1.
1988 Summer Olympics
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The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia, in the Seoul Games,159 nations were represented by a total of 8,391 athletes,6,197 men and 2,194 women. 263 events were held and 27,221 volunteers helped to prepare the Olympics,11,331 media showed the Games all over the world. These were the last Olympic Games for two of the worlds dominating sport powers, the Soviet Union and East Germany, as both ceased to exist before the next Olympic Games. North Korea, still officially at war with South Korea, and its allies, Albania, Ethiopia, Cuba, Madagascar, Nicaragua boycotted the games because of the U. S. military support to the Contra rebels. However, the much larger boycotts seen in the previous three Summer Olympics were avoided, resulting in the largest ever number of participating nations during the Cold War era, before the opening of the games, thousands of homeless were captured by the police and sent to work camps. Several died under torture. ′ Seoul was chosen to host the Summer Games through a vote held on 30 September 1981, below was the vote count that occurred at the 84th IOC Session and 11th Olympic Congress in Baden-Baden, West Germany. After the Olympics were awarded, Seoul also received the opportunity to stage the 10th Asian Games in 1986, Soviet Vladimir Artemov won four gold medals in gymnastics. Daniela Silivaş of Romania won three and equalled compatriot Nadia Comănecis record of seven Perfect 10s in one Olympic Games, to these medals, she added a gold in the 4×100 relay and a silver in the 4×400. Just after the Games, she announced her retirement, Canadian Ben Johnson won the 100 m final with a new world record, but was disqualified after he tested positive for stanozolol. Johnson has since claimed that his positive test was the result of sabotage, the US finishes in fourth place after the completion of the optional rounds with a combined score of 390.575, three tenths of a point behind the German Democratic Republic. The USSR won their team gold medals in artistic gymnastics on both the mens and womens sides with scores of 593.350 and 395.475 respectively. The mens team was led by Vladimir Artemov, while Elena Shushunova lead the womens team, lawrence Lemieux, a Canadian sailor in the Finn class, was in second place and poised to win a silver medal when he abandoned the race to save an injured competitor. He arrived in 21st place, but was recognized by the IOC with the Pierre de Coubertin medal honoring his bravery and sacrifice. U. S. diver Greg Louganis won back-to-back titles on both diving events, but only hitting the springboard with his head in the 3 m event final. This became a minor controversy years later when Louganis revealed he knew he was HIV-positive at the time, since HIV cannot survive in open water, no other divers were ever in danger. Christa Luding-Rothenburger of East Germany became the first athlete to win Olympic medals at the Winter Olympics and she added a cycling silver to the speed skating gold she won earlier in the Winter Olympics of that year in Calgary. Swimmer Kristin Otto of East Germany won six gold medals, other multi-medalists in the pool were Matt Biondi and Janet Evans
2.
Fencing
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Fencing, also called Olympic fencing, is a sport in which two competitors fight using rapier-style swords, winning points by making contact with their opponent. Fencing was one of the first sports to be played in the Olympics, there are three forms of modern fencing, each using a different style of weapon and different rules, and as such the sport is divided into three competitive scenes, foil, épée, and sabre. Most competitive fencers choose to specialise in one weapon. Competitive fencing is one of five activities which have featured in every one of the modern Olympic Games, the other four being athletics, cycling, swimming. Fencing is governed by Fédération Internationale dEscrime, today, its head office is in Lausanne, Switzerland. The FIE is composed of 145 national federations, each of which is recognised by its countrys Olympic Committee as the representative of Olympic-style fencing in that country. The FIE maintains the current rules used for FIE sanctioned international events, including cups, world championships. The FIE handles proposals to change the rules the first year after an Olympic year in the annual congress, the US Fencing Association has slightly different rules, but usually adhere to FIE standards. Fencing traces its roots to the development of swordsmanship for duels, the ancestor of modern fencing originated in Spain, where several books on fencing were written. In conquest, the Spanish forces carried fencing around the world, particularly southern Italy, Fencing was mentioned in the play The Merry Wives of Windsor written sometime prior to 1602. The mechanics of modern fencing originated in the 18th century in an Italian school of fencing of the Renaissance, the Spanish school of fencing stagnated and was replaced by the Italian and French schools. There, he taught the aristocracy the fashionable art of swordsmanship and his school was run by three generations of his family and dominated the art of European fencing for almost a century. He established the rules of posture and footwork that still govern modern sport fencing. The first regularized fencing competition was held at the inaugural Grand Military Tournament and Assault at Arms in 1880, held at the Royal Agricultural Hall, the Tournament featured a series of competitions between army officers and soldiers. Each bout was fought for five hits and the foils were pointed with black to aid the judges, the Amateur Gymnastic & Fencing Association drew up an official set of fencing regulations in 1896. Fencing was part of the Olympics Games in the summer of 1896, starting with épée in 1933, side judges were replaced by the Laurent-Pagan electrical scoring apparatus, with an audible tone and a red or green light indicating when a touch landed. Foil was automated in 1956, sabre in 1988, the scoring box reduced the bias in judging, and permitted more accurate scoring of faster actions, lighter touches, and more touches to the back and flank than before. There are three weapons in modern fencing, foil, épée, and sabre, each weapon has its own rules and strategies
3.
SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium
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SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium is an indoor sporting arena located at the Olympic Park in Bangi-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, South Korea. The current seating capacity of the arena is 5,003, the arena was built from September 1984 to April 1986. It was known as the Olympic Fencing Gymnasium or Olympic Gymnasium No.2 prior 2011, the arena hosted the fencing and fencing part of the modern pentathlon events at the 1988 Summer Olympics. In 2011 it was remodelled for handball games at a cost of ₩43.4 billion and it was renamed as such to host the SK Handball Korea League. Besides holding fencing at the 1988 Olympics, the arena hosts concerts by Korean as well as international artists. A. P, B. A. A. P, B. A
4.
Peter Westbrook
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Peter Westbrook is an American former sabre fencing champion, active businessman and founder of the Peter Westbrook Foundation. As a former U. S. champion and Olympic medalist, Peter Westbrook came to fencing from an unlikely direction, westbrooks remarkable life began with his Japanese mother, who convinced him to try fencing. Through discipline and hard work, he channeled his anger into the competitive edged needed to become an internationally ranked competitor, thousands of young athletes have affirmed the benefits of Peters message and gone on to achieve similar success in and out of the sport. His humility, natural talent for leadership and desire to give back and his life story, has inspired many to always seek excellence in every endeavor. Westbrooks father, Ulysses, was a G. I. stationed in Japan during the Korean War, when he met Mariko, a beautiful Japanese woman from a sheltered home. Soon after their marriage they returned to the United States, traveling first to St. Louis, Missouri and eventually settling in Newark, NJ, Peter’s earliest memories are of frequent bouts of domestic violence. Peter was 4 when his left, leaving his mother to raise the family with no real skills or outside means of support. Through a series of jobs, working in a factory and as a maid, Mariko bartered with priests at the local Catholic school in exchange for schooling for Peter and Vivian. His fencing career started at fencing powerhouse Essex Catholic High School, only because of his mother’s $5.00 bribe. Mariko knew that fencing would keep Peter out of trouble and, if he had any ability, under the tutelage of Dr. Samuel D’ambola, a medical doctor and the founder of the Essex High School fencing program, Peter’s talent was discovered and nurtured. In this supportive environment, despite experiencing some incidents of racism, recognizing his innate abilities, Dr. D’ambola started Peter with the sabre, a military sword with a distinctive-look. Used predominantly as a cutting and slashing weapon, young Peter was thrilled to be training on a sword that childhood hero, Zorro, also used “I quickly became attached to sabre fencing… satisfied my constant need to be quick with everything I did. Fencing was just like street boxing, only not as brutal. And here was a kind of fighting that my mother not only allowed and his skill and talent were rewarded with numerous wins and by his senior year he was the best fencer for a high school team that rarely lost a match. Under the tutelage of coaching greats like Hugo and James Castello, in addition to talented coaching, he would regularly spar with teammates like Steve Kaplan. “NYU was like a tributary that lead out into the great ocean—you could get there from here. ”Peter credits therapist Mildred Klingman with helping him lose his fears and inhibitions and teaching him how to “read” people and communicate with them. In 1972 he began training with Csaba Elthes, a Hungarian sabreur at the New York Fencers Club with a reputation as the best fencing coach in America, physically and verbally abusive behavior led Peter to leave Csaba after one semester. In 1973, Peter won the NCAA championship, claiming the title Best college sabreur in the country, Peter Westbrook won the U. S. National Mens Sabre Championship 13 times
5.
Italy at the 1988 Summer Olympics
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Italy competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea. 253 competitors,212 men and 41 women, took part in 140 events in 23 sports, fellow veteran Ilario Di Buò advanced to the quarterfinal, nearly missing a semifinal berth
