posting a time of 12.93 s in the final. During the 2009 IAAF World Championships, Dayron Robles was forced out of the competition, after recovering from his injury, he entered the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships. The 60 metres final was the first time in two years that Robles had faced Liu and Terrence Trammell in the same race. Robles began the slowly but his power and technique saw him overhaul Trammell in the second half of the race to finish in 7.34 seconds. The win marked a return to form and he said his first indoor gold ahead of the American was as important to him as his Olympic victory two years earlier. His best run of the season at the Athletissima meet made him the second fastest man that year behind David Oliver and he returned to action in May 2011 and won at the Grand Prix Région Guadeloupe meet. Robles finished first in the 110m hurdles at the 2011 World Athletics Championships, however, the result was invalidated, as replays showed Robles reaching out to impede the progress of competitor Liu Xiang, using his hand to knock Xiangs hand. All information from IAAF Profile Dayron Robles profile at IAAF IAAF Focus on Athletes article
27.
Jason Richardson (hurdler)
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Jason Richardson is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 110 meter hurdles. He won the medal in the 110 meter hurdles at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu. His personal best for the event is 12.98 seconds, growing up in Cedar Hill, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, he began taking part in sports at the age of 12. Despite having a talent for hurdling, his parents were hesitant in encouraging him to compete in track. By the time he graduated from Cedar Hill High School, he had run the third fastest ever time in the 400 meter hurdles for a school athlete. In his first international outing at the 2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics, he completed a novel 110 m and 400 m hurdles double, taking both gold medals in personal record times. He became the first person ever to win a double at a major athletics championship and earned him that years Youth Athlete of the Year award from USA Track. In 2005, he obtained a McKissick Scholarship and enrolled at the University of South Carolina to study sport and he began to focus more on short-sprint hurdling and ran for the South Carolina Gamecocks, taking NCAA bronze medals indoors and outdoors in his first year at the college. Injury affected his 2006 indoor season and he failed to finish at the NCAA Indoor Championship after falling at the second hurdle and he was runner-up in both hurdles competitions at the SEC Championships outdoors, and then went on to another third-place finish in the 110 m NCAA contest. He did not make the NCAA400 m hurdles final, despite running a time of 49.82 seconds in the semi-finals and he closed the year with a silver medal over 110 m hurdles at the NACAC U-23 Championships. Richardson focused on his studies in 2007 as an injury ruled him out of the track season and his final year at South Carolina proved to be his most successful. In the 60 meter hurdles indoors, he was runner-up at the Millrose Games, Tyson Invitational and the SEC Indoors. He was also the silver medalist at the NCAA Indoor Championship, where he ran a personal best of 7.53 seconds, but lost by a fraction of a second in a photo finish. In the outdoor season, he won the SEC Championship title in the 110 m hurdles, a win at the NCAA Outdoors brought him a SEC/NCAA Regional/NCAA hat-trick. He was named South Carolinas MVP both outdoors and indoors that year and he was chosen at the USTFCCCA Scholar Athlete of the Year. He turned professional for the 2009 season and focused solely on the 110 m hurdles, his best run of the came in Gainesville. He ran on the IAAF Diamond League circuit in Europe the next year, during the 2011 IAAF Diamond League season, he won at the DN Galan and came second to Dayron Robles at the London Grand Prix with a personal record run of 13.08 seconds. He is coached by John Smith, who also trains Carmelita Jeter, on August 29,2011, Richardson ran 13.16 to win the 110 meter hurdles World Championship in Daegu, South Korea, after Robles was disqualified for impeding Liu Xiang
28.
2012 Summer Olympics
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It took place in London and to a lesser extent across the United Kingdom from 25 July to 12 August 2012. The first event, the stage in womens football began on 25 July at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. 10,768 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees participated, London is the first and only city thus far to host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948. Construction for the Games involved considerable redevelopment, with an emphasis on sustainability, the main focus was a new 200-hectare Olympic Park, constructed on a former industrial site at Stratford, East London. The Games also made use of venues that already existed before the bid, the Games received widespread acclaim for their organisation, with the volunteers, the British military and public enthusiasm praised particularly highly. During the Games, Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Brunei entered female athletes for the first time, so that every currently eligible country has sent a female competitor to at least one Olympic Games. Womens boxing was included for the first time, thus the Games became the first at which every sport had female competitors and these were the final Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Jacques Rogge. The final medal tally was led by the United States, followed by China, several world and Olympic records were set at the games. Furthermore, the focus on sporting legacy and post-games venue sustainability was seen as a blueprint for future Olympics. On 18 May 2004, as a result of a technical evaluation. All five submitted their candidate files by 19 November 2004 and were visited by the IOC inspection team during February, throughout the process, Paris was widely seen as the favourite, particularly as this was its third bid in recent years. London was initially seen as lagging behind Paris by a considerable margin and its position began to improve after the appointment of Lord Coe as the new head of London 2012 on 19 May 2004. In late August 2004, reports predicted a tie between London and Paris, on 6 June 2005, the IOC released its evaluation reports for the five candidate cities. They did not contain any scores or rankings, but the report for Paris was considered the most positive, London was close behind, having closed most of the gap observed by the initial evaluation in 2004. New York and Madrid also received positive evaluations. On 1 July 2005, when asked who would win, Jacques Rogge said, but my gut feeling tells me that it will be very close. Perhaps it will come down to a difference of say ten votes, on 6 July 2005, the final selection was announced at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore. Moscow was the first city to be eliminated, followed by New York, the final two contenders were London and Paris
29.
Forrest Smithson
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Forrest Custer Smithson was an American athlete, winner of 110 m hurdles at the 1908 Summer Olympics. Born in Portland, Oregon, Smithson was a student of theology from Oregon State University, at London, the main favourites were Smithsons teammates John Garrels and Arthur Shaw who had earlier equaled Alvin Kraenzleins world record of 15.2 seconds. The 110 m hurdles was not contested on a track as usual, only Americans reached the final, which was contested on the last day of the London Games. Smithson defeated Garrels and set a new record of 15.0 seconds. Forrest Smithson died in Contra Costa County, California, aged 78, there is a widespread story about Smithson winning the gold medal while carrying a Bible in his left hand. At first, none of the 110 m hurdles heats nor the final were scheduled or planned to place on Sunday. The story was not mentioned in the newspapers and this story is based on a picture published in the official report, which was taken during the final. The fact was that Forrest Smithson was a strong Christian and often ran with a Bible in his hand to point people to the source of his strength and inspiration, Forrest Smithson at Sports Reference, retrieved 2010-02-02
30.
Earl Thomson
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Earl John Tommy Thomson was a Canadian athlete, a specialist in the high hurdles. Thomson attended Long Beach Poly, where he won the 120 yard hurdles at the first CIF California State Meet in 1915 and he also was second in the high jump and fourth in the discus throw. In 1916 he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, and served there during World War I and he then went to the University of Southern California for one year and then transferred to Dartmouth College. He graduated from there in 1922, in 1918, he had already won the AAU championships in the high hurdles, and in 1920, he set a new world record in the 110 m hurdles, running 14.4. This record would remain unbeaten until 1931, although it was equaled a number of times and he sought to represent the United States at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, but was ruled ineligible due to his Canadian citizenship. He then joined the Canadian Olympic team, at the Olympics, Thomson won a clear victory over his American rivals. The following year, he equaled his own record, and won the AAU, IC4A. That year he won the 220 yard low hurdles. He retired after his third AAU title, in 1922, lat, Thomson became a track and field coach, coaching the team of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland for 36 years. Thomson was an inductee to Canadas Sports Hall of Fame in 1955. He died of cancer in Oceanside, California aged 76, official film of 1920 Olympics 110 hurdles on YouTube
31.
Forrest Towns
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Forrest Grady Spec Towns was an American track and field athlete. He was the 1936 Olympic champion in the 110 m hurdles, born in Fitzgerald, Georgia, Towns grew up in Augusta, Georgia, where he played football in high school at Richmond Academy. In 1933, he earned a scholarship to the University of Georgia after a sports journalist had seen him high jumping in his back yard. Rather than high jumping, Towns specialized in the hurdles, winning NCAA. It was the beginning of a 60 race winning streak, lasting until 1937, in 1936, Towns was named to the American Olympic team, becoming the first Georgian to achieve this. During the Olympics in Berlin, Germany, Towns became the record holder with 14.1. Also, he became the first Georgian to earn Olympic Gold, shortly after the Games, he became the first hurdler under 14 seconds. At a race in Oslo, he improved the world record to 13.7 – a time that would stand until 1950. After college, Towns became Head Track and Field coach at UGA, in 1991, he died in Athens, Georgia at age 77. He was honored at the University with the naming of the Spec Towns Track, Olympic medalists in athletics Extensive biography Georgia Sports Hall of Fame profile
32.
Jack Davis (athlete)
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Jack Wells Davis was an American track and field hurdler, silver medalist in the 1952 and 1956 Olympics over 110-meter hurdles. Davis lost to Harrison Dillard in 1952 with the time as the winner. He set a new world record 13.4 in a heat at the AAU in 1956, Davis attended Herbert Hoover High School in Glendale, California, where he won both hurdle races at the 1949 CIF California State Meet, along with a third in the long jump. After that performance, he was named Athlete of the Meet and he then went to the University of Southern California. At USC he was a three-time NCAA 120y hurdle champion and the 1953 NCAA 220y hurdle champion, outdoor 220y hurdles champion, and ranked #1 on three occasions. In 2004, he was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame, and he helped found the United States Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California
33.
Brussels
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Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the region of Flanders or Wallonia. The region has a population of 1.2 million and an area with a population of over 1.8 million. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, the secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are also located in Brussels. Today, it is considered an Alpha global city, historically a Dutch-speaking city, Brussels has seen a language shift to French from the late 19th century onwards. Today, the majority language is French, and the Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. All road signs, street names, and many advertisements and services are shown in both languages, Brussels is increasingly becoming multilingual with increasing numbers of migrants, expatriates and minority groups speaking their own languages. The most common theory of the origin of Brussels name is that it derives from the Old Dutch Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning marsh, Saint Vindicianus, the bishop of Cambrai made the first recorded reference to the place Brosella in 695 when it was still a hamlet. The origin of the settlement that was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580. The official founding of Brussels is usually situated around 979, when Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel, Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island. Lambert I of Leuven, Count of Leuven gained the County of Brussels around 1000 by marrying Charles daughter, as it grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. The Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant at about this time, in the 13th century, the city got its first walls. After the construction of the city walls in the early 13th century, to let the city expand, a second set of walls was erected between 1356 and 1383. Today, traces of it can still be seen, mostly because the small ring, Brabant had lost its independence, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and flourished. In 1516 Charles V, who had been heir of the Low Countries since 1506, was declared King of Spain in St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. Upon the death of his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 and it was in the Palace complex at Coudenberg that Charles V abdicated in 1555. This impressive palace, famous all over Europe, had expanded since it had first become the seat of the Dukes of Brabant. In 1695, during the Nine Years War, King Louis XIV of France sent troops to bombard Brussels with artillery, together with the resulting fire, it was the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels
34.
Ostrava
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Ostrava is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and is the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It is 15 km from the border with Poland, at the point of four rivers. The population was around 300,000 in 2013, Ostrava grew to prominence thanks to its position at the heart of a major coalfield, becoming an important industrial centre. Industries have been restructured, and the last coal was mined in the city in 1994. Lower Vítkovice has applied for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List, since the 1990s Ostrava has been transformed into a modern cultural city, with numerous theatres, galleries and other cultural facilities. It hosts a range of cultural and sporting events throughout the year. Among the best known are the Colours of Ostrava multi-genre music festival, the Janáček May classical music festival, Ostrava is home to two public universities, the VŠB-Technical University and the University of Ostrava. In 2014 Ostrava was a European City of Sport, the city co-hosted the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in 2004 and 2015. The city’s coat of arms features a shield with a rearing silver horse standing on a green lawn. The horse wears a saddle and a red coverlet. At the top right of the shield there is a rose with green leaves. The horse in the coat-of-arms wears no bridle, the oldest known depiction of this coat-of-arms is on a seal dating from 1426, the first coloured version dates from 1728. This explanation is supported by most modern literature, in 2008, Ostrava’s new marketing logo was unveiled. Designed by Studio Najbrt, the logo “OSTRAVA. ” is used in presentations of the city both in the Czech Republic and abroad. The three exclamation marks are meant to symbolise the dynamism, energy and self-confidence of Ostrava and its people, the light blue colour of the city’s name is based on the heraldic tradition, while the exclamation marks are a contrasting darker blue. The logo is intended to be striking, provocative and above all memorable, the first written mention of Silesian Ostrava dates from 1229, when it was described as a settlement. The first mention of Moravian Ostrava describes it as a township, Ostrava grew up on the banks of the Ostrá River, from which it took its name. This river still divides the city into two parts, Moravian Ostrava and Silesian Ostrava
35.
Lausanne
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Lausanne is a city in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and the capital and biggest city of the canton of Vaud. The city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva and it faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura Mountains to its north-west. Lausanne is located 62 kilometres northeast of Geneva, Lausanne has a population of 146,372, making it the fourth largest city in Switzerland, with the entire agglomeration area having 420,000 inhabitants. The metropolitan area of Lausanne-Geneva was over 1.2 million inhabitants in 2000, Lausanne is a focus of international sport, hosting the International Olympic Committee, the Court of Arbitration for Sport and some 55 international sport associations. It lies in a noted wine-growing region, the city has a 28-station metro system, making it the smallest city in the world to have a rapid transit system. Lausanne will host the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, by the 2nd century AD it was known as vikanor Lousonnensium and in 280 as lacu Lausonio. By 400 it was civitas Lausanna and in 990 it was mentioned as Losanna, after the fall of the Roman Empire, insecurity forced the transfer of Lausanne to its current centre, a hilly site that is easier to defend. The city which emerged from the camp was ruled by the Dukes of Savoy, then it came under Bern from 1536 to 1798 and a number of its cultural treasures, including the hanging tapestries in the Cathedral, were permanently removed. Lausanne has made a number of requests to recover them, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, Lausanne became a place of refuge for French Huguenots. In 1729 a seminary was opened by Antoine Court and Benjamin Duplan, by 1750 ninety pastors had been sent back to France to work clandestinely, this number would rise to four hundred. Official persecution ended in 1787, a faculty of Protestant theology was established at Montauban in 1808, during the Napoleonic Wars, the citys status changed. In 1803, it became the capital of a newly formed Swiss canton, in 1964 the city hosted the Swiss National Exhibition, displaying its newly found confidence to host major international events. From the 1950s to 1970s a large number of Italians, Spaniards and Portuguese immigrated, settling mostly in the district of Renens. The city has served as a refuge for European artists, while under the care of a psychiatrist at Lausanne, T. S. Eliot composed most of his 1922 poem The Wasteland. Hemingway also visited from Paris with his wife during the 1920s, in fact, many creative people - such as Edward Gibbon, an historian, and Romantic era poets Shelley and Byron - have sojourned, lived, and worked in Lausanne or nearby. The city has been quiet, but in the late 1960s. Later demonstrations took place to protest against the high cinema prices, the most important geographical feature of the area surrounding Lausanne is Lake Geneva. Lausanne boasts a dramatic panorama over the lake and the Alps, in addition to its generally southward-sloping layout, the centre of the city is the site of an ancient river, the Flon, which has been covered since the 19th century
36.
David Oliver (hurdler)
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David Oliver, is an American hurdling athlete. As a professional athlete, he competes in the 110 meter hurdles event outdoor and he is the former 110 meter hurdles champion winning the gold medal at the World Championships in Moscow with a time of 13 seconds dead. He won the medal in the 2008 Olympic Games and won another bronze at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He was the American record holder in the 110 meter hurdles and he also won the gold medal at the 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final. He has a personal best of 12.89 seconds in the 110 m hurdles, having been recruited from Denver East High School by Howard Universitys head coach, Michael Merritt, Oliver enjoyed his first successes on the track in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. He won four consecutive outdoor MEAC110 metres hurdles titles, from 2001–2004 and he was also a MEAC indoor champion in the 55 metres hurdles, winning in 2003 in 7.34 seconds. This was Howards most recent track and field All-American since Calvin Branch received the honor in 1989, later that season, he recorded an outdoor Howard University record of 13.55 seconds for the 110 m hurdles at the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta. During his time at college, he played wide receiver for the Howard Bison football team. Mostly playing on teams, Olivers physical abilities drew the attention of NFL teams. He was invited for try-outs with the Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings, after leaving college, he pursued track and field professionally. In 2006 he won at the Internationales Stadionfest IAAF Golden League meet in Berlin, in 2007 he was second at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships after winning at the Tyson Invitational. Outdoors, he improved his personal best to 13.14 seconds, finishing runner-up at the Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix, and was third at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. This meant he qualified for the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and he almost reached the final, in 2008 Oliver won his first national title in the 60 m hurdles. At the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships, he was knocked out in the semi-finals stage, later in the year he ran a personal best of 12.95 seconds at the Qatar Grand Prix. Oliver went on to claim the medal in the 110 m hurdles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, finishing behind Dayron Robles who set an Olympic record. He closed the year with victories at the ISTAF meet in Berlin and he was the second fastest 110 m hurdler of 2008. He scored his first IAAF Diamond League win at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in May, the following month he set a new personal best of 12.93 seconds to win his second national title at the USA Championships. Oliver improved on his personal best in the 110 m hurdles on July 3,2010, with a time of 12.90 seconds, equalling the area and national record held by Dominique Arnold
37.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
38.
Kingston, Jamaica
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Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal. In the Americas, Kingston is the largest predominantly English-speaking city south of the United States. The local government bodies of the parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew were amalgamated by the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation Act of 1923, to form the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation. Greater Kingston, or the Corporate Area refers to areas under the KSAC, however, it does not solely refer to Kingston Parish. Kingston Parish had a population of 96,052, and St. Andrew parish had a population of 555,828 in 2001, Kingston is only bordered by Saint Andrew to the east, west and north. The city proper is bounded by Six Miles to the west, Stony Hill to the north, Papine to the northeast and Harbour View to the east, communities in urban and suburban Saint Andrew. Communities in rural St. Andrew such as Gordon Town, Mavis Bank, Lawrence Tavern, Mt. Airy, two parts make up the central area of Kingston, the historic Downtown, and New Kingston. Both are served by Norman Manley International Airport and also by the smaller, Kingston was founded in July 1692 as a place for survivors of the 1692 earthquake that destroyed Port Royal. Before the earthquake, Kingston’s functions were purely agricultural, the earthquake survivors set up a camp on the sea front. Approximately two thousand people died due to mosquito-borne diseases, initially the people lived in a tented camp on Colonel Barrys Hog Crawle. The town did not begin to grow until after the destruction of Port Royal by fire in 1703. Surveyor John Goffe drew up a plan for the town based on a grid bounded by North, East, West, by 1716 it had become the largest town and the centre of trade for Jamaica. The government sold land to people with the regulation that they no more than the amount of the land that they owned in Port Royal. Gradually wealthy merchants began to move their residences from above their businesses to the lands north on the plains of Liguanea. The first free school, Wolmerss, was founded in 1729 and there was a theatre, first on Harbour Street, in 1755 the governor, Sir Charles Knowles, had decided to transfer the government offices from Spanish Town to Kingston. It was thought by some to be a location for the Assembly in proximity to the moral distractions of Kingston. By the end of the 18th century, the city contained more than 3,000 brick buildings, the harbour fostered trade, and played part in several naval wars of the 18th century
39.
Stuttgart
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Stuttgart is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the Stuttgart Cauldron an hour from the Swabian Jura. Stuttgarts urban area has a population of 623,738, making it the sixth largest city in Germany. 2.7 million people live in the administrative region and another 5.3 million people in its metropolitan area. Since the 6th millennium BC, the Stuttgart area has been an important agricultural area and has been host to a number of cultures seeking to utilize the rich soil of the Neckar valley. The Roman Empire conquered the area in 83 AD and built a massive Castrum near Bad Cannstatt, Stuttgarts roots were truly laid in the 10th century with its founding by Liudolf, Duke of Swabia as a stud farm for his warhorses. Overshadowed by nearby Cannstatt, the town grew steadily and was granted a charter in 1320, the fortunes of Stuttgart turned with those of the House of Württemberg, and they made it the capital of their County, Duchy, and Kingdom from the 15th Century to 1918. Stuttgart prospered despite setbacks in the forms of the Thirty Years War and devastating air raids by the Allies on the city, however, by 1952, the city had bounced back and became the major economic, industrial, tourism and publishing center it is today. Stuttgart is also an important transport junction, and possesses the sixth largest airport in Germany. Such companies as Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Daimler AG, Dinkelacker, Stuttgart is unusual in the scheme of German cities. It is spread across a variety of hills, valleys and parks and this is often a source of surprise to visitors who associate the city with its reputation as the Cradle of the Automobile. The citys tourism slogan is Stuttgart offers more, under current plans to improve transport links to the international infrastructure, the city unveiled a new logo and slogan in March 2008 describing itself as Das neue Herz Europas. For business, it describes itself as Where business meets the future, in July 2010, Stuttgart unveiled a new city logo, designed to entice more business people to stay in the city and enjoy breaks in the area. Stuttgart is a city of mostly immigrants, according to Dorling Kindersley Publishings Eyewitness Travel Guide to Germany, In the city of Stuttgart, every third inhabitant is a foreigner. 40% of Stuttgarts residents, and 64% of the population below the age of five are of immigrant background, the reason for this being that the city was founded in 950 AD by Duke Liudolf of Swabia to breed warhorses. Originally, the most important location in the Neckar river valley as the rim of the Stuttgart basin at what is today Bad Cannstatt. As with many military installations, a settlement sprang up nearby, when they did, the town was left in the capable hands of a local brickworks that produced sophisticated architectural ceramics and pottery. When the Romans were driven back past the Rhine and Danube rivers in the 3rd Century by the Alamanni, in 700, Duke Gotfrid mentions a Chan Stada in a document regarding property
Aries Merritt 12.80 (2012)
Liu Xiang 12.91 (2004)
Dayron Robles (CUB)
Omar McLeod (JAM)
Colin Jackson (GBR)
Pascal Martinot-Lagarde (FRA)
Sergey Shubenkov (RUS)
