1.
Minnesota
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Minnesota is a state in the midwestern and northern regions of the United States. Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd U. S. state on May 11,1858, the state has a large number of lakes, and is known by the slogan Land of 10,000 Lakes. Its official motto is LÉtoile du Nord, Minnesota is the 12th largest in area and the 21st most populous of the U. S. Minnesota is known for its progressive political orientation and its high rate of civic participation and voter turnout. Until European settlement, Minnesota was inhabited by the Dakota and Ojibwe/Anishinaabe, in recent decades, immigration from Asia, the Horn of Africa, and Latin America has broadened its historic demographic and cultural composition. Minnesotas standard of living index is among the highest in the United States, Native Americans demonstrated the name to early settlers by dropping milk into water and calling it mnisota. Many places in the state have similar names, such as Minnehaha Falls, Minneiska, Minneota, Minnetonka, Minnetrista, and Minneapolis, a combination of mni and polis, Minnesota is the second northernmost U. S. state. Its isolated Northwest Angle in Lake of the Woods county is the part of the 48 contiguous states lying north of the 49th parallel. The state is part of the U. S. region known as the Upper Midwest and it shares a Lake Superior water border with Michigan and a land and water border with Wisconsin to the east. Iowa is to the south, North Dakota and South Dakota are to the west, with 86,943 square miles, or approximately 2.25 percent of the United States, Minnesota is the 12th-largest state. Minnesota has some of the Earths oldest rocks, gneisses that are about 3.6 billion years old. About 2.7 billion years ago, basaltic lava poured out of cracks in the floor of the primordial ocean, the roots of these volcanic mountains and the action of Precambrian seas formed the Iron Range of northern Minnesota. Following a period of volcanism 1, in more recent times, massive ice sheets at least one kilometer thick ravaged the landscape of the state and sculpted its terrain. The Wisconsin glaciation left 12,000 years ago and these glaciers covered all of Minnesota except the far southeast, an area characterized by steep hills and streams that cut into the bedrock. This area is known as the Driftless Zone for its absence of glacial drift, much of the remainder of the state outside the northeast has 50 feet or more of glacial till left behind as the last glaciers retreated. Gigantic Lake Agassiz formed in the northwest 13,000 years ago and its bed created the fertile Red River valley, and its outflow, glacial River Warren, carved the valley of the Minnesota River and the Upper Mississippi downstream from Fort Snelling. Minnesota is geologically quiet today, it experiences earthquakes infrequently, the states high point is Eagle Mountain at 2,301 feet, which is only 13 miles away from the low of 601 feet at the shore of Lake Superior. Notwithstanding dramatic local differences in elevation, much of the state is a rolling peneplain. Two major drainage divides meet in Minnesotas northeast in rural Hibbing, forming a triple watershed, precipitation can follow the Mississippi River south to the Gulf of Mexico, the Saint Lawrence Seaway east to the Atlantic Ocean, or the Hudson Bay watershed to the Arctic Ocean
2.
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
3.
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
4.
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
5.
Sport
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Usually the contest or game is between two sides, each attempting to exceed the other. Some sports allow a tie game, others provide tie-breaking methods, to one winner. A number of such two-sided contests may be arranged in a tournament producing a champion, many sports leagues make an annual champion by arranging games in a regular sports season, followed in some cases by playoffs. Hundreds of sports exist, from those between single contestants, through to those with hundreds of participants, either in teams or competing as individuals. In certain sports such as racing, many contestants may compete, each against each other, however, a number of competitive, but non-physical, activities claim recognition as mind sports. Sports are usually governed by a set of rules or customs, which serve to ensure fair competition, winning can be determined by physical events such as scoring goals or crossing a line first. It can also be determined by judges who are scoring elements of the sporting performance, records of performance are often kept, and for popular sports, this information may be widely announced or reported in sport news. Sport is also a source of entertainment for non-participants, with spectator sport drawing large crowds to sport venues. Sports betting is in some cases severely regulated, and in some cases is central to the sport, kearney, a consultancy, the global sporting industry is worth up to $620 billion as of 2013. The worlds most accessible and practised sport is running, while football is the most popular spectator sport. The word Sport comes from the Old French desport meaning leisure, other meanings include gambling and events staged for the purpose of gambling, hunting, and games and diversions, including ones that require exercise. Rogets defines the noun sport as an activity engaged in for relaxation, the singular term sport is used in most English dialects to describe the overall concept, with sports used to describe multiple activities. American English uses sports for both terms, the precise definition of what separates a sport from other leisure activities varies between sources. They also recognise that sport can be physical, primarily mind, predominantly motorised, primarily co-ordination. The inclusion of sports within sport definitions has not been universally accepted. Whilst SportAccord recognises a number of mind sports, it is not open to admitting any further mind sports. According to Council of Europe, European Sports Charter, article 2, other bodies advocate widening the definition of sport to include all physical activity. For instance, the Council of Europe include all forms of physical exercise, in competitive events, participants are graded or classified based on their result and often divided into groups of comparable performance
6.
Poaceae
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Poaceae or Gramineae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants known as grasses. Poaceae includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and cultivated lawns, Grasses have stems that are hollow except at the nodes and narrow alternate leaves borne in two ranks. The lower part of each leaf encloses the stem, forming a leaf-sheath, with ca 780 genera and around 12,000 species, Poaceae are the fifth-largest plant family, following the Asteraceae, Orchidaceae, Fabaceae and Rubiaceae. Grasslands such as savannah and prairie grasses are dominant are estimated to constitute 40. 5% of the land area of the Earth, excluding Greenland. Grasses are also an important part of the vegetation in many habitats, including wetlands, forests. Though commonly called grasses, seagrasses, rushes, and sedges fall outside this family, the rushes and sedges are related to the Poaceae, being members of the order Poales, but the seagrasses are members of order Alismatales. The name Poaceae was given by John Hendley Barnhart in 1895, based on the tribe Poeae described in 1814 by Robert Brown, the term is derived from the Ancient Greek πόα. Grasses include some of the most versatile plant life-forms, a cladogram shows subfamilies and approximate species numbers in brackets, Before 2005, fossil findings indicated that grasses evolved around 55 million years ago. Recent findings of grass-like phytoliths in Cretaceous dinosaur coprolites have pushed this back to 66 million years ago. In 2011, revised dating of the origins of the rice tribe Oryzeae suggested a date as early as 107 to 129 Mya, a multituberculate mammal with grass-eating adaptations seems to suggest that grasses were already around at 120 mya. This separation occurred within the short time span of about 4 million years. Grass leaves are always alternate and distichous, and have parallel veins. Each leaf is differentiated into a lower sheath hugging the stem, the leaf blades of many grasses are hardened with silica phytoliths, which discourage grazing animals, some, such as sword grass, are sharp enough to cut human skin. A membranous appendage or fringe of hairs called the ligule lies at the junction between sheath and blade, preventing water or insects from penetrating into the sheath, flowers of Poaceae are characteristically arranged in spikelets, each having one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes, the part of the spikelet that bears the florets is called the rachilla. A spikelet consists of two bracts at the base, called glumes, followed by one or more florets, a floret consists of the flower surrounded by two bracts, one external—the lemma—and one internal—the palea. The flowers are usually hermaphroditic—maize being an important exception—and anemophilous or wind-pollinated, the perianth is reduced to two scales, called lodicules, that expand and contract to spread the lemma and palea, these are generally interpreted to be modified sepals. This complex structure can be seen in the image on the right, the fruit of grasses is a caryopsis, in which the seed coat is fused to the fruit wall
7.
Soil
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Soil is a mixture of minerals, organic matter, gases, liquids, and countless organisms that together support life on Earth. Soil is called the Skin of the Earth and interfaces with the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, the atmosphere, the term pedolith, used commonly to refer to the soil, literally translates ground stone. Soil consists of a phase of minerals and organic matter, as well as a porous phase that holds gases. Accordingly, soils are often treated as a system of solids, liquids. Soil is a product of the influence of climate, relief, organisms, Soil continually undergoes development by way of numerous physical, chemical and biological processes, which include weathering with associated erosion. Given its complexity and strong internal connectedness soil has been considered as an ecosystem by soil ecologists. Most soils have a dry bulk density between 1.1 and 1.6 g/cm3, while the particle density is much higher. Little of the soil of planet Earth is older than the Pleistocene and none is older than the Cenozoic, Soil science has two basic branches of study, edaphology and pedology. Edaphology is concerned with the influence of soils on living things, pedology is focused on the formation, description, and classification of soils in their natural environment. In engineering terms, soil is referred to as regolith, or loose material that lies above the solid geology. Soil is commonly referred to as earth or dirt, technically, as soil resources serve as a basis for food security, the international community advocates its sustainable and responsible use through different types of soil governance. Soil is a component of the Earths ecosystem. The worlds ecosystems are impacted in far-reaching ways by the carried out in the soil, from ozone depletion and global warming, to rainforest destruction. Following the atmosphere, the soil is the next largest carbon reservoir on Earth, as the planet warms, soils will add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere due to its increased biological activity at higher temperatures. Thus, soil carbon losses likely have a positive feedback response to global warming. Since soil has a range of available niches and habitats. A gram of soil can contain billions of organisms, belonging to thousands of species, mostly microbial, Soil has a mean prokaryotic density of roughly 108 organisms per gram, whereas the ocean has no more than 107 procaryotic organisms per milliliter of seawater. Since plant roots need oxygen, ventilation is an important characteristic of soil and this ventilation can be accomplished via networks of interconnected soil pores, which also absorb and hold rainwater making it readily available for plant uptake
8.
Woodland
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Woodland /ˈwʊdlənd/ is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses, woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of primary or secondary succession. Higher density areas of trees with a closed canopy that provides extensive. Conservationists have worked hard to preserve woodlands, because people are destroying animals habitats when building homes, for example, the woodlands in Northwest Indiana have been preserved as part of the Indiana Dunes. The term ancient woodland is used in British nature conservation to refer to any wooded land that has existed since 1600, woodlot is a closely related American term, which refers to a stand of trees generally used for firewood. While woodlots often technically have closed canopies, they are so small that light penetration from the edge makes them ecologically closer to woodland than forest, in Australia, a woodland is defined as an area with sparse cover of trees, and an open woodland has very sparse cover. Woodlands are also subdivided into tall woodlands, or low woodlands and this contrasts with forests, which have greater than 30% cover by trees
9.
Hill
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A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a summit, although in areas with scarp/dip topography a hill may refer to a particular section of flat terrain without a massive summit. The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is considered to be less tall. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia defines hill as an upland with a height up to 200 m. Today, a mountain is usually defined in the UK and Ireland as any summit at least 2,000 feet high, some definitions include a topographical prominence requirement, typically 100 feet or 500 feet. In practice, mountains in Scotland are frequently referred to as no matter what their height, as reflected in names such as the Cuillin Hills. In Wales, the distinction is more a term of land use, for a while, the U. S. defined a mountain as being 1,000 feet or more tall. Any similar landform lower than this height was considered a hill, the United States Geological Survey, however, has concluded that these terms do not in fact have technical definitions in the U. S. A hillock is a small hill, other words include knoll and its variant, knowe. Artificial hills may be referred to by a variety of names, including mound. Various names used to describe types of hill, based on appearance and these include, Drumlin – an elongated whale-shaped hill formed by glacial action. Butte – an isolated hill with steep sides and a flat top. Kuppe – a rounded hill or low mountain, typical of central Europe Tor – a rock found on a hilltop, also used to refer to the hill. Puy – used especially in the Auvergne, France, to describe a conical volcanic hill, pingo – a mound of earth-covered ice found in the Arctic and Antarctica. For example, Ancient Rome was built on seven hills, protecting it from invaders, in northern Europe, many ancient monuments are sited in heaps. Some of these are structures, but others appear to have hardly any significance. In Britain, many churches at the tops of hills are thought to have built on the sites of earlier pagan holy places. The National Cathedral in Washington, DC has followed this tradition and was built on the highest hill in that city, Hills provide a major advantage to an army, giving them an elevated firing position and forcing an opposing army to charge uphill to attack them
10.
Team sport
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A team sport includes any sport which involves two or more players working together towards a shared objective. A team sport is an activity in individuals are organized into opposing teams which compete to win. Examples are basketball, volleyball, water polo, handball, lacrosse, cricket, baseball, Team sports are practiced between opposing teams, where the players interact directly and simultaneously between them to achieve an objective. The objective generally involves teammates facilitating the movement of a ball or similar object in accordance with a set of rules, in order to score points. However, other types of team sports do not involve teammates facilitating the movement of a ball or similar item in accordance with a set of rules, for example, swimming, rowing, sailing, dragon boat racing, and track and field among others are also team sports. In other types of team sports there may not be a team or point scoring, for example. Instead of points scored against a team, the relative difficulty of the climb or walk is the measure of the achievement. In some sports where participants are entered by a team, they do not only compete against members of other teams, for example, motorsport, particularly Formula One. This process is known as team orders and although previously accepted was banned in Formula One between 2002 and 2010, after a controversy involving team orders at the 2010 German Grand Prix however, the regulation was removed as of the 2011 season. Organized sports in athletics, started in Greece in 796 BC, is recorded up to 393 BC and these games, which are Olympic games, were a form to test the skills of warriors, consisted of running, jumping or leaping, wrestling, and javelin throw. In the Bayankhongor Province of Mongolia cave paintings dating back to Neolithic age of 7000 BC depict a wrestling match surrounded by crowds, cave paintings of the Prehistoric times in Japan show a sport similar to sumo wrestling. In Wadi Sura, near Gilf Kebir in Libya, Neolithic in the cave of swimmers shows evidence of swimming in a rock painting, the name athletes is derived from Aethelius, the King of Elis in Olympia, Greece. Before the start of the gods were invoked by offering of mostly fruits. The winner of the race was crowned with a wreath of olive or laurel, in subsequent years monetary attractions were introduced as prize money. However, the practice of offering celery sticks is still in vogue in the 100 m sprint in the Olympics, the present pattern of Olympic Games is akin to the practice followed in the ancient days. The 200 m sprint is known in Greek as short foot race, the 400 m race is equivalent to two stades and called Diaulos in Greek. With the advent of computer gaming and the Internet, Esports which is in vogue for quite a few years was recorded in October 1972 as a video game. A Space war tournament was organized by Stanford University which was titled Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics with an offering of one-year subscription to Rolling Stone
11.
Autumn
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Autumn, also known as fall in North American English, is one of the four temperate seasons. One of its features is the shedding of leaves from deciduous trees. Some cultures regard the autumnal equinox as mid-autumn, while others with a longer temperature lag treat it as the start of autumn. Meteorologists use a definition based on months, with autumn being September, October and November in the northern hemisphere, in North America, autumn is usually considered to start with the September equinox and end with the winter solstice. As daytime and nighttime temperatures decrease, trees shed their leaves, in traditional East Asian solar term, autumn starts on or around 8 August and ends on or about 7 November. In Ireland, the autumn months according to the meteorological service. In Australia and New Zealand, autumn officially begins on 1 March, the word autumn comes from the ancient Etruscan root autu- and has within it connotations of the passing of the year. It was borrowed by the neighbouring Romans, and became the Latin word autumnus, after the Roman era, the word continued to be used as the Old French word autompne or autumpne in Middle English, and was later normalized to the original Latin. In the Medieval period, there are examples of its use as early as the 12th century. Before the 16th century, harvest was the usually used to refer to the season. The alternative word fall for the season traces its origins to old Germanic languages, the exact derivation is unclear, with the Old English fiæll or feallan and the Old Norse fall all being possible candidates. However, these all have the meaning to fall from a height and are clearly derived either from a common root or from each other. The term came to denote the season in 16th century England, during the 17th century, English emigration to the British colonies in North America was at its peak, and the new settlers took the English language with them. While the term gradually became obsolete in Britain, it became the more common term in North America. The name backend, a common name for the season in Northern England, has today been largely replaced by the name autumn. Association with the transition from warm to cold weather, and its status as the season of the primary harvest, has dominated its themes. In Western cultures, personifications of autumn are usually pretty, well-fed females adorned with fruits, vegetables, many cultures feature autumnal harvest festivals, often the most important on their calendars. There are also the many North American Indian festivals tied to harvest of ripe foods gathered in the wild, the Chinese Mid-Autumn or Moon festival, and many others
12.
Winter
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Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates, between autumn and spring. Winter is caused by the axis of the Earth in that hemisphere being oriented away from the Sun, different cultures define different dates as the start of winter, and some use a definition based on weather. When it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere, in many regions, winter is associated with snow and freezing temperatures. The moment of winter solstice is when the elevation with respect to the North or South Pole is at its most negative value, meaning this day will have the shortest day. The English word winter comes from the Proto-Indo-European root wend, relating to water, the tilt of the Earths axis relative to its orbital plane plays a large role in the formation of weather. The Earth is tilted at an angle of 23. 44° to the plane of its orbit, when it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere faces the Sun more directly and thus experiences warmer temperatures than the Northern Hemisphere. Conversely, winter in the Southern Hemisphere occurs when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted more toward the Sun, from the perspective of an observer on the Earth, the winter Sun has a lower maximum altitude in the sky than the summer Sun. During winter in either hemisphere, the altitude of the Sun causes the sunlight to hit that hemisphere at an oblique angle. In regions experiencing winter, the amount of solar radiation is spread out over a larger area. This effect is compounded by the distance that the light must travel through the atmosphere. Compared with these effects, the changes in the distance of the earth from the sun are negligible, the manifestation of the meteorological winter in the northerly snow–prone parallels is highly variable depending on elevation, position versus marine winds and the amount of precipitation. A case in point is Canada, a country associated with tough winters. Winnipeg on the Great Plains at a distance from large bodies of water has a January high of −11.3 °C. In comparison, Vancouver on the coast with an influence from moderating Pacific winds has a January low of 1.4 °C with days well above freezing at 6.9 °C. Both areas are on the 49th parallel north and in the western half of the continent. Winter is often defined by meteorologists to be the three months with the lowest average temperatures. This corresponds to the months of December, January and February in the Northern Hemisphere, the coldest average temperatures of the season are typically experienced in January or February in the Northern Hemisphere and in June, July or August in the Southern Hemisphere. Blizzards often develop and cause many transportation delays, diamond dust, also known as ice needles or ice crystals, forms at temperatures approaching −40 °F due to air with slightly higher moisture from aloft mixing with colder, surface based air
13.
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
14.
Long-distance running
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Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least three kilometres. Physiologically, it is largely aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength, among mammals, humans are well adapted for running significant distances, and particularly so among primates. The endurance running hypothesis suggests that running endurance in the Homo genus arose because travelling over large areas improved scavenging opportunities, the capacity for endurance running is also found in migratory ungulates and a limited number of terrestrial carnivores, such as dogs, wolves and hyenas. Long distance running can also be used as a means to improve cardiovascular health, Running improves aerobic fitness by increasing the activity of enzymes and hormones that stimulate the muscles and the heart to work more efficiently. Endurance running is often a component of military training and has been so historically. Professional running is most commonly found in the field of sports, long-distance running as a form of tradition or ceremony is known among the Hopi and Tarahumara people, among others. Distance running can also serve as an exercise for family, friends, colleagues. The social element of distance running has been linked with improved performance, in the sport of athletics, long-distance events are defined as races covering three kilometres and above. The three most common types are track running, road running and cross country running, all of which are defined by their terrain – all-weather tracks, roads and natural terrain, respectively. In collegiate cross country races in the United States, men race 8000 or 10000 meters, depending on their division, the Summer Olympics features three long-distance running events, the 5000 metres,10,000 metres and marathon. Since the late 1980s, Kenyans, Moroccans and Ethiopians have dominated in major international long-distance competitions, in this method, the hunter would run at a slow and steady pace between one hour and a few days, in an area where the animal has no place to hide. The Old Testament has a few mentions of messengers running to deliver messages, for example, in 2 Samuel 18, two runners, Ahimaaz son of Zadok and a Cushite run to deliver King David the message of the death of his son Absalom. Running messengers are reported from early Sumer, were named lasimu as military men as well as the officials who disseminated documents throughout the kingdom by running. Ancient Greece was famous for its running messengers, who were named hemerodromoi and he collapsed and died as he delivered the message “we won”.2 miles /42.195 km is based on this legend. Humans are considered among the best distance runners among all running animals, game animals are faster over short distances, but they have less endurance than humans. Unlike other primates whose bodies are designed to walk on four legs or climb trees and this leads to different bone and muscular demands especially in the legs and pelvis. Dissipation of metabolic heat, humans’ ability to cool the body by sweating through the surface provides many advantages over panting through the mouth or nose. These include a surface of evaporation and independence of the respiratory cycle
15.
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
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Road running
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Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. These events are classified as long-distance according to athletics terminology. They may involve large numbers of runners or wheelchair entrants, the three most common IAAF recognized distances for road running events are 10K runs, half marathons and marathons. Despite this, there are far more 5K road race events, due to their popularity for charity races and similar, less competitive reasons to hold an event. Road running may offer those involved a range of challenges and interests such as dealing with hills, sharp bends, varied surfaces, inclement weather, aerobic fitness, or the ability of the body to use oxygen, is the biggest factor contributing to success. The impact of running on roads puts more stress on the feet, knees and it can compensate by providing a consistent, level surface. It may put less strain on the Achilles tendon, before engaging in road running, one should choose a shoe that best suits ones foot type and running style. Road running is one of forms of road racing, which also include road bicycle racing. Race courses are held on the streets of major cities and towns. Other common distances include 5 kilometres,8 kilometres,12 kilometres, some major events have unique distances. Most road race courses are certified to be accurate to within 0. 1%, certified courses are often intentionally lengthened by one metre per km to ensure that they are not short of the stated distance. A Jones Counter attached to a bicycle is used to course length. Remeasurement to verify the length is undertaken when a record is set on a course. Running that covers a distance farther than a marathon is called ultrarunning, such events can be measured in distance or by time. Beyond the ultramarathon lie the multiday and stage races, Road running is unique among athletic events because in many cases first time amateurs are welcome to participate in the same event as members of running clubs and even current world-class champions. Sometimes race times are recorded manually by race organizers, most road races feature electronic timing using transponders, Road races are often community-wide events that highlight or raise money for an issue or project. In the USA, Susan G. Komens Race for the Cure is held nationwide to raise breast cancer awareness and this race is also run in Germany, Italy and Puerto Rico. Similarly, Race for Life holds races throughout the UK to raise money for Cancer Research UK, first person race reports frequently appear on the Dead Runners Society electronic mailing list
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International Cross Country Championships
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The International Cross Country Championships was an annual international competition in cross country running. It was created in 1903 by the International Cross Country Union and it began its life as contest between the four Home Nations of the United Kingdom. The championships featured only a mens race from 1903 to 1961. After some years as a competition, a womens race finally gained official acceptance in 1967. American runner Doris Brown was dominant in the history of the womens race, winning all. Athchamps results database Historical results from Association of Road Racing Statisticians
18.
IAAF World Cross Country Championships
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IAAF World Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international cross country running. Held annually and organised by International Association of Athletics Federations, it was inaugurated in 1973 and it was an annual competition until 2011, when the IAAF changed it to a biennial event. Traditionally, the World Cross Country Championships consisted of four races, one each for men and for women, scoring was done for individuals and for national teams. In the team competition, the positions of the top six scorers from a team of up to nine are summed for the men and women, respectively. For the junior races, the top three from a team of up to four are scored, the year 1998 saw the introduction of two new events at the World Cross Country Championships, a short race for men and a short race for women. The last time these 4 km races were held was 2006, in an incredible show of dominance, the senior mens team race has been won by Ethiopia or Kenya every year since 1981 in both the short and long races. These nations have enjoyed a similar strangle-hold on the mens races since 1982. In the senior mens 12 km race, Kenya won the championships for an astounding 18 years in a row, from 1986 through 2003. Likewise on the side, only one other nation has won the long team race since 1991, Portugal. These African nations were not quite so dominant in the short races, tirunesh Dibaba was also once the junior womens champion. Many consider the World Cross Country Championships to be the most difficult races to win, at most major championships, the worlds best distance runners are separated into a few races, i. e.3000 m Steeplechase,5000 m, and 10,000 m. However, in the absence of the short races, the World Cross Country Championships pit all runners against one another in only one race. Thus, the competition is quite fierce, numerous other champions have medalled at the Olympic Games or the World Championships, or have set World Records. In the 206th IAAF Council Meeting, held after the 2016 Summer Olympics, the council decided to add a mixed-gender relay race to the World Cross Country Championships schedule – a first for the event
19.
Motorsport
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The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two-wheeled motorised vehicles under the banner of motorcycle racing, and includes off-road racing such as motocross. Four- wheeled motorsport competition is governed by the Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile. In 1894, a French newspaper organised a race from Paris to Rouen and back, in 1900, the Gordon Bennett Cup was established. Closed circuit racing arose as open road racing, on roads, was banned. Brooklands was the first dedicated motor racing track in the United Kingdom, following World War I, European countries organised Grand Prix races over closed courses. In the United States, dirt track racing became popular, after World War II, the Grand Prix circuit became more formally organised. In the United States, stock car racing and drag racing became firmly established, motorsports ultimately became divided by types of motor vehicles into racing events, and their appropriate organisations. Open-wheel racing is a set of classes of vehicles, with their wheels outside of. However, in North America, the IndyCar series is their pinnacle open-wheeled racing series, more recently, new open-wheeled series have been created, originating in Europe, which omit the Formula moniker, such as GP2 and GP3. Former Formula series include Formula 5000 and Formula Two, the formula regulations contain a very strict set of rules which govern vehicle power, weight and size. In the United States, Indy Car is a class of single seat paved track racing and its premier race is the Indianapolis 500. Enclosed wheel racing is a set of classes of vehicles, where the wheels are primarily enclosed inside the bodywork of the vehicle, sports car racing is a set of classes of vehicles, over a closed course track, including sports cars, and specialised racing types. The premiere race is the 24 Hours of Le Mans which takes place annually in France during the month of June, sports car racing rules and specifications differentiate in North America from established international sanctioning bodies. Stock car racing is a set of vehicles, that race over a speedway track, while once stock cars, the vehicles are now purpose built, but resemble the body design and shape of production cars. NASCAR was organised in 1947, to flat track oval racing of production cars. Daytona Beach and Road Course was founded where land speed records were set on the beach, touring car racing is a set of vehicles, modified street cars, that race over closed purpose built race tracks and street courses. Motorsport was an event at the 1900 Summer Olympics
20.
Cycling
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Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. Persons engaged in cycling are referred to as cyclists, bikers, or less commonly, apart from two-wheeled bicycles, cycling also includes the riding of unicycles, tricycles, quadracycles, recumbent and similar human-powered vehicles. Bicycles were introduced in the 19th century and now approximately one billion worldwide. They are the means of transportation in many parts of the world. Cycling is widely regarded as an effective and efficient mode of transportation optimal for short to moderate distances. Cycling also offers a reduced consumption of fuels, less air or noise pollution. These lead to financial cost to the user as well as to society at large. By fitting bicycle racks on the front of buses, transit agencies can significantly increase the areas they can serve, in many countries, the most commonly used vehicle for road transport is a utility bicycle. These have frames with relaxed geometry, protecting the rider from shocks of the road, utility bicycles tend to be equipped with accessories such as mudguards, pannier racks and lights, which extends their usefulness on a daily basis. As the bicycle is so effective as a means of various companies have developed methods of carrying anything from the weekly shop to children on bicycles. Certain countries rely heavily on bicycles and their culture has developed around the bicycle as a form of transport. In Europe, Denmark and the Netherlands have the most bicycles per capita, road bikes tend to have a more upright shape and a shorter wheelbase, which make the bike more mobile but harder to ride slowly. The design, coupled with low or dropped handlebars, requires the rider to bend forward more, making use of stronger muscles, the price of a new bicycle can range from US$50 to more than US$20,000, depending on quality, type and weight. However, UCI regulations stipulate a legal race bike cannot weigh less than 6.8 kg, being measured for a bike and taking it for a test ride are recommended before buying. The drivetrain components of the bike should also be considered, a middle grade dérailleur is sufficient for a beginner, although many utility bikes are equipped with hub gears. If the rider plans a significant amount of hillclimbing a triple-chainrings crankset gear system may be preferred, otherwise, the relatively lighter and less expensive double chainring may be better. Much simpler fixed wheel bikes are also available, many road bikes, along with mountain bikes, include clipless pedals to which special shoes attach, via a cleat, enabling the rider to pull on the pedals as well as push. For basic maintenance and repairs cyclists can carry a pump, a repair kit, a spare inner tube, and tire levers
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Golf
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Golf is a club and ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not utilize a standardized playing area, the game is played on a course with an arranged progression of 18 holes. Each hole on the course must contain a tee box to start from, there are other standard forms of terrain in between, such as the fairway, rough, sand traps, and hazards but each hole on a course is unique in its specific layout and arrangement. Stroke play is the most commonly seen format at all levels, while the modern game of golf originated in 15th-century Scotland, the games ancient origins are unclear and much debated. Some historians trace the sport back to the Roman game of paganica, one theory asserts that paganica spread throughout Europe as the Romans conquered most of the continent, during the first century BC, and eventually evolved into the modern game. Others cite chuiwan as the progenitor, a Chinese game played between the eighth and 14th centuries, the game is thought to have been introduced into Europe during the Middle Ages. Another early game that resembled modern golf was known as cambuca in England, the Persian game chaugán is another possible ancient origin. In addition, kolven was played annually in Loenen, Netherlands, beginning in 1297, to commemorate the capture of the assassin of Floris V, a year earlier. The modern game originated in Scotland, where the first written record of golf is James IIs banning of the game in 1457, as an unwelcome distraction to learning archery. James IV lifted the ban in 1502 when he became a golfer himself, with golf clubs first recorded in 1503-1504, to many golfers, the Old Course at St Andrews, a links course dating to before 1574, is considered to be a site of pilgrimage. In 1764, the standard 18-hole golf course was created at St Andrews when members modified the course from 22 to 18 holes. Golf is documented as being played on Musselburgh Links, East Lothian, Scotland as early as 2 March 1672, which is certified as the oldest golf course in the world by Guinness World Records. The oldest surviving rules of golf were compiled in March 1744 for the Company of Gentlemen Golfers, later renamed The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, Andrews Golf Club in Yonkers, New York. The levels of grass are varied to increase difficulty, or to allow for putting in the case of the green, while many holes are designed with a direct line-of-sight from the teeing area to the green, some holes may bend either to the left or to the right. This is commonly called a dogleg, in reference to a dogs knee, the hole is called a dogleg left if the hole angles leftwards and dogleg right if it bends right. Sometimes, a holes direction may bend twice, this is called a double dogleg, a regular golf course consists of 18 holes, but nine-hole courses are common and can be played twice through for a full round of 18 holes. Early Scottish golf courses were laid out on links land. This gave rise to the golf links, particularly applied to seaside courses
22.
Arc (geometry)
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In Euclidean geometry, an arc is a closed segment of a differentiable curve. A common example in the plane, is a segment of a circle called a circular arc, in space, if the arc is part of a great circle, it is called a great arc. Every pair of points on a circle determines two arcs. The length, L, of an arc of a circle with radius r and this is because L c i r c u m f e r e n c e = θ2 π. Substituting in the circumference L2 π r = θ2 π, and, with α being the angle measured in degrees, since θ = α/180π. For example, if the measure of the angle is 60 degrees and this is so because the circumference of a circle and the degrees of a circle, of which there are always 360, are directly proportional. The area of the sector formed by an arc and the center of a circle is A =12 r 2 θ. The area A has the proportion to the circle area as the angle θ to a full circle. We can cancel π on both sides, A r 2 = θ2, by multiplying both sides by r2, we get the final result, A =12 r 2 θ. Using the conversion described above, we find that the area of the sector for an angle measured in degrees is A = α360 π r 2. The area of the bounded by the arc and the straight line between its two end points is 12 r 2. To get the area of the arc segment, we need to subtract the area of the triangle, determined by the circles center and the two end points of the arc, from the area A. Using the intersecting chords theorem it is possible to calculate the radius r of a circle given the height H and its perpendicular bisector is another chord, which is a diameter of the circle. The length of the first chord is W, and it is divided by the bisector into two halves, each with length W/2. The total length of the diameter is 2r, and it is divided into two parts by the first chord, the length of one part is the sagitta of the arc, H, and the other part is the remainder of the diameter, with length 2r − H. Applying the intersecting chords theorem to these two chords produces H =2, whence 2 r − H = W24 H, so r = W28 H + H2
23.
Transponder timing
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Transponder timing is a technique for measuring performance in sport events. A transponder working on a radio-frequency identification basis is attached to the athlete, prior to the use of this technology, races were either timed by hand or using video camera systems. Generically, there are two types of timing systems, active and passive. An active transponder consists of a transceiver, connected to the athlete. A passive transponder does not contain a source inside the transponder. Instead, the transponder captures electromagnetic energy produced by a nearby exciter, in both systems, an antenna is placed at the start, finish, and in some cases, intermediate time points and is connected to a decoder. This decoder identifies the unique transponder code and calculates the time when the transponder passes a timing point. Some implementations of timing systems require the use of a mat on the ground at the points while other systems implement the timing points with vertically oriented portals. This technology formed the basis of electronic timing for the worlds largest running events as well as for cycling, triathlon. Some manufacturers made improvements to the technology to larger numbers of transponders in the read field or improve the tolerance of their systems to low frequency noise. These low frequency systems are used a lot today. Other manufacturers developed their own proprietary RFID systems usually as an offshoot to more industrial applications, active transponder systems continued to mature and despite their much higher cost they retained market share in the high speed sports like motor racing, cycling and ice skating. Active systems are used at high profile events such as the Olympics due to their very high read rates. By 2005 a newer RFID technology was becoming available, mostly for industrial applications, the first and second generation transponders and readers that were being developed followed a strict protocol to ensure that multiple transponders and readers could be used between manufacturers. Much like the HF tags, the UHF tags were much cheaper to produce in volume, currently many of the largest athletic events are timed using disposable transponders either placed on the back of a race number or on the runners shoe. The low cost meant that transponders were now fully disposable and did not need to be returned to the organizers after the event, very large running events and triathlons were the first events to be transponder timed because it is near impossible to manually time them. Also for large runs there are delays in reaching the start line. Some races place antennas or timing mats at both the line and the finish line, which allow the exact net time to be calculated
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Transponder
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In telecommunication, a transponder is one of two types of devices. The term is a portmanteau for transmitter-responder and it is variously abbreviated as XPDR, XPNDR, TPDR or TP. A communications satellite’s channels are called transponders, because each is a separate transceiver or repeater, with digital video data compression and multiplexing, several video and audio channels may travel through a single transponder on a single wideband carrier. Original analog video only has one channel per transponder, with subcarriers for audio, non-multiplexed radio stations can also travel in single channel per carrier mode, with multiple carriers per transponder. This allows each station to transmit directly to the satellite, rather than paying for a whole transponder, in optical fiber communications, a transponder is the element that sends and receives the optical signal from a fiber. A transponder is typically characterized by its rate and the maximum distance the signal can travel. The difference between the two is that transceivers interface electrically with the host system using an interface, whereas transponders use a parallel interface to do so. In this view, transponders provide easier-to-handle lower-rate parallel signals, but are bulkier, as such, transponders can be considered as two transceivers placed back-to-back. This view also seems to be held by e. g. Fujitsu, as a result, difference in transponder functionality also might influence the functional description of related optical modules like transceivers and muxponders. Primary radar works best with large aircraft, but not so well on small. Its range is limited by terrain and rain or snow and also detects unwanted objects such as automobiles, hills. Furthermore, it cannot always estimate the altitude of an aircraft, secondary radar overcomes these limitations but it depends on a transponder in the aircraft to respond to interrogations from the ground station to make the plane more visible. Another mode called Mode S is designed to help avoiding over-interrogation of the transponder, Mode S transponders are backward compatible with Modes A and C. Mode S is mandatory in controlled airspace in many countries. Some countries have required, or are moving towards requiring. In addition, navigational aids often have transponders called RACON designed to make them out on a ships radar screen. Many modern automobiles have keys with transponders hidden inside the head of the key. The user of the car may not even be aware that the transponder is there, when a key is inserted into the ignition lock cylinder and turned, the cars computer sends a radio signal to the transponder. Unless the transponder replies with a code, the computer will not allow the engine to be started
25.
Radio-frequency identification
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Radio-frequency identification uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. The tags contain electronically stored information, Passive tags collect energy from a nearby RFID readers interrogating radio waves. Active tags have a power source such as a battery. Unlike a barcode, the tag need not be within the line of sight of the reader, RFID is one method for Automatic Identification and Data Capture. These concerns resulted in standard specifications development addressing privacy and security issues, ISO/IEC18000 and ISO/IEC29167 use on-chip cryptography methods for untraceability, tag and reader authentication, and over-the-air privacy. ISO/IEC20248 specifies a digital data structure for RFID and barcodes providing data, source. This work is done within ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC31 Automatic identification, in 2014, the world RFID market is worth US$8.89 billion, up from US$7.77 billion in 2013 and US$6.96 billion in 2012. This includes tags, readers, and software/services for RFID cards, labels, fobs, the market value is expected to rise to US$18.68 billion by 2026. In 1945, Léon Theremin invented a tool for the Soviet Union which retransmitted incident radio waves with the audio information. Sound waves vibrated a diaphragm which slightly altered the shape of the resonator, similar technology, such as the IFF transponder, was routinely used by the allies and Germany in World War II to identify aircraft as friend or foe. Transponders are still used by most powered aircraft to this day, another early work exploring RFID is the landmark 1948 paper by Harry Stockman. Considerable research and development work has to be done before the basic problems in reflected-power communication are solved. Mario Cardullos device, patented on January 23,1973, was the first true ancestor of modern RFID, the basic Cardullo patent covers the use of RF, sound and light as transmission media. The original business plan presented to investors in 1969 showed uses in transportation, banking, security and medical. An early demonstration of reflected power RFID tags, both passive and semi-passive, was performed by Steven Depp, Alfred Koelle, and Robert Frayman at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1973, the portable system operated at 915 MHz and used 12-bit tags. This technique is used by the majority of todays UHFID and microwave RFID tags, the first patent to be associated with the abbreviation RFID was granted to Charles Walton in 1983. A radio-frequency identification system uses tags, or labels attached to the objects to be identified, two-way radio transmitter-receivers called interrogators or readers send a signal to the tag and read its response. RFID tags can be passive, active or battery-assisted passive
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Fully automatic timing
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The system is commonly used in track and field as well as horse racing, dog racing, bicycle racing, rowing and auto racing. In these fields a photo finish is used and it is also used in competitive swimming, for which the swimmers themselves record a finish time by touching a touchpad at the end of a race. In order to verify the equipment, or in case of failure, in races started by a starting gun, a sensor is typically attached to the gun which sends an electronic signal to the timing system when fired. An alternative starting light or sound which is triggered, such as a horn, is typically also wired to the timing system. In sports that involve a finish line that is crossed, the current finishing system is a finish which is then analysed by judges. The current photo-finish system used in Olympic competition, as well as other top-level events uses a digital line-scan camera aimed straight along the finish line, timeTronics, FinishLynx and Omega are examples of commercial timing systems commonly used in athletic competitions. These cameras have an image field only a few wide, with a single frame forming a narrow image only of the finish line. During a race, the camera takes images at a high frame rate. Computer software then arranges these frames horizontally to form an image which effectively displays a graph of the finish line as time passes. A flashing LED embedded the time calibration to the film, recently, there have been significant advances in full-frame video timing which utilizes a full sensor array rather than a single line. This has followed from the advent of low-cost machine vision technologies which has made possible systems that surpass 1/100 second time resolution, previously, the NTSC television standard limited most VHS and SVHS, and digital frame rates to 59.94 frames per second. Many modern systems, such as manufactured by FlashTiming, are capable of frame rates of 120 frames per second at higher spatial resolution. Due to these developments and the lower cost compared with line-scan systems, video timing has seen some limited level of adoption at a few high-school, there are also similar timing systems that use the simple process of breaking a beam of light. While such systems are used to provide instant results, the object they are timing is more difficult to define. According to the IAAF, any record in athletics or qualifying time for Olympic Games or World Championships set in a sprint event must be timed by a FAT system to be valid. Hand times, those with humans operating the stopping and/or starting mechanisms, are prone to error. By rule, they are accurate to a tenth of a second. These conversion factors are only applicable for comparing marks from a variety of sources and this old method of converting times dates back to when FAT systems were much less common
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Coach (sport)
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In sports, a coach is a person involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople. A coach may also be a teacher, the original sense of the word coach is that of a horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultimately from the Hungarian city of Kocs where such vehicles were first made. Britain took the lead in upgrading the status of sports in the 19th century, for sports to become professionalized, coacher had to become established. It gradually professionalized in the Victorian era and the role was established by 1914. In the First World War, military units sought out the coaches to supervise physical conditioning, a coach, particularly in a professional league, is usually supported by one or more assistant coaches and specialist support staff. The staff may include coordinators, strength and fitness specialists, in elite sport, the role of nutritionists, biomechanists and physiotherapists will all become critical to the overall long-term success of a coach and athlete. In association football, the duties of a coach can vary depending on the level they are coaching at, in professional football, the role of the coach or trainer is limited to the training and development of a clubs first team in most countries. The coach is aided by a number of assistant coaches, one of which carries the responsibility for the training, the coach is also assisted by medical staff and athletic trainers. The medium to long term strategy of a club, with regard to transfer policies, youth development. The system also provides a level of protection against overspending on players in search of instant success. In football, the director of a football team is more commonly awarded the position of manager. Baseball coaches at that level are members of the staff under the overall supervision of the manager. The baseball field manager is essentially equivalent to head coaches in other American professional sports leagues, the term manager used without qualification almost always refers to the field manager, while the general manager is often called the GM. At amateur levels, the terminology is similar to that of other sports. The person known as the manager in professional leagues is called the head coach in amateur leagues. In American football, like other sports, there are many coaches. Sports coaching in the UK follows a structured pattern in principle. In June 2008, the Sports Councils together with the governing bodies of sport formally adopted the UK Coaching Framework at the UK Coaching Summit in Coventry
28.
2010 European Cross Country Championships
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The 2010 European Cross Country Championships was a continental cross country running competition that took place on 12 December in Albufeira, Portugal. It was the time that the country hosted the event. Serhiy Lebid won the race for his ninth victory of the championship – a record for the competition. France took the team title. Jessica Augusto comprehensively won the race for the host nation. At total of 468 athletes from a number of 34 nations competed at the event. The race took place on a course near the city. Albufeira was chosen as the host at the 120th European Athletics Council Meeting in October 2008, hayley Yelling entered the race as the defending womens champion while Alemayehu Bezabeh, the reigning mens champion, did not take part in the competition. High-profile investigations into doping in Spain immediately preceded the championships and Bezabeh was among the athletes implicated in Operación Galgo, the withdrawal of Rosa Morató left Jessica Augusto as the provisional favourite for the womens race. Forming a strong team, three other Portuguese runners were expected to challenge for medals, as were Yelling and Adriënne Herzog, the mens race remained relatively tight until the final lap. Six men were on equal footing at the bell, Lebid, Lamdassem, French duo Morhad Amdouni and Abdellatif Meftah, Lamdassem was the first to move away from the pack, seizing the lead, and only Lebid followed. The Ukrainian overhauled Lamdassem in the stages and maintained a clear lead to win his ninth title – a record for the competition. Lamdassem just held off a late sprint from El Kalai to take the runner-up spot, Meftah and Amdouni finished shortly after for fourth and fifth, leading the French men to a team victory. Jessica Augusto made her gold medal known as she took the lead in the opening stages. The Portuguese athlete never relinquished the position and produced a largely unrivalled, spaniard Alessandra Aguilar shadowed her in the middle part of the race but later dropped out of contention. With Augusto clear in front, Binnaz Uslu, Ana Dulce Félix, Fionnuala Britton, Félix and Uslu fought for the runner-up spot with the Turk eventually winning out. Augustos lead was so significant that she slowed and celebrated throughout the home straight, Félix took the bronze just ahead Britton, helping the Portuguese women to the team gold medal, and Holovchenko rounded out the top five. Hassan Chahdi of France took the mens title while Ethiopian-born Meryem Erdoğan won the womens under-23 section for Turkey
29.
Portugal
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Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, to the west and south it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east and north by Spain. The Portugal–Spain border is 1,214 kilometres long and considered the longest uninterrupted border within the European Union, the republic also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments. The territory of modern Portugal has been settled, invaded. The Pre-Celts, Celts, Carthaginians and the Romans were followed by the invasions of the Visigothic, in 711 the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by the Moors, making Portugal part of Muslim Al Andalus. Portugal was born as result of the Christian Reconquista, and in 1139, Afonso Henriques was proclaimed King of Portugal, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global empire, becoming one of the worlds major economic, political and military powers. Portugal monopolized the trade during this time, and the Portuguese Empire expanded with military campaigns led in Asia. After the 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy, the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic was established, democracy was restored after the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974. Shortly after, independence was granted to almost all its overseas territories, Portugal has left a profound cultural and architectural influence across the globe and a legacy of over 250 million Portuguese speakers today. Portugal is a country with a high-income advanced economy and a high living standard. It is the 5th most peaceful country in the world, maintaining a unitary semi-presidential republican form of government and it has the 18th highest Social Progress in the world, putting it ahead of other Western European countries like France, Spain and Italy. Portugal is a pioneer when it comes to drug decriminalization, as the nation decriminalized the possession of all drugs for use in 2001. The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula located in South Western Europe, the name of Portugal derives from the joined Romano-Celtic name Portus Cale. Other influences include some 5th-century vestiges of Alan settlements, which were found in Alenquer, Coimbra, the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals and then by Homo sapiens, who roamed the border-less region of the northern Iberian peninsula. These were subsistence societies that, although they did not establish prosperous settlements, neolithic Portugal experimented with domestication of herding animals, the raising of some cereal crops and fluvial or marine fishing. Chief among these tribes were the Calaicians or Gallaeci of Northern Portugal, the Lusitanians of central Portugal, the Celtici of Alentejo, a few small, semi-permanent, commercial coastal settlements were also founded in the Algarve region by Phoenicians-Carthaginians. Romans first invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC, during the last days of Julius Caesar, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the Roman Republic. The Carthaginians, Romes adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies and it suffered a severe setback in 150 BC, when a rebellion began in the north
30.
Wimbledon Common
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Wimbledon Common is a large open space in Wimbledon, south-west London, totalling 460 hectares. There are three named areas, Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath, and Putney Lower Common, which together are managed under the name Wimbledon, Putney Lower Common is separated from the rest of the Common by about 1.5 miles of built-up area of southwest Putney. Wimbledon Common, together with Putney Heath and Putney Lower Common, is protected by the Wimbledon, the common is for the benefit of the general public for informal recreation, and for the preservation of natural flora and fauna. It is the largest expanse of heathland in the London area, there is an area of bog with unique flora. The western slopes, which lie on London Clay, support mature mixed woodland, the Commons are also an important site for the stag beetle. Most of the Common is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, english Nature works with the Conservators on the management plan for the area. Wimbledon Common and Putney Heath are also a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation, the Commons are administered by eight Conservators. Five of them are elected triennially and the three are appointed by three government departments, the Department of the Environment, Ministry of Defence and Home Office. The Commons are managed by the Clerk and Ranger, supported by a Deputy, a Wildlife & Conservation Officer, there are seven Mounted Keepers, two groundsmen, six maintenance workers and one property maintenance worker – some 23 employees in total. There are at least four horses which are used by the Keepers on mounted patrol, the Conservators are responsible for the annual budget of around £1m. Most of the revenue comes from a levy on houses within 3⁄4 mile of the Commons. The levy payers are entitled to vote for the five elected Conservators, the levy payers fall within three London boroughs, Merton, Wandsworth and Kingston. A windmill stands near the centre of Wimbledon Common as usually understood, here Robert Baden-Powell wrote parts of Scouting for Boys, which was published in 1908. In the 19th century the windmill was the headquarters of the National Rifle Association, eventually the headquarters were moved to ranges at Bisley. Two broad, shallow pools, Kingsmere and Rushmere, lie near roads on the parts of Wimbledon Common. The more remote Queensmere is somewhat deeper, being impounded in a small valley, Beverley Brook runs along the western edge of Wimbledon Common. The watercourse was the south west London boundary. Near Beverley Brook and Warren Farm are two Local Nature Reserves managed by the London Wildlife Trust, Farm Bog and Fishpond Wood and it may have been taken by the Legio II Augusta under Vespasian in their push westwards in AD44
31.
1924 Summer Olympics
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The 1924 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VIII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1924 in Paris, France. It was the second time Paris hosted the games, after 1900, the selection process for the 1924 Summer Olympics consisted of six bids, and Paris was selected ahead of Amsterdam, Barcelona, Los Angeles, Prague, and Rome. The selection was made at the 20th IOC Session in Lausanne in 1921, the cost of the Games of the VIII Olympiad was estimated to be 10,000, 000₣. With total receipts at 5,496, 610₣, the Olympics resulted in a hefty loss despite crowds that reached 60,000 people at a time. The opening ceremony and several sporting events took place in the Olympic Stadium of Colombes and this VIII Olympiad was the last one organised under the presidency of Pierre de Coubertin. The Flying Finns dominated the distance running, while the British. Paavo Nurmi won the 1500 m and 5,000 m, ville Ritola won the 10,000 m and the 3,000 m steeplechase, while finishing second to Nurmi on the 5,000 m and cross country. Albin Stenroos won the marathon, while the Finnish team was victorious in the 3,000 m, British runners Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell won the 100 m and 400 m events, respectively. Their stories are depicted in the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire, in addition, Douglas Lowe won the 800 m competition. The marathon distance was fixed at 42.195 km, from the run at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. The 1924 Olympics were the first to use the standard 50 m pool with marked lanes, swimmer Johnny Weissmuller won three gold medals in swimming and one bronze in water polo. Harold Osborn won gold medals and set Olympic records in both the high jump and the decathlon at the 1924 Olympics, fencer Roger Ducret of France won five medals, of which three were gold. In gymnastics,24 men scored a perfect 10, twenty-three of them scored it in the now-discontinued event of rope climbing. Albert Seguin scored a 10 here and also a perfect 10 on side vault, unexpectedly, the national team of Uruguay won the gold medal in football. The Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius was used for the first time at the Olympics and it had been used before by the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques, a French sporting federation whose founding members included Pierre de Coubertin. De Coubertin took the motto from his friend Henri Didon, a Dominican priest who had coined during a speech before a Paris youth gathering of 1891 and these were the first Games to feature an Olympic Village. The Art competitions at the 1924 Summer Olympics were the first time that the Olympic Art competitions were contested seriously, a total of 14 medals were awarded, though none were given in the music category. 126 events in 23 disciplines, comprising 17 sports, were part of the Olympic program in 1924, the number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses
32.
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
33.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
34.
Edvin Wide
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Emil Edvin Wide was a Swedish middle-distance and long-distance runner. Born in Finland as Emil Edvin Hermansson, Wide moved to Sweden in 1918 and he competed for Sweden at the 1920 Summer Olympics in the 3000 metre team event, winning a bronze medal, together with Eric Backman and Sven Lundgren. At the 1924 Olympics he won a medal in the 10,000 m behind Ville Ritola of Finland. He also finished third in the 5,000 m, behind Ville Ritola, at the 1928 Summer Olympics the 5,000 metre medals went to the same people as in 1924, only the Finns swapped medals, leaving Edvin with his third Olympic bronze medal. He then finished behind the two yet again for the third time in Olympic competition to win the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres. Nationally Wide won 12 Swedish titles, five in the country, four in the 1,500 m. He also held records in non-Olympic 4 ×1500 m,2000 m and 3000 m events. Wide lived most of hist life near Enköping, where he worked as a school teacher, in 1926 he was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal. He retired from competitions in 1930, Wide died at the age of 100. He was survived by wife Axelina and two sons
35.
Ville Ritola
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Vilho Ville Eino Ritola was a Finnish long-distance runner. Known as one of the Flying Finns, he won five Olympic gold medals and he holds the record of winning most athletics medals in one Olympic games event - four golds and two silvers in Paris 1924. He has won the second biggest number of athletics Olympic gold medals in one event, Ritolas parents were farmers in western Finland near Seinäjoki. He was born in Peräseinäjoki, Finland and he was the 14th child in his family and had altogether 19 siblings, five of whom had died in infancy. 6 of the children were from his fathers first marriage,14 from the second, in 1913 he followed seven of his siblings and emigrated to the United States to work as a carpenter. There he started training in 1919 when he was already 23 years old, in 1919 he joined the Finnish-American Athletic Club and trained together with Hannes Kolehmainen, who had moved to the United States after the 1912 Summer Olympics. In spring 1919 he took part in his first competition, a New York street race, only after this he started to train systematically. Kolehmainen tried to convince the young Ritola to join the Finnish 1920 Summer Olympics team and he had also just got married to Selma née Aaltonen. In 1921 he started to compete systematically, and in 1922 he won his first AAU Championship gold medals, the same year he came second in the Boston Marathon. During 1923 American Finns started collecting funds to pay for Ville Ritolas trip to Finland, in the 10,000 m qualifying race Ritola won with a world record time of 30.35.4. This was Ritolas first official world record, at the 1924 Paris Olympics, he won four gold and two silver medals. He had a start on eight days to achieve this. In his first race, the 10,000 m, in the absence of Nurmi, he won by half a lap, Finnish officials had selected Ritola for the race as Nurmi was already running in five other distance events. Three days later, Ritola won the 3000 m steeplechase by 75 metres, the next day he finished second in the 5000 m,0,2 seconds behind Nurmi. Ritola later earned another silver medal behind Nurmi in the individual cross-country race, finally, Ritola joined with Nurmi to win the 3000 m team race. Ville Ritolas Paris 1924 triumph is historical, until today his six medals from Paris is the biggest number of medals won by an athlete in one Olympic games event. His four gold medals put him in place after Paavo Nurmi in the number of gold medals won by an athlete in one Olympic Games event. After the Olympics Ville Ritola had to return to the US to find employment and his daughter Anja was born in November 1924
36.
Paavo Nurmi
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Paavo Johannes Nurmi was a Finnish middle- and long-distance runner. He was nicknamed the Flying Finn as he dominated distance running in the early 20th century, Nurmi set 22 official world records at distances between 1500 metres and 20 kilometres, and won nine gold and three silver medals in his twelve events in the Olympic Games. At his peak, Nurmi was undefeated at distances from 800 m upwards for 121 races, throughout his 14-year career, he remained unbeaten in cross country events and the 10,000 m. Born into a family, Nurmi left school at 12 to provide for his family. In 1912, he was inspired by the Olympic feats of Hannes Kolehmainen, Nurmi started to flourish during his military service, setting national records en route to his international debut at the 1920 Summer Olympics. After a silver medal in the 5000 m, he took gold in the 10,000 m and the cross country events. In 1923, Nurmi became the first, and so far only, runner to hold the record in the mile, the 5000 m. He went on to set new records for the 1500 m. Seemingly untouched by the Paris heat wave, Nurmi won all his races and returned home five gold medals. Struggling with injuries and motivation issues after his exhaustive U. S. tour in 1925, Nurmi found his long-time rivals Ville Ritola and Edvin Wide ever more serious challengers. At the 1928 Summer Olympics, Nurmi recaptured the 10,000 m title but was beaten for the gold in the 5000 m and he then turned his attention to longer distances, breaking the world records for events such as the one hour run and the 25-mile marathon. Nurmi intended to end his career with a gold medal. In a controversial case that strained Finland–Sweden relations and sparked an inter-IAAF battle, two days before the opening ceremonies, the council rejected his entries. Although he was never declared a professional, Nurmis suspension became definite in 1934, in 1952, he was the lighter of the Olympic Flame at the Summer Olympics in Helsinki. Nurmi, who ran without a stopwatch in his hand, has been credited for introducing the even pace strategy and analytic approach to running. Nurmi was born in Turku, Finland, to carpenter Johan Fredrik Nurmi, Nurmis siblings, Siiri, Saara, Martti and Lahja, were born in 1898,1902,1905 and 1908, respectively. In 1903, the Nurmi family moved from Raunistula into a 40-square-meter apartment in central Turku, the young Nurmi and his friends were inspired by the English long-distance runner Alfred Shrubb. They regularly ran or walked six kilometres to swim in Ruissalo, by the age of eleven, Nurmi ran the 1500 metres in 5,02
37.
1912 Summer Olympics
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The 1912 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 5 May and 22 July 1912. Twenty-eight nations and 2,408 competitors, including 48 women, with the exception of tennis and football and shooting, the games were held within a month with an official opening on 6 July. It was the last Olympics to issue solid gold medals and, with Japans debut, Stockholm was the only bid for the games, and was selected in 1909. The games were the first to have art competitions, womens diving, womens swimming, electric timing was introduced in athletics, while the host country disallowed boxing. Figure skating was rejected by the organizers because they wanted to promote the Nordic Games, United States won the most gold medals, while Sweden won the most medals overall. Following the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, the authorities in Sweden immediately sought to ensure that the games would be held there. There were two Swedish members of the International Olympic Committee at the time, Viktor Balck and Clarence von Rosen, the pair proposed to the Swedish governing bodies of athletics and gymnastics in order to ensure that they backed any potential bid. Support was given by the associations on 18 April 1909 for a bid to host the Olympics in Stockholm on the basis that suitable financial arrangements could be made. King Gustaf V was petitioned on 6 May 1909 following the publication of plans for the Stockholm bid that the expected cost of hosting the Games would be 415,000 kronor. The Government accepted the petition on behalf of the King and supported the bid, on 28 May, at the meeting of the IOC in Berlin, the Swedish representatives declared that they had full financial support for hosting the next Games in Stockholm. A deal was made with the German IOC representative on the basis that Berlin would host the 1916 Summer Olympics. Pierre de Coubertin spoke at the meeting about his concerns that Sweden should ensure that the Games take place, the Games were duly awarded to Sweden to host in Stockholm as the only nominated host city for the 1912 Summer Olympics. The news that Stockholm was to host the 1912 Olympics was received with enthusiasm by the Swedish public, the organizing committee took de Coubertins words to heart, and aimed to achieve an Olympic Games which removed those elements which detracted from earlier Games. The committee was elected in the autumn of 1909, with Balck voted as the President of the committee, the committees first meeting took place on 7 October, and on 11 October they delegated the arrangements for the individual branches of sports to the relevant governing bodies in Sweden. Altogether there were 187 members of these committees, the official invitation to compete in the Games was issued on 18 November 1910 to 27 countries, either directly or through their representative on the IOC. A further 15 countries were to have been invited, but as they had no IOC representatives, once the organizing committee for the Games received confirmation of the athletic associations in each of the 15 countries, they too were sent invitations. Some 61,800 entry forms were printed for the use of the various nations, free transport was arranged for the invited nations equipment, and a discount of 50 percent was arranged for competitors and delegates on the state run railway. A daily newspaper which covered the Olympics was arranged to be published during the Games
38.
1920 Summer Olympics
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The 1920 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium. No fixed host city was proposed at the time, the 1916 Summer Olympics, to be held in Berlin, capital of the German Empire, were cancelled due to World War I. Hungary, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire were banned from competing in the Games, Germany did not return to Olympic competition until 1928 and instead hosted a series of games called Deutsche Kampfspiele, starting with the Winter edition of 1922. The Sailing events were held in Ostend, Belgium, and two in Amsterdam, Netherlands, no fixed host city was proposed at the time. The organising committee was created on 9 August 1913, Beerschot V. A. C. and Nicolaas Jan Cupérus, president of the Belgian Gymnastics Federation. The first action of the committee was to send a letter to the IOC in Paris. On 13 September 1913, Pierre de Coubertin, president of the IOC, in 1914, a 109-page brochure was created to promote the idea of Antwerp as a host city for the Olympics, Aurons-nous la VIIème Olympiade à Anvers. It was sent to all IOC members and was used during the 6th Olympic Congress in Paris in 1914, where the candidacies of Amsterdam, Antwerp, Budapest, and Rome were discussed. Despite a slight preference at the time for Budapest, no choice was made. In 1915, Lyon made a bid for the 1920 games, the support for Belgium by cousin country France, then the leading country of the IOC, also meant that Amsterdam, and Budapest, in an enemy state, made no chance for the 1920 games against Antwerp. New candidacies from American cities did not have that disadvantage and bids were received from Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Atlanta, but shortly after the armistice in November 1918, the IOC decided to give Antwerp the first choice, if they still wanted to host the 1920 Games. An executive committee was established on 17 April 1919, with Henri de Baillet-Latour as chairman and Alfred Verdyck, seven commissions were created, to deal with finances, accommodation, press relations, propaganda, schedules, transport, and festivities. Finances and scheduling proved to be the two hardest parts to tackle, the program of events only was published in February 1920, between 23 and 30 April 1920, an ice hockey tournament marked the early start of the Games. Held in the Palais de Glace or Ice Palace in Antwerp, it was the first time that ice hockey was an Olympic sport. The first stone of the new Olympic Stadium at Beerschot was laid on 4 July 1919 by Jan De Vos, mayor of Antwerp, and inaugurated less than a year later on 23 May 1920 with a gymnastics demonstration. The nautical stadium or Stade Nautique dAntwerp was built at the end of the Jan Van Rijswijcklaan, other events, like shooting, boxing, and equestrian sports, were held at pre-existing locations in and around Antwerp and as far away as Ostend. These Olympics were the first in which the Olympic Oath was voiced, the first in which doves were released to symbolize peace, the USA won 41 gold,27 silver, and 27 bronze medals, the most won by any of the 29 nations attending. Sweden, Great Britain, Finland, and Belgium rounded out the five most successful medal-winning nations, the Games also featured a week of winter sports, with figure skating appearing for the first time since the 1908 Olympics, and ice hockey making its Olympic debut
39.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
40.
Finland
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Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a sovereign state in Northern Europe. A peninsula with the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west, the country has borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north. Estonia is south of the country across the Gulf of Finland, Finland is a Nordic country situated in the geographical region of Fennoscandia, which also includes Scandinavia. Finlands population is 5.5 million, and the majority of the population is concentrated in the southern region,88. 7% of the population is Finnish people who speak Finnish, a Uralic language unrelated to the Scandinavian languages, the second major group are the Finland-Swedes. In terms of area, it is the eighth largest country in Europe, Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in the capital Helsinki, local governments in 311 municipalities, and an autonomous region, the Åland Islands. Over 1.4 million people live in the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, from the late 12th century, Finland was an integral part of Sweden, a legacy reflected in the prevalence of the Swedish language and its official status. In the spirit of the notion of Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, we are not Swedes, we do not want to become Russians, let us therefore be Finns, nevertheless, in 1809, Finland was incorporated into the Russian Empire as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. In 1906, Finland became the nation in the world to give the right to vote to all adult citizens. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Finland declared itself independent, in 1918, the fledgling state was divided by civil war, with the Bolshevik-leaning Reds supported by the equally new Soviet Russia, fighting the Whites, supported by the German Empire. After a brief attempt to establish a kingdom, the became a republic. During World War II, the Soviet Union sought repeatedly to occupy Finland, with Finland losing parts of Karelia, Salla and Kuusamo, Petsamo and some islands, Finland joined the United Nations in 1955 and established an official policy of neutrality. The Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948 gave the Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics during the Cold War era, Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialization, remaining a largely agrarian country until the 1950s. It rapidly developed an advanced economy while building an extensive Nordic-style welfare state, resulting in widespread prosperity, however, Finnish GDP growth has been negative in 2012–2014, with a preceding nadir of −8% in 2009. Finland is a top performer in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, a large majority of Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, though freedom of religion is guaranteed under the Finnish Constitution. The first known appearance of the name Finland is thought to be on three rune-stones. Two were found in the Swedish province of Uppland and have the inscription finlonti, the third was found in Gotland, in the Baltic Sea. It has the inscription finlandi and dates from the 13th century, the name can be assumed to be related to the tribe name Finns, which is mentioned first known time AD98. The name Suomi has uncertain origins, but a candidate for a source is the Proto-Baltic word *źemē, in addition to the close relatives of Finnish, this name is also used in the Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian
41.
Modern pentathlon
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The sport has been a core sport of the Olympic Games since 1912 despite attempts to remove it. A world championships for modern pentathlon has been held annually since 1949, originally the competition took place over four or five days, in 1996 a one-day format was adopted in an effort to be more audience-friendly. Modern pentathlon, despite its long Olympic history, has had to justify its inclusion in the modern Olympic Games several times. On February 11,2013 in Lausanne, the IOC confirmed modern pentathlon once again as one of the 25 core sports of the Olympic program through to 2020. The governing body, Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne, administers the sport in more than 90 countries in all the continents of the world. The foundation of the modern pentathlon is disputed, on the one hand, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, claimed authorship. The name derives from the Greek péntathlon contest of five events, the addition of modern to the name distinguished it from the original pentathlon of the ancient Olympic Games, which consisted of the stadion foot race, wrestling, long jump, javelin, and discus. In the 1912 Games, with only officers competing, they were, however, up to the 1952 Olympics the ordinary cavalry soldier was considered a professional athlete, as he was riding and training horses for a living, while the officer was the amateur. As long as there was no official international federation for Modern Pentathlon an IOC committee was set up for the sport making use of the expertise of IOC members, the event was first held at the 1912 Olympic Games, and was won by Swedish athlete Gösta Lilliehöök. The modern pentathlon has been on the Olympic program continuously since 1912, a team event was added to the Olympic Games in 1952 and discontinued in 1992. An event for women was added in 2000, a World Championship is held every year. The competitions include Men and Womens Individual and Team event together with events for Men and Women and, since 2010. Athletes gain points for their performance in each event and scores are combined to give the overall total and this is similar to the procedure for the decathlon in track and field athletics. However, in the Modern Pentathlon, starting times for the last event, are staggered so that the first person to cross the line is the winner. The first person to cross the line, therefore, will be the overall points leader. This method of finishing the competition would eventually find use in winter events. The fencing discipline uses the épée, the competition is a round-robin, meaning each competitor will face all the other competitors once. Each match lasts up to one minute, the first fencer to score a hit wins instantly, if neither scores within one minute, they both lose the match
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