1994 Winter Olympics
The 1994 Winter Olympics known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer failed losing to Albertville. Lillehammer was awarded the 1994 Winter Olympics in 1988, after beating United States. Lillehammer is the northernmost city to host the Winter Games and the Olympic Games overall; the Games were the first to be held in a different year from the Summer Olympics, the first and only one to be held two years after the previous winter games. The Games were the second Winter Olympics hosted in Norway, after the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, the fourth Olympics in the Nordic countries, after the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm and the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. Although many events took place in Lillehammer, skating took place in Hamar, some ice hockey matches were placed in Gjøvik, while Alpine skiing was held in Øyer and Ringebu. Sixty-seven countries and 1,737 athletes participated in sixty-one events.
Fourteen countries made their debut in the Winter Olympics, of which nine were former Soviet republics. The Games saw the introduction of stricter qualifying rules, reducing the number of under-performing participants from warm-weather countries. New events were two new distances in short track speed skating and aerials, while speed skating was moved indoors. Nearly two million people spectated the games, which were the first to have the Olympic truce in effect; the games were succeeded by the 1994 Winter Paralympics from 10 to 19 March. Manuela Di Centa and Lyubov Yegorova dominated women's cross-country skiing, taking five and four medals, respectively. A crowd of over 100,000 saw. Vreni Schneider won a complete set of medals in Alpine skiing, while Norway took a medal sweep in the men's combined. Nancy Kerrigan had, before the games, been clubbed by Tonya Harding's associate, but managed to take silver in ladies' singles. Johann Olav Koss won three speed skating events, while 13-year-old Kim Yoon-Mi became the youngest-ever Olympic gold medalist.
Sweden beat Canada in a dramatic penalty shootout in the ice hockey final. With 11 gold medals, Russia won the most events, while with 26, Norway collected the most medals overall. Planning of the Lillehammer bid started in 1981, following Falun, Sweden's failed bid for the 1988 Winter Olympics, losing to Calgary respectively, it was supported by the government to help stimulate the economy of the inland counties. Lillehammer bid for the 1992 Games, but came fourth in the voting with the games awarded to Albertville. In 1986, the International Olympic Committee voted to separate the Summer and Winter Games, held in the same year since the latter's inception in 1924, arrange them in alternating even-numbered years. A new bid was launched for the 1994 Games, modified with an indoor speed skating venue and an additional ice hall in Lillehammer. Additional government guarantees were secured. Three other locations bid for the games: Östersund and Sofia; the 94th IOC Session, held in Seoul on 15 September 1988, voted Lillehammer the host for the Games.
Until the 2018 Winter Olympics, the Lillehammer Olympics were the last Winter Games to date to be held in a town, rather than be centered in a city. 1.21 million tickets were sold for the games. LOOC estimated. In addition, 180,000 seats were used by the VIPs; the overall responsibility for the games was held by the Lillehammer Olympic Organizing Committee, created on 14 November 1988 and led by Gerhard Heiberg. It was reorganized several times with various subsidiaries, but from 1993 consisted of a single company owned 51% by Lillehammer Municipality, 24.5% by the Government of Norway and 24.5% by the Norwegian Olympic Committee. The government had issued a guarantee for the games, covered the expenses related to infrastructure; the total costs of the games was 7.4 billion Norwegian krone, of which NOK 0.95 billion was expenditure by the ministries, NOK 4.48 billion was for operations and event expenses, NOK 1.67 billion was for investments. The games had a revenue of NOK 2.71 billion, of which NOK 1.43 billion was from television rights, NOK 0.65 billion was from sponsors, NOK 0.15 billion was from ticket sales.
Production of the broadcasting, which costs NOK 462 million, was the responsibility of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, with assistance from the CTV Television Network and the European Broadcasting Union. NRK had 1,424 people working at the Olympics, while international broadcasters sent an additional 4,050 accredited broadcasting personnel; the transmission rights for the games were held by EBU in Europe, CBS in the United States, NHK in Japan, CTV in Canada, the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, Nine Network in Australia, as well as other broadcasters in other countries. The total transmission rights price was 350 million United States dollars. In part because of the Harding–Kerrigan affair, the viewship in the United States is still the highest for Winter Olympics. NOK 460 million was used on information technology, with the main system running on an IBM AS/400. 3,500 terminals were in use during the game based on the Info'94 system. Seiko delivered the time-keeping devices. Telecommunications were delivered including signal transmission.
This included a mobile radio network with nine base stations. As part of its promotional activities, the
Clara Hughes
Clara Hughes, is a Canadian cyclist and speed skater who has won multiple Olympic medals in both sports. Hughes won two bronze in the 1996 Summer Olympics and four medals over the course of three Winter Olympics, she is tied with Cindy Klassen as the Canadian with six medals total. Hughes is one of the few athletes who have competed in both the Winter Olympic games. Hughes is one of only five people to have podium finishes in the Winter and Summer versions of the games, is the only person to have won multiple medals in both. Hughes was the first Canadian woman to win a medal in road cycling at the Olympics, winning two in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics; as a result of her success in multiple sports and her humanitarian efforts, Hughes was named to both the Order of Manitoba and as an Officer of the Order of Canada. She is involved with Right To Play, an athlete-driven international humanitarian organization that uses sports to encourage the development of youth in disadvantaged areas. After winning her gold medal in 2006, she donated $10,000 to Right to Play.
Throughout her career Hughes received a number of other awards and accolades. She was named Female Athlete of the Year by Speed Skating Canada in 2004 for long track. In 2006, she received Community Trophy, she was named to the 2006 List of Most Influential Women in Sport and Physical Activity by the Canadian Association for Advancement of Women and Sport. In the summer of the year 2010, it was announced that she would receive a star on the Canadian Walk of Fame and on November 15, 2010, she was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. Hughes was born in Winnipeg, is a graduate of Elmwood High School. In an interview on CBC radio show Definitely Not the Opera, Hughes reveals that as a youth, she smoked cigarettes, drank a lot at a young age and did a lot of drugs, admitting she did not envision herself as an athlete, she was inspired to begin skating after witnessing Gaétan Boucher at the 1988 Winter Olympics. She started with speed skating, but in 1990 she moved to competitive cycling, competing in track cycling and road cycling.
Hughes started speed skating at the age of 16, took up the sport of cycling at the age of 17. She would return to the sport of speed skating at the age of 28, after achieving success in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. With her experience and endurance earned through cycling, Hughes went on to a successful career competing in the 3,000 m and 5,000 m; this would lead her to medal in these long distance events at the Winter Olympics. She returned to cycling, at the age of 38, to successfully return for the 2012 London Olympics. Hughes, an 18-time Canadian national cycling champion, won the silver medal at the 1995 World Cycling Championships, she participated at the 1991, 1995, 1999 and 2003 Pan American Games and won eight Pan American Games medals. A participant at the 1990, 1994 and 2002 Commonwealth Games, Hughes won gold in the time trial, bronze in the points race on the velodrome, silver in the 50 km team time trial. Hughes participated in the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics, winning two bronze medals at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, in the individual road race and the individual time trial.
These were the second and the third medals in road cycling for Canada, after Steve Bauer's silver medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics, the first medals in cycling for a Canadian woman. As of 2011, these were the only three cycling medals for Canada. A four-time participant of the women's Tour de France, Hughes has won the 1994 Women's Challenge and the 1997 Liberty Classic. Hughes served as a commentator for cycling events for the CBC's coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In November 2010, she announced a comeback, indicating her desire to race at the 2012 Summer Olympics. At the 2011 Pan American Championships, Hughes won the individual time trial and road race, both by a big margin. In May 2011, she took first in the Tour of the Gila. In July 2011, she finished first in the inaugural Crusher in the Tushar in Utah. At the Chrono Gatineau time trials in May 2011, she finished first among an international slate of riders. In June 2012, she was selected to become part of Canada's 2012 London Olympics team, as one of four in cycling, with two other women and a man.
She is entered in road race disciplines. She finished 32nd, in the road race at the 2012 Olympics, she finished 5th in the road time trial at the 2012 Olympics. In the 2000/2001 season, Hughes made a successful comeback to speed skating, participating in the World Single Distance Championships in Salt Lake City, where she finished 11th in the 3000 m; the following season, she qualified for the 2002 Winter Olympics. After placing 10th in the 3000 m, she won the bronze medal in the 5000 m, just ahead of compatriot Cindy Klassen. With this, she became the second speed skater to win medals in the Summer and Winter Games — Christa Luding-Rothenburger won a gold in the 1000 m speed skating and silver in the 1000 m cycling sprint in 1988, she became the fourth person and second woman to win medals at the Summer and Winter Games. In 2006, she was the only Olympian to have won multiple medals at the Summer Games as well as at the Winter Games. In 2006, although she had not been asked, she announced she would not carry the Canadian flag during the opening ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
At those Olympics, she won her first gold medal in the 5000 m and a silver medal in the team pursuit as part of the Canadian team. She earned her fifth Ol
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2016 census recorded 631,486 people in the city, up from 603,502 in 2011; the Greater Vancouver area had a population of 2,463,431 in 2016, making it the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada. Vancouver has the highest population density in Canada with over 5,400 people per square kilometre, which makes it the fifth-most densely populated city with over 250,000 residents in North America behind New York City, San Francisco, Mexico City according to the 2011 census. Vancouver is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities in Canada according to that census. 30% of the city's inhabitants are of Chinese heritage. Vancouver is classed as a Beta global city. Vancouver is named as one of the top five worldwide cities for livability and quality of life, the Economist Intelligence Unit acknowledged it as the first city ranked among the top-ten of the world's most well-living cities for five consecutive years.
Vancouver has hosted many international conferences and events, including the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, UN Habitat I, Expo 86, the World Police and Fire Games in 1989 and 2009. In 2014, following thirty years in California, the TED conference made Vancouver its indefinite home. Several matches of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup were played in Vancouver, including the final at BC Place; the original settlement, named Gastown, grew up on clearcuts on the west edge of the Hastings Mill logging sawmill's property, where a makeshift tavern had been set up on a plank between two stumps and the proprietor, Gassy Jack, persuaded the curious millworkers to build him a tavern, on July 1, 1867. From that first enterprise, other stores and some hotels appeared along the waterfront to the west. Gastown became formally laid out as a registered townsite dubbed Granville, B. I.. As part of the land and political deal whereby the area of the townsite was made the railhead of the Canadian Pacific Railway, it was renamed "Vancouver" and incorporated shortly thereafter as a city, in 1886.
By 1887, the Canadian Pacific transcontinental railway was extended westward to the city to take advantage of its large natural seaport to the Pacific Ocean, which soon became a vital link in a trade route between the Orient / East Asia, Eastern Canada, Europe. As of 2014, Port Metro Vancouver is the third-largest port by tonnage in the Americas, 27th in the world, the busiest and largest in Canada, the most diversified port in North America. While forestry remains its largest industry, Vancouver is well known as an urban centre surrounded by nature, making tourism its second-largest industry. Major film production studios in Vancouver and nearby Burnaby have turned Greater Vancouver and nearby areas into one of the largest film production centres in North America, earning it the nickname "Hollywood North"; the city takes its name from George Vancouver, who explored the inner harbour of Burrard Inlet in 1792 and gave various places British names. The family name "Vancouver" itself originates from the Dutch "Van Coevorden", denoting somebody from the city of Coevorden, Netherlands.
The explorer's ancestors came to England "from Coevorden", the origin of the name that became "Vancouver". Archaeological records indicate that Aboriginal people were living in the "Vancouver" area from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago; the city is located in the traditional and presently unceded territories of the Squamish and Tseil-Waututh peoples of the Coast Salish group. They had villages in various parts of present-day Vancouver, such as Stanley Park, False Creek, Point Grey and near the mouth of the Fraser River. Europeans became acquainted with the area of the future Vancouver when José María Narváez of Spain explored the coast of present-day Point Grey and parts of Burrard Inlet in 1791—although one author contends that Francis Drake may have visited the area in 1579; the explorer and North West Company trader Simon Fraser and his crew became the first-known Europeans to set foot on the site of the present-day city. In 1808, they travelled from the east down the Fraser River as far as Point Grey.
The Fraser Gold Rush of 1858 brought over 25,000 men from California, to nearby New Westminster on the Fraser River, on their way to the Fraser Canyon, bypassing what would become Vancouver. Vancouver is among British Columbia's youngest cities. A sawmill established at Moodyville in 1863, began the city's long relationship with logging, it was followed by mills owned by Captain Edward Stamp on the south shore of the inlet. Stamp, who had begun logging in the Port Alberni area, first attempted to run a mill at Brockton Point, but difficult currents and reefs forced the relocation of the operation in 1867 to a point near the foot of Dunlevy Street; this mill, known as the Hastings Mill, became the nucleus. The mill's central role in the city waned after the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s, it remained important to the local economy until it closed in the 1920s. The settlement which came to be called Gastown grew around
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated at the confluence of the Bow River and the Elbow River in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, about 80 km east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies; the city anchors the south end of what Statistics Canada defines as the "Calgary–Edmonton Corridor". The city had a population of 1,267,344 in 2018, making it Alberta's largest city and Canada's third-largest municipality. In 2016, Calgary had a metropolitan population of 1,392,609, making it the fourth-largest census metropolitan area in Canada; the economy of Calgary includes activity in the energy, financial services and television, transportation and logistics, manufacturing, aerospace and wellness, tourism sectors. The Calgary CMA is home to the second-highest number of corporate head offices in Canada among the country's 800 largest corporations. In 2015, Calgary had the highest number of millionaires per capita of any major city in Canada.
In 1988, Calgary became the first Canadian city to host the Winter Olympic Games. Calgary has been recognized for its high quality of life. In 2018, The Economist magazine ranked Calgary the fourth-most liveable city in the world in their Global Liveability Ranking. Calgary is classed as a Beta global city. Calgary was named after Calgary on the Isle of Scotland. In turn, the name originates from a compound of kald and gart, similar Old Norse words, meaning "cold" and "garden" used when named by the Vikings who inhabited the Inner Hebrides. Alternatively, the name might be Gaelic Cala ghearraidh, meaning "beach of the meadow", or Gaelic for either "clear running water" or "bay farm"; the indigenous peoples of Southern Alberta referred to the Calgary area as "elbow", in reference to the sharp bend made by the Bow River and the Elbow River. In some cases, the area was named after the reeds that grew along the riverbanks, which were used to fashion bows. In the Blackfoot language, the area was known as Mohkínstsis akápiyoyis, meaning "elbow many houses", reflecting its strong settler presence.
The shorter form of the Blackfoot name, Mohkínstsis meaning "elbow", has been the popular Indigenous term for the Calgary area. In the Nakoda language, the area is known as Wincheesh-pah or Wenchi Ispase, both meaning "elbow". In the Nehiyaw Language, the area was known as Otoskwanik meaning "house at the elbow" or Otoskwunee meaning "elbow". In the Tsuut'ina language, the area is known as Kootsisáw meaning "elbow". In the Slavey language, the area was known as Klincho-tinay-indihay meaning "many horse town", referring to the Calgary Stampede and the city's settler heritage. There have been several attempts to revive the indigenous names of Calgary. In response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, local post-secondary institutions have adopted "official acknowledgements" of indigenous territory using the Blackfoot name of the City, Mohkínstsis. In 2017, the Stoney Nakoda sent an application to the Government of Alberta, to rename Calgary as Wichispa Oyade meaning "elbow town", however this has been challenged by the Piikani Blackfoot.
The Calgary area was inhabited by pre-Clovis people whose presence has been traced back at least 11,000 years. The area has been inhabited by the Niitsitapi, îyârhe Nakoda, the Tsuut'ina First Nations peoples and Métis Nation, Region 3; as Mayor Naheed Nenshi describes, "There have always been people here. In Biblical times there were people here. For generations beyond number, people have come here to this land, drawn here by the water, they come here to fish. He was the first recorded European to visit the area. John Glenn was the first documented European settler in the Calgary area, in 1873. In 1875, the site became a post of the North-West Mounted Police; the NWMP detachment was assigned to protect the western plains from US whisky traders, to protect the fur trade. Named Fort Brisebois, after NWMP officer Éphrem-A. Brisebois, it was renamed Fort Calgary in 1876 by Colonel James Macleod; when the Canadian Pacific Railway reached the area in 1883, a rail station was constructed, Calgary began to grow into an important commercial and agricultural centre.
Over a century the Canadian Pacific Railway headquarters moved to Calgary from Montreal in 1996. Calgary was incorporated as a town in 1884, elected its first mayor, George Murdoch. In 1894, it was incorporated as "The City of Calgary" in what was the North-West Territories; the Calgary Police Service was established in 1885 and assumed municipal, local duties from the NWMP. The Calgary Fire of 1886 occurred on November 7, 1886. Fourteen buildings were destroyed with losses estimated at $103,200. Although no one was killed or injured, city officials drafted a law requiring all large downtown buildings to be built with Paskapoo sandstone, to prevent this from happening again. After the arrival of the railway, the Dominion Government started leasing grazing land at minimal cost; as a result of this policy, large ranching operations were established in the outlying country near Calgary. A transportation and distribution hub, Calgary became the centre of Canada's cattle marketing and meatpacking industries.
By the late 19th century, the Hud
Speed skating
Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, marathon speed skating. In the Olympic Games, long-track speed skating is referred to as just "speed skating", while short-track speed skating is known as "short track"; the ISU, the governing body of both ice sports, refers to long track as "speed skating" and short track as "short track skating". An international federation was founded in the first for any winter sport; the sport enjoys large popularity in the Netherlands and South Korea. There are top international rinks in a number of other countries, including Canada, the United States, Italy, Japan and Kazakhstan. A World Cup circuit is held with events in those countries plus two events in the Thialf ice hall in Heerenveen, Netherlands; the standard rink for long track is 400 meters long, but tracks of 200, 250 and 3331⁄3 meters are used occasionally.
It is one of the one with the longer history. International Skating Union rules allow radius of curves. Short track speed skating takes place on a smaller rink the size of an ice hockey rink, on a 111.12 m oval track. Distances are shorter than in long-track racing, with the longest Olympic individual race being 1500 meters. Event are held with a knockout format, with the best two in heats of four or five qualifying for the final race, where medals are awarded. Disqualifications and falls are not uncommon. There are variations on the mass-start races. In the regulations of roller sports, eight different types of mass starts are described. Among them are elimination races, where one or more competitors are eliminated at fixed points during the course. Races have some rules about disqualification if an opponent is unfairly hindered. In long track speed skating any infringement on the pairmate is punished, though skaters are permitted to change from the inner to the outer lane out of the final curve if they are not able to hold the inner curve, as long as they are not interfering with the other skater.
In mass-start races, skaters will be allowed some physical contact. Team races are held. Relay races are held in short track and inline competitions, but here, exchanges may take place at any time during the race, though exchanges may be banned during the last couple of laps. Most speed skating races are held on an oval course. Oval sizes vary. Inline skating rinks are between 125 and 400 metres, though banked tracks can only be 250 metres long. Inline skating can be held on closed road courses between 400 and 1,000 metres, as well as open-road competitions where starting and finishing lines do not coincide; this is a feature of outdoor marathons. In the Netherlands, marathon competitions may be held on natural ice on canals, bodies of water such as lakes and rivers, but may be held on artificially frozen 400 m tracks, with skaters circling the track 100 times, for example; the roots of speed skating date back over a millennium to Scandinavia, Northern Europe and the Netherlands, where the natives added bones to their shoes and used them to travel on frozen rivers and lakes.
In contrast to what people think, ice skating has always been an activity of joy and sports and not a matter of transport. For example, winters in the Netherlands have never been stable and cold enough to make ice skating a way of travelling or a mode of transport; this has been described in 1194 by William Fitzstephen, who described a sport in London. In Norway, King Eystein Magnusson King Eystein I of Norway, boasts of his skills racing on ice legs; however and speed skating was not limited to the Netherlands and Scandinavia. It was iron-bladed skates. By 1642, the first official skating club, The Skating Club Of Edinburgh, was born, and, in 1763, the world saw its first official speed skating race, on the Fens in England organized by the National Ice Skating Association. While in the Netherlands, people began touring the waterways connecting the 11 cities of Friesland, a challenge which led to the Elfstedentocht. By 1851, North Americans had discovered a love of the sport, indeed the all-steel blade was developed there.
The Netherlands came back to the fore in 1889 with the organization of the first world championships. The ISU was born in the Netherlands in 1892. By the start of the 20th century and speed skating had come into its own as a major popular sporting activity. Organized races on ice skates developed in the 19th century. Norwegian clubs hosted competitions with races in Christiania drawing five-digit crowds. In 1884, the Norwegian Axel Paulsen was named Amateur Champion Skater of the World after winning competitions in the United States. Five years a sports club in Amsterdam held an ice-skating event they called a world championship, with participants from Russia
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics are leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games are considered the world's foremost sports competition with more than 200 nations participating; the Olympic Games are held every four years, with the Summer and Winter Games alternating by occurring every four years but two years apart. Their creation was inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. 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 governing body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority. The evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries has resulted in several changes to the Olympic Games; some of these adjustments include the creation of the Winter Olympic Games for snow and ice sports, the Paralympic Games for athletes with a disability, the Youth Olympic Games for athletes aged 14 to 18, the five Continental games, the World Games for sports that are not contested in the Olympic Games.
The Deaflympics and Special Olympics are endorsed by the IOC. The IOC has had to adapt to a variety of economic and technological advancements; the abuse of amateur rules by the Eastern Bloc nations prompted the IOC to shift 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 and commercialisation of the Games. World wars led to the cancellation of the 1916, 1940, 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, organising committees for each specific Olympic Games. As the decision-making body, the IOC is responsible for choosing the host city for each Games, organises and funds the Games according to the Olympic Charter; the IOC 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, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies.
Over 13,000 athletes compete at the Summer and Winter Olympic Games in 33 different sports and nearly 400 events. The first and third-place finishers in each event receive Olympic medals: gold and bronze, respectively; the Games have grown so much. This growth has created numerous challenges and controversies, including boycotts, bribery, a terrorist attack in 1972; every two years the Olympics and its media exposure provide athletes with the chance to attain national and sometimes international fame. The Games constitute an opportunity for the host city and country to showcase themselves to the world; the Ancient Olympic Games were religious and athletic festivals held every four years at the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia, Greece. Competition was among representatives of several kingdoms of Ancient Greece; these Games featured athletic but combat sports such as wrestling and the pankration and chariot racing events. 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 truce. This idea is a modern myth; the truce did allow those religious pilgrims who were travelling to Olympia to pass through warring territories unmolested because they were protected by Zeus. The origin of the Olympics is shrouded in legend. According to legend, it was Heracles who first called the Games "Olympic" and established the custom of holding them every four years; the myth continues that after Heracles completed his twelve labours, he built the Olympic Stadium as an honour to Zeus. Following its completion, he walked in a straight line for 200 steps and called this distance a "stadion", which became a unit of distance; the most accepted inception date for the Ancient Olympics is 776 BC. The Ancient Games featured running events, a pentathlon, wrestling and equestrian events. Tradition has it that a cook from the city of Elis, was the first Olympic champion; the Olympics were of fundamental religious importance, featuring sporting events alongside ritual sacrifices honouring both Zeus and Pelops, divine hero and mythical king of Olympia.
Pelops was famous for his chariot race with King Oenomaus of Pisatis. The winners of the events were immortalised in poems and statues; the Games were held every four years, this period, known as an Olympiad, was used by Greeks as one of their units of time measurement. The Games were part of a cycle known as the Panhellenic Games, which included the Pythian Games, the Nemean Games, the Isthmian Games; the Olympic Games reached their zenith in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, but gradually declined in importance as the Romans gained power and influence in Gr
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada, located between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. With an estimated population of 5.016 million as of 2018, it is Canada's third-most populous province. The first British settlement in the area was Fort Victoria, established in 1843, which gave rise to the City of Victoria, at first the capital of the separate Colony of Vancouver Island. Subsequently, on the mainland, the Colony of British Columbia was founded by Richard Clement Moody and the Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment, in response to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. Moody was Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works for the Colony and the first Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia: he was hand-picked by the Colonial Office in London to transform British Columbia into the British Empire's "bulwark in the farthest west", "to found a second England on the shores of the Pacific". Moody selected the site for and founded the original capital of British Columbia, New Westminster, established the Cariboo Road and Stanley Park, designed the first version of the Coat of arms of British Columbia.
Port Moody is named after him. In 1866, Vancouver Island became part of the colony of British Columbia, Victoria became the united colony's capital. In 1871, British Columbia became the sixth province of Canada, its Latin motto is Splendor sine occasu. The capital of British Columbia remains Victoria, the fifteenth-largest metropolitan region in Canada, named for Queen Victoria, who ruled during the creation of the original colonies; the largest city is Vancouver, the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada, the largest in Western Canada, the second-largest in the Pacific Northwest. In October 2013, British Columbia had an estimated population of 4,606,371; the province is governed by the British Columbia New Democratic Party, led by John Horgan, in a minority government with the confidence and supply of the Green Party of British Columbia. Horgan became premier as a result of a no-confidence motion on June 29, 2017. British Columbia evolved from British possessions that were established in what is now British Columbia by 1871.
First Nations, the original inhabitants of the land, have a history of at least 10,000 years in the area. Today there are few treaties, the question of Aboriginal Title, long ignored, has become a legal and political question of frequent debate as a result of recent court actions. Notably, the Tsilhqot'in Nation has established Aboriginal title to a portion of their territory, as a result of the 2014 Supreme Court of Canada decision in Tsilhqot'in Nation v British Columbia; the province's name was chosen by Queen Victoria, when the Colony of British Columbia, i.e. "the Mainland", became a British colony in 1858. It refers to the Columbia District, the British name for the territory drained by the Columbia River, in southeastern British Columbia, the namesake of the pre-Oregon Treaty Columbia Department of the Hudson's Bay Company. Queen Victoria chose British Columbia to distinguish what was the British sector of the Columbia District from the United States, which became the Oregon Territory on August 8, 1848, as a result of the treaty.
The Columbia in the name British Columbia is derived from the name of the Columbia Rediviva, an American ship which lent its name to the Columbia River and the wider region. British Columbia is bordered to the west by the Pacific Ocean and the American state of Alaska, to the north by Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories, to the east by the province of Alberta, to the south by the American states of Washington and Montana; the southern border of British Columbia was established by the 1846 Oregon Treaty, although its history is tied with lands as far south as California. British Columbia's land area is 944,735 square kilometres. British Columbia's rugged coastline stretches for more than 27,000 kilometres, includes deep, mountainous fjords and about 6,000 islands, most of which are uninhabited, it is the only province in Canada. British Columbia's capital is Victoria, located at the southeastern tip of Vancouver Island. Only a narrow strip of Vancouver Island, from Campbell River to Victoria, is populated.
Much of the western part of Vancouver Island and the rest of the coast is covered by temperate rainforest. The province's most populous city is Vancouver, at the confluence of the Fraser River and Georgia Strait, in the mainland's southwest corner. By land area, Abbotsford is the largest city. Vanderhoof is near the geographic centre of the province; the Coast Mountains and the Inside Passage's many inlets provide some of British Columbia's renowned and spectacular scenery, which forms the backdrop and context for a growing outdoor adventure and ecotourism industry. 75% of the province is mountainous. The province's mainland away from the coastal regions is somewhat moderated by the Pacific Ocean. Terrain ranges from dry inland forests and semi-arid valleys, to the range and canyon districts of the Central and Southern Interior, to boreal forest and subarctic prairie in the Northern Interior. High mountain regions both north and south subalpine climate; the Okanagan area, extending from Vernon to Osoyoos at the United States border, is one of several wine and cider-produci
Canada
