1.
Frankfurt
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The city is at the centre of the larger Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, which has a population of 5.8 million and is Germanys second-largest metropolitan region after Rhine-Ruhr. Since the enlargement of the European Union in 2013, the centre of the EU is about 40 km to the east of Frankfurts CBD. Frankfurt is culturally and ethnically diverse, with half of the population. A quarter of the population are foreign nationals, including many expatriates, Frankfurt is an alpha world city and a global hub for commerce, culture, education, tourism and traffic. Its the site of many global and European headquarters, Frankfurt Airport is among the worlds busiest. Automotive, technology and research, services, consulting, media, Frankfurts DE-CIX is the worlds largest internet exchange point. Messe Frankfurt is one of the worlds largest trade fairs, major fairs include the Frankfurt Motor Show, the worlds largest motor show, the Music Fair, and the Frankfurt Book Fair, the worlds largest book fair. Frankfurt is home to educational institutions, including the Goethe University, the UAS, the FUMPA. Its renowned cultural venues include the concert hall Alte Oper, Europes largest English Theatre and many museums, Frankfurts skyline is shaped by some of Europes tallest skyscrapers. In sports, the city is known as the home of the top football club Eintracht Frankfurt, the basketball club Frankfurt Skyliners, the Frankfurt Marathon. Its the seat of German sport unions for Olympics, football, Frankfurt is the largest financial centre in continental Europe. It is home to the European Central Bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is one of the worlds largest stock exchanges by market capitalization and accounts for more than 90 percent of the turnover in the German market. Frankfurt is considered a city as listed by the GaWC groups 2012 inventory. Among global cities it was ranked 10th by the Global Power City Index 2011, among financial centres it was ranked 8th by the International Financial Centers Development Index 2013 and 9th by the Global Financial Centres Index 2013. Its central location within Germany and Europe makes Frankfurt a major air, rail, Frankfurt Airport is one of the worlds busiest international airports by passenger traffic and the main hub for Germanys flag carrier Lufthansa. Frankfurter Kreuz, the Autobahn interchange close to the airport, is the most heavily used interchange in the EU, in 2011 human-resource-consulting firm Mercer ranked Frankfurt as seventh in its annual Quality of Living survey of cities around the world. According to The Economist cost-of-living survey, Frankfurt is Germanys most expensive city, Frankfurt has many high-rise buildings in the city centre, forming the Frankfurt skyline. It is one of the few cities in the European Union to have such a skyline and because of it Germans sometimes refer to Frankfurt as Mainhattan, the other well known and obvious nickname is Bankfurt
2.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
3.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
4.
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
5.
Boxing
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Boxing is a combat sport in which two people wearing protective gloves throw punches at each other for a predetermined set of time in a boxing ring. Amateur boxing is both an Olympic and Commonwealth Games sport and is a fixture in most international games—it also has its own World Championships. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of one- to three-minute intervals called rounds, in the event that both fighters gain equal scores from the judges, the fight is considered a draw. In Olympic boxing, due to the fact that a winner must be declared, in the case of a draw - the judges use technical criteria to choose the most deserving winner of the bout. While people have fought in combat since before the dawn of history. The earliest evidence for fist fighting with any kind of gloves can be found on Minoan Crete, in Ancient Greece boxing was a well developed sport and enjoyed consistent popularity. In Olympic terms, it was first introduced in the 23rd Olympiad,688 B. C, the boxers would wind leather thongs around their hands in order to protect them. There were no rounds and boxers fought until one of them acknowledged defeat or could not continue, weight categories were not used, which meant heavyweights had a tendency to dominate. It was the head of the opponent which was primarily targeted, Boxing was a popular spectator sport in Ancient Rome. In order for the fighters to protect themselves against their opponents they wrapped leather thongs around their fists, eventually harder leather was used and the thong soon became a weapon. The Romans even introduced metal studs to the thongs to make the cestus which then led to a more sinister weapon called the myrmex, Fighting events were held at Roman Amphitheatres. The Roman form of boxing was often a fight until death to please the spectators who gathered at such events, however, especially in later times, purchased slaves and trained combat performers were valuable commodities, and their lives were not given up without due consideration. Often slaves were used against one another in a circle marked on the floor and this is where the term ring came from. In AD393, during the Roman gladiator period, boxing was abolished due to excessive brutality and it was not until the late 17th century that boxing re-surfaced in London. Records of Classical boxing activity disappeared after the fall of the Western Roman Empire when the wearing of weapons became common once again, however, there are detailed records of various fist-fighting sports that were maintained in different cities and provinces of Italy between the 12th and 17th centuries. There was also a sport in ancient Rus called Kulachniy Boy or Fist Fighting, as the wearing of swords became less common, there was renewed interest in fencing with the fists. The sport would later resurface in England during the early 16th century in the form of bare-knuckle boxing sometimes referred to as prizefighting. The first documented account of a fight in England appeared in 1681 in the London Protestant Mercury
6.
Cycle sport
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Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of racing including road bicycle racing, time trialling, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX. Non-racing cycling sports include cycling, cycle polo, freestyle BMX. The Union Cycliste Internationale is the governing body for cycling. The International Human Powered Vehicle Association is the body for human-powered vehicles that imposes far fewer restrictions on their design than does the UCI. The UltraMarathon Cycling Association is the body for many ultra-distance cycling races. Bicycle racing is recognised as an Olympic sport, bicycle races are popular all over the world, especially in Europe. The countries most devoted to bicycle racing include Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, other countries with international standing include Australia, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and the United States. The first bicycle race is held to have been a 1,200 meter race on the 31 May 1868 at the Parc de Saint-Cloud. It was won by expatriate Englishman James Moore who rode a bicycle with iron tires. The machine is now on display at the museum in Ely, Cambridgeshire, road bicycle racing involve both team and individual competition, and races are contested in various ways. They range from the road race, criterium, and time trial to multi-stage events like the Tour de France. The races typically take place from spring through to autumn, many riders from the northern hemisphere spend the winter in countries such as Australia, to compete or train. The longest one-day road race sanctioned by USA Cycling is Lotoja which covers the 206 miles from Logan, Utah to Jackson, criteriums are races based on circuits typically less than a mile in length and sometimes run for a set time rather than a specific distance. Criteriums are the most popular form of racing in North America. In Belgium, kermesses are popular, single-day events of usually over 120 km, as well as road races in which all riders start simultaneously, individual time trial and team time trial events are also held on road-based courses. Track cycling encompasses races that take place on banked tracks or velodromes, events are quite diverse and can range from individual and team pursuits, two-man sprints, to various group and mass start races. Competitors use track bicycles which do not have brakes or freewheels, cyclo-cross originated as a sport for road racers during the off season, to vary their training during the cold months
7.
Gymnastics
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Gymnastics is a sport involving the performance of exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, endurance and control. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shoulders, chest, alertness, precision, daring, self-confidence and self-discipline are mental traits that can also be developed through gymnastics. Gymnastics evolved from exercises used by the ancient Greeks that included skills for mounting and dismounting a horse, most forms of competitive gymnastics events are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique. Each country has its own governing body affiliated to FIG. Competitive artistic gymnastics is the best known of the gymnastic events and it typically involves the womens events of vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. Mens events are floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, other FIG disciplines include rhythmic gymnastics, trampolining and tumbling, acrobatic gymnastics and aerobic gymnastics. Disciplines not currently recognized by FIG include wheel gymnastics, aesthetic group gymnastics, mens rhythmic gymnastics and TeamGym. The word gymnastics derives from the common Greek adjective Greek, by way of the related verb γυμνάζω, whose meaning is to train naked, train in gymnastic exercise, generally to train, the verb had this meaning, because athletes in ancient times exercised and competed without clothing. It came into use in the 1570s, from Latin gymnasticus, from Greek gymnastikos fond of or skilled in bodily exercise, Gymnastics originated in ancient Spain and was originally intended for military training, where it was used by soldiers to prepare for warfare. Don Francisco Amorós y Ondeano, was born on February 19,1770 in Valencia and he was a Spanish colonel, and the first person to introduce educative gymnastic in France. Jahn promoted the use of bars, rings and high bars in international competition. The Federation of International Gymnastics was founded in Liege in 1881, by the end of the nineteenth century, mens gymnastics competition was popular enough to be included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. During the 1920s, women organized and participated in gymnastics events, the first womens Olympic competition was primitive, only involving synchronized calisthenics and track and field. These games were held in 1928, in Amsterdam, by 1954, Olympic Games apparatus and events for both men and women had been standardized in modern format, and uniform grading structures had been agreed upon. At this time, Soviet gymnasts astounded the world with highly disciplined and difficult performances, television has helped publicize and initiate a modern age of gymnastics. Both mens and womens gymnastics now attract considerable international interest, in 2006, a new points system for Artistic gymnastics was put into play. With an A Score being the difficulty score, which as of 2009 is based on the top 8 high scoring elements in a routine, the B Score, is the score for execution, and is given for how well the skills are performed. The following disciplines are governed by FIG, Artistic Gymnastics is usually divided into Mens and Womens Gymnastics
8.
Swimming (sport)
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Swimming is an individual or team sport that involves using arms and legs to move the body through water. Typically, the takes place in pools or in open-water. Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports, with events in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, in addition to these individual events, swimmers also take part in relays. Swimming each stroke requires specific techniques, and in competition, there are specific regulations concerning the form for different strokes. There are also put in place to regulate what types of swimsuits are allowed at competitions. Although it is possible for competitive swimmers to incur several injuries from the sport, evidence of recreational swimming in prehistoric times has been found, with the earliest evidence dating to Stone Age paintings from around 10000 years ago. Written references date from 2000 BC, with some of the earliest references to swimming including the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Bible, Beowulf, the Quran and others. In 1538, Nikolaus Wynmann, a German professor of languages, wrote the first swimming book, Swimming emerged as a competitive recreational activity in the 1830s in England. In 1828, the first indoor swimming pool, St Georges Baths was opened to the public, by 1837, the National Swimming Society was holding regular swimming competitions in six artificial swimming pools, built around London. In 1844 two Native American participants at a competition in London introduced the front crawl to a European audience. Sir John Arthur Trudgen picked up the stroke from some South American natives and successfully debuted the new stroke in 1873. His stroke is still regarded as the most powerful to use today, captain Matthew Webb was the first man to swim the English Channel, in 1875. Using the breaststroke technique, he swam the channel 21.26 miles in 21 hours and 45 minutes and his feat was not replicated or surpassed for the next 36 years, until T. W. Burgess made the crossing in 1911. Other European countries also established swimming federations, Germany in 1882, France in 1890, the first European amateur swimming competitions were in 1889 in Vienna. The worlds first womens swimming championship was held in Scotland in 1892, mens swimming became part of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens. In 1902, the Australian Richmond Cavill introduced the front crawl to the Western world, in 1908, the world swimming association, Fédération Internationale de Natation, was formed. Womens swimming was introduced into the Olympics in 1912, the first international tournament for women outside the Olympics was the 1922 Womens Olympiad, Butterfly was developed in the 1930s and was at first a variant of breaststroke, until it was accepted as a separate style in 1952. Competitive swimming became popular in the 19th century, the goal of competitive swimming is to break personal or world records while beating competitors in any given event
9.
Water polo
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Water polo is a competitive team sport played in the water between two teams. The game consists of four quarters, in which the two attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into their opponents goal. The team with the most goals at the end of the game wins the match, each team made up of six field players and one goalkeeper, with typically six additional players available for substitution throughout the match. Except for the goalkeeper, players participate in offensive and defensive roles. Water polo is played in an all-deep pool seven feet deep. The game is thought to have originated in Scotland in the late 19th century as a sort of water rugby, William Wilson is thought to have developed the game during a similar period. Mens water polo was among the first team sports introduced at the modern Olympic games in 1900, Water polo is now popular in many countries around the world, notably Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia. The present-day game involves teams of seven players, with a polo ball similar in size to a soccer ball. One of the earliest recorded viewings of water polo was conducted at the 4th Open Air Fete of the London Swimming Club, held at the Crystal Palace, another antecedent of the modern game of Water Polo was a game of water ‘hand-ball’ played at Bournemouth on 13 July 1876. This was a game between 12 members of the Premier Rowing Club, with goals being marked by four flags placed in the water near to the midpoint of Bournemouth Pier. The game started at 6,00 pm in the evening and lasted for 15 minutes watched by a large crowd, the rules of water polo were originally developed in the late nineteenth century in Great Britain by William Wilson. Wilson is believed to have been the First Baths Master of the Arlington Baths Club in Glasgow, the first games of aquatic football were played at the Arlington in the late 1800s, with a ball constructed of India rubber. This water rugby came to be called water polo based on the English pronunciation of the Balti word for ball, early play allowed brute strength, wrestling and holding opposing players underwater to recover the ball. Players held underwater for lengthy periods usually surrendered possession, the goalie stood outside the playing area and defended the goal by jumping in on any opponent attempting to score by placing the ball on the deck. The rules of water cover the play, procedure, equipment. These rules are similar throughout the world, although variations to the rules do occur regionally. There are seven players in the water from each team at one time, there are six players that play out and one goalkeeper. Unlike most common sports, there is little positional play
10.
Wrestling
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Wrestling is a combat sport involving grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. The sport can either be theatrical for entertainment, or genuinely competitive, a wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position. There are a range of styles with varying rules with both traditional historic and modern styles. Wrestling techniques have incorporated into other martial arts as well as military hand-to-hand combat systems. The term wrestling is attested in late Old English, as wræstlunge, Wrestling represents one of the oldest forms of combat. The origins of wrestling go back 15,000 years through cave drawings in France, babylonian and Egyptian reliefs show wrestlers using most of the holds known in the present-day sport. Literary references to it occur as early as in the ancient Indian Vedas, the Iliad contains references, in which Homer recounts the Trojan War of the 13th or 12th century BC. Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata contain references to martial arts including wrestling, in ancient Greece wrestling occupied a prominent place in legend and literature, wrestling competition, brutal in many aspects, served as the focal sport of the ancient Olympic Games. The ancient Romans borrowed heavily from Greek wrestling, but eliminated much of its brutality, during the Middle Ages wrestling remained popular and enjoyed the patronage of many royal families, including those of France, Japan and England. Early European settlers in America brought a strong wrestling tradition with them if they came from England, the settlers also found wrestling to be popular among Native Americans. Amateur wrestling flourished throughout the years of the North American colonies and served as a popular activity at country fairs, holiday celebrations. The first organized national wrestling tournament took place in New York City in 1888, the international governing body for the sport, United World Wrestling, was established in 1912 in Antwerp, Belgium as the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles. The 1st NCAA Wrestling Championships were also held in 1912, in Ames, USA Wrestling, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, became the national governing body of amateur wrestling in 1983. It conducts competitions for all age-levels, some of the earliest references to wrestling, can be found in wrestling mythology. The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh established his credibility as a leader, after wrestling Enkidu, Greek mythology celebrates the rise of Zeus as ruler of the earth after a wrestling match with his father, Cronus. Both Heracles and Theseus were famous for their wrestling against man, the Mahabharata describes a malla-dwandwa between the accomplished wrestlers Bhima and Jarasandha. Rustam of the Shahnameh is regarded by Iranian pahlevans as the greatest wrestler, in Pharaonic Egypt, wrestling has been evidenced by documentation on tombs and Egyptian artwork. Greek wrestling was a form of martial art, at least in Ancient Greece
Austria
Belgium
Czechoslovakia
Free City of Danzig
Finland
France
Germany
Great Britain
Latvia
Poland
Switzerland
