1.
Uzbekistan
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Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan, is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the world. Located in Central Asia, it is a unitary, constitutional, presidential republic, comprising twelve provinces, one autonomous republic and a capital city. Uzbekistan is bordered by five landlocked countries, Kazakhstan to the north, Tajikistan to the southeast, Kyrgyzstan to the northeast, Afghanistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southwest. Once part of the Turkic Khaganate and later Timurid Empires, the region that includes the Republic of Uzbekistan was conquered in the early 16th century by Eastern Turkic-speaking nomads. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, it declared independence as the Republic of Uzbekistan on 31 August 1991, Uzbekistan is officially a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. The countrys official language is Uzbek, a Turkic language written in the Latin alphabet and spoken natively by approximately 85% of the population, however, Uzbeks constitute 81% of the population, followed by Russians, Tajiks, Kazakhs, and others. A majority of Uzbeks are non-denominational Muslims, Uzbekistan is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, UN, and the SCO. While officially a republic, non-governmental human rights organizations define Uzbekistan as an authoritarian state with limited civil rights. Uzbekistans economy relies mainly on commodity production, including cotton, gold, uranium, despite the declared objective of transition to a market economy, its government continues to maintain economic controls which imports in favour of domestic import substitution. Uzbekistan has an area of 447,400 square kilometres and it is the 56th largest country in the world by area and the 42nd by population. Among the CIS countries, it is the 4th largest by area, Uzbekistan lies between latitudes 37° and 46° N, and longitudes 56° and 74° E. It stretches 1,425 kilometres from west to east and 930 kilometres from north to south, Uzbekistan also shares a short border with Afghanistan to the south. Uzbekistan is a dry, landlocked country and it is one of two doubly landlocked countries in the world, the other being Liechtenstein. In addition, due to its location within a series of endorheic basins, less than 10% of its territory is intensively cultivated irrigated land in river valleys and oases. The rest is vast desert and mountains, the climate in the Republic of Uzbekistan is continental, with little precipitation expected annually. The average summer high temperature tends to be 40 °C, while the winter low temperature is around −23 °C. Uzbekistan has a rich and diverse natural environment, the Aral Sea used to be the fourth-largest inland sea on Earth, acting as an influencing factor in the air moisture and arid land use. Since the 1960s, the decade when the misuse of the Aral Sea water began, it has shrunk to less than 50% of its former area, reliable, or even approximate data, have not been collected, stored or provided by any organization or official agency
2.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
3.
Unified Team at the Olympics
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The Unified Team was the name used for the sports team of the former Soviet Union at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville and the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The IOC country code was EUN, after the French name, the Unified Team was sometimes informally called the CIS Team, although Georgia did not join the CIS until 1993. Where an EUN individual won a medal, the flag of the medallists nation was raised rather than the Olympic flag. The EUN team continued to be represented at all ceremonies by the Olympic flag, while only six of the EUN countries took part in the 1992 Winter Olympics, all twelve participated in the 1992 Summer Olympics. At the 1994 Winter Olympics and the 1996 Summer Olympics, the nations that were part of the Unified Team started to make their Olympic debuts, * Unified Team participant in Winter games
4.
Commonwealth of Independent States
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The Commonwealth of Independent States, also called the Russian Commonwealth, is a regional organization formed during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Nine out of the 15 former Soviet Republics are member states, Georgia withdrew its membership in 2008, while the Baltic states chose not to participate. The CIS has few supranational powers but aims to be more than a purely symbolic organization, nominally possessing coordinating powers in the realms of trade, finance, lawmaking and it has also promoted cooperation on cross-border crime prevention. Furthermore, eight of the nine CIS member states participate in the CIS Free Trade Area, three organizations are under the overview of the CIS, namely the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Eurasian Economic Union, and the Union State. While the first and the second are military and economic alliances, in March 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev, the president of the Soviet Union, proposed a federation by holding a referendum to preserve the Union as the Union of Sovereign States. The new treaty signing never happened as the Communist Party hardliners staged a coup in August that year. Following the events of August, the republics had declared their independence fearing another coup, at the same time they announced that the new alliance would be open to all republics of the former Soviet Union, and to other nations sharing the same goals. The CIS charter stated that all the members were sovereign and independent nations, Georgia joined two years later, in December 1993. At this point,12 of the 15 former Soviet Republics participated in the CIS, the three Baltic states did not, reflecting their governments view that the post-1940 Soviet occupation of their territory was illegitimate. In May 2009, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine joined the Eastern Partnership, there are nine full member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Creation Agreement remained the main constituent document of the CIS until January 1993, the charter formalised the concept of membership, a member country is defined as a country that ratifies the CIS Charter. Turkmenistan has not ratified the charter and changed its CIS standing to associate member as of 26 August 2005 in order to be consistent with its UN-recognised international neutrality status, thus it does not regard itself as a member of the CIS. In 1993 Ukraine became an Associate Member of CIS, following the 2014 parliamentary election, a new bill to denounce the CIS agreement was introduced. In September 2015 the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed Ukraine will continue taking part in CIS on a selective basis, since that month Ukraine has had no representatives in the CIS Executive Committee building. Since its inception, one of the goals of the CIS has been to provide a forum for discussing issues related to the social. To achieve this goal member states have agreed to promote and protect human rights, even before the 1995 human rights treaty, the Charter of the CIS that was adopted in 1991 created, in article 33, a Human Rights Commission sitting in Minsk, Belarus. This was confirmed by decision of the Council of Heads of States of the CIS in 1993, in 1995, the CIS adopted a human rights treaty that includes civil and political as well as social and economic human rights. This treaty entered force in 1998
5.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
6.
Bukhara
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Bukhara, is one of the cities of Uzbekistan. Bukhara is a city-museum, with about 140 architectural monuments, the nations fifth-largest city, it had a population as of 31 August 2016 of approximately 247,644. Humans have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, the mother tongue of the majority of people of Bukhara is yet Persian Language. Located on the Silk Road, the city has served as a center of trade, scholarship, culture. UNESCO has listed the center of Bukhara as a World Heritage Site. Bukhara was known as Bokhara in 19th- and early 20th-century English publications, according to the Encyclopædia Iranica the name Bukhara is possibly derived from the Soghdian βuxārak Muhammad ibn Jafar Narshakhi in his History of Bukhara mentions, Bukhara has many names. One of its name was Numijkat and it has also been called Bumiskat. It has 2 names in Arabic, one is Madinat al Sufriya meaning - the copper city and another is Madinat Al Tujjar meaning - The city of Merchants. But, the name Bukhara is more known than all the other names, in Khorasan, there is no other city with so many names Since the Middle Ages, the city has been known as Buḫārā / بخارا in Arabic and Persian sources. The modern Uzbek spelling is Buxoro, the history of Bukhara stretches back millennia. It is now the capital of Bukhara Region of Uzbekistan, located on the Silk Road, the city has long been a center of trade, scholarship, culture, and religion. During the golden age of the Samanids, Bukhara became an intellectual center of the Islamic world. The historic center of Bukhara, which contains numerous mosques and madrassas, has been listed by UNESCO as one of the World Heritage Sites, Bukhara has been one of the main centres of world civilisation from its early days in 6th century BCE. From the 6th century CE, Turkic speakers gradually moved in and its architecture and archaeological sites form one of the pillars of Central Asian history and art. The region of Bukhara was a part of the Persian Empire for a long time, the origin of many of its current inhabitants goes back to the period of Aryan immigration into the region. The Samanid Empire seized Bukhara, the capital of Greater Khorasan, Genghis Khan besieged Bukhara for fifteen days in 1220 CE. Bukhara was the last capital of the Emirate of Bukhara and was besieged by the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. During the Bukhara operation of 1920, an army of well-disciplined, on 31 August 1920, the Emir Alim Khan fled to Dushanbe in Eastern Bukhara
7.
Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic
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The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, also referred to as Soviet Uzbekistan or the Republic of Uzbekistan was one of the republics of the Soviet Union existed from 1924 to 1991. It was governed by the Uzbek branch of the Soviet Communist Party, from 1990 to 1991, it was the sovereign part of the Soviet Union with its own legislation. Beginning 20 June 1990, Uzbek SSR adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty within its borders, Islam Karimov became the republics inaugural president. On 31 August 1991, the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic was renamed the Republic of Uzbekistan, a doubly landlocked Soviet republic in Central Asia. Uzbekistan was bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Tajikistan to the southeast, Kirghizia to the northeast, Afghanistan to the south, the name, Uzbekistan, literally means Home of the Free, taken from an amalgamation of uz, bek, and -stan. Officially, the name Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic was the name as defined by its 1937 and 1978 Constitutions. In 1924, the borders of political units in Central Asia were changed along ethnic lines determined by Vladimir Lenin’s Commissar for Nationalities, the next year Uzbekistan became one of the republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In 1928, the collectivization of land into state farms was initiated, Uzbekistan included the Tajik ASSR until 1929, when the Tajik ASSR was upgraded to an equal status. In 1930, the Uzbek SSR capital was relocated from Samarkand to Tashkent, in 1936, Uzbekistan was enlarged with the addition of the Karakalpak ASSR taken from the Kazakh SSR in the last stages of the national delimitation in the Soviet Union. That same year in December, it was renamed to the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, further bits and pieces of territory were transferred several times between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan after World War II. In 1937–38, during the Great Purge, a number of alleged nationalists were executed, including Faizullah Khojaev, during World War II, many industries were relocated to Uzbekistan from vulnerable locations in western regions of the USSR to keep them safe. Large numbers of Russians, Ukrainians and other nationalities accompanied the factories and this included large numbers of ethnic Koreans, Crimean Tatars, and Chechens. During the Soviet period, Islam became a point for the anti-religious drives of Communist authorities. The government closed most mosques, and religious schools became anti-religious museums, on the positive side was the virtual elimination of illiteracy, even in rural areas. Only a small percentage of the population was literate before 1917, another major development, one with future catastrophic impact, was the drive initiated in the early 1960s to substantially increase cotton production in the republic. This drive led to overzealous irrigation withdrawals of irrigation water from the Amu Darya, towards the end of the Soviet–Afghan War, several troops crossed the Uzbek border from Afghanistan as part of the its withdrawal on 15 February 1989. The Communist Party was the legal party in the Uzbek SSR until 1990. The first secretary, or head, of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan was consistently an Uzbek, long-time leader of the Uzbek SSR was Sharof Rashidov, head of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan from 1959 to 1983
8.
Cologne
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Cologne is the largest city in the German federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth-largest city in Germany. It is located within the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, one of the major European metropolitan areas, and with more than ten million inhabitants, Cologne is located on both sides of the Rhine River, less than eighty kilometres from Belgium. The citys famous Cologne Cathedral is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne, the University of Cologne is one of Europes oldest and largest universities. Cologne was founded and established in Ubii territory in the first century AD as the Roman Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, Cologne, the French version of the citys name, has become standard in English as well. The city functioned as the capital of the Roman province of Germania Inferior, during the Middle Ages it flourished on one of the most important major trade routes between east and west in Europe. Cologne was one of the members of the Hanseatic League and one of the largest cities north of the Alps in medieval. Up until World War II the city had several occupations by the French. Cologne was one of the most heavily bombed cities in Germany during World War II, the bombing reduced the population by 95%, mainly due to evacuation, and destroyed almost the entire city. With the intention of restoring as many buildings as possible. Cologne is a cultural centre for the Rhineland, it hosts more than thirty museums. Exhibitions range from local ancient Roman archeological sites to contemporary graphics, the Cologne Trade Fair hosts a number of trade shows such as Art Cologne, imm Cologne, Gamescom, and the Photokina. The first urban settlement on the grounds of modern-day Cologne was Oppidum Ubiorum, founded in 38 BC by the Ubii, in 50 AD, the Romans founded Colonia on the Rhine and the city became the provincial capital of Germania Inferior in 85 AD. The city was named Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium in 50 AD, considerable Roman remains can be found in present-day Cologne, especially near the wharf area, where a notable discovery of a 1900-year-old Roman boat was made in late 2007. From 260 to 271 Cologne was the capital of the Gallic Empire under Postumus, Marius, in 310 under Constantine a bridge was built over the Rhine at Cologne. Roman imperial governors resided in the city and it one of the most important trade. Cologne is shown on the 4th century Peutinger Map, maternus, who was elected as bishop in 313, was the first known bishop of Cologne. The city was the capital of a Roman province until occupied by the Ripuarian Franks in 462, parts of the original Roman sewers are preserved underneath the city, with the new sewerage system having opened in 1890. Early medieval Cologne was part of Austrasia within the Frankish Empire, Cologne had been the seat of a bishop since the Roman period, under Charlemagne, in 795, bishop Hildebold was promoted to archbishop
9.
Artistic gymnastics
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Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatus, with less time for vaulting. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, which designs the Code of Points, within individual countries, gymnastics is regulated by national federations, such as British Gymnastics in the United Kingdom and USA Gymnastics in the United States. Artistic gymnastics is a spectator sport at the Summer Olympic Games. The gymnastic system was mentioned in works by ancient authors, such as Homer, Aristotle and it included many disciplines that would later become separate sports, such as swimming, racing, wrestling, boxing, and riding, and was also used for military training. The German educator Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, who was known as the father of gymnastics, invented several apparatus, including the bar and parallel bars. Two of the first gymnastics clubs were Turnvereins and Sokols, in 1881, the FIG was founded, and it remains the governing body of international gymnastics. Gymnastics was included in the program of the 1896 Summer Olympics, the World Championships, held since 1903, were open only to men until 1934. Since that time, two branches of artistic gymnastics have developed, womens gymnastics and mens artistic gymnastics. Unlike mens and womens branches of other sports, WAG and MAG differ significantly in apparatus used at major competitions. Womens gymnastics entered the Olympics as an event in 1928 and was included in the twelfth gymnastics world championships in 1950. Individual women were recognized in the all-around as early as the world championships in 1934. Two years after the womens program was introduced at the 1950 World Championships, it was added to the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. The earliest champions in womens gymnastics tended to be in their 20s, larisa Latynina, the first great Soviet gymnast, won her first Olympic all-around medal at the age of 22 and her second at 26, she became the 1958 world champion while pregnant with her daughter. Věra Čáslavská of Czechoslovakia, who followed Latynina to become a two-time Olympic all-around champion, was 22 before she started winning gold medals, in the 1970s, the average age of Olympic gymnasts began to decrease. Smaller, lighter girls generally excelled in the more challenging acrobatic elements required by the redesigned Code of Points, the 58th Congress of the FIG—held in July 1980, just before the Olympics—decided to raise the minimum age for senior international competition from 14 to 15. The change, which came into effect two years later, did not eliminate the problem, by the time of the 1992 Summer Olympics, elite competitors consisted almost exclusively of pixies—underweight, prepubertal teenagers—and concerns were raised about athletes welfare. The FIG responded to this trend by raising the age for international elite competition to 16 in 1997. This, combined with changes in the Code of Points and evolving popular opinion in the sport, while the average elite female gymnast is still in her middle to late teens and of below-average height and weight, it is also common to see gymnasts competing well into their 20s
10.
The Phantom of the Opera
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The Phantom of the Opera is a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serialisation in Le Gaulois from September 23,1909 and it was published in volume form in late March 1910 by Pierre Lafitte. It has been adapted into various stage and film adaptations, most notable of which are the 1925 film depiction featuring Lon Chaney. In 1890s Paris, the Palais Garnier is believed to be haunted by an entity known as The Phantom or The Opera Ghost. One day, the hand, Joseph Bouquet, is found hanged, presumably by The Phantom. At the same time, Christine Daaé, a young Swedish soprano, has been tutored by what she believes to be the Angel of Music, sent by her deceased father. On the night of the old managers retirement, she understudies at the performance for the Operas leading soprano, Carlotta. The Vicomte, Raoul de Changy, who was present at the performance, recognises her as his childhood playmate and he attempts to visit her backstage, when he hears a man speaking to her from inside her dressing room. He investigates the room once Christine leaves, only to find that no one else in the room. At Perros-Guirec, Christine meets with Raoul, who confronts her about the voice he heard in her room, Christine tells him about The Angel that has been tutoring her, but he is skeptical and suggests that she might be the victim of a prank. Hurt and angry, she storms off, Christine visits her fathers grave one night, where a mysterious figure appears and plays the violin for her. Raoul attempts to catch it but is attacked and knocked out in the process, the managers ignore his demands, resulting in disastrous consequences, Carlotta ends up croaking like a toad, and the chandelier suddenly drops into the audience, killing the new concierge. The Phantom, having abducted Christine from her room, reveals himself as Erik. Fearing that she leave him, he decides to keep her with him forever. On the roof of the house, Christine tells Raoul about her abduction and makes Raoul promise to take her away to a place where Erik can never find her. Raoul tells Christine he shall act on his promise the next day, however, Christine sympathises with Erik and decides to sing for him one last time as a means of saying good-bye. Unbeknownst to them, Erik has been watching them and overheard their whole conversation, the following night, the enraged and jealous Erik abducts Christine during a production of Faust and tries to force her to marry him. To save them and the people above in the Opera, Christine agrees to marry Erik, Erik initially tries to drown Raoul and the Persian, using the water which would have been used to douse the explosives
11.
Pirates of the Caribbean
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The franchise originated with the Pirates of the Caribbean theme ride attraction, which opened at Disneyland in 1967 and was one of the last Disney theme park attractions overseen by Walt Disney. Disney based the ride on pirate legends and folklore, as of October 2016, Pirates of the Caribbean attractions can be found at five Disney theme parks. Their related films have grossed over US$3.7 billion worldwide as of January 2015, putting the film franchise 10th in the list of all-time highest grossing franchises and film series. Walt Disney World Quest, Magical Racing Tour by Eidos Interactive included a level in which players can race water boats at the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction in Walt Disney World. Pirates of the Caribbean was released in 2003 by Bethesda Softworks to coincide with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean, Pirates of the Caribbean Multiplayer Mobile for mobile phones Pirates of the Caribbean Online a massively multiplayer online role playing game which was released in Autumn 2007. In the first visit, the story is directly copied from the film, the second visit focuses more on Organization XIIIs activities in Port Royal, as well as Sora, Jack, Donald and Goofys first encounter with Luxord. Pirates of the Caribbean, The Curse of the Black Pearl for Game Boy Advance and this game is based on Captain Jack Sparrows misadventures in the pursuit of saving Ria Anasagasti with his shipmate Will Turner. Pirates of the Caribbean, The Legend of Jack Sparrow was released exclusively for the PlayStation 2 console, Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Mans Chest, was released for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, Game Boy Advance and others. Pirates of the Caribbean, At Worlds End was released on May 22,2007 and was based on the film of the name which was released on May 25,2007. It was the first game in the series to be released for a seventh generation console, Pirates of the Caribbean, Armada of the Damned, an action and role playing video game, was being developed by Propaganda Games but was cancelled in October 2010. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean, The Video Game, released in May 2011, is the most recent Pirates game and it features all four films as well as over 70 characters and over 21 levels. Pirates of the Caribbean, Master of the Seas, an app available on Android. Jack Sparrow, Hector Barbossa, and Davy Jones are playable characters in Disney Infinity, a playset themed after the franchise was included with the starter pack. Crispin Several additional works have been derived from the franchise, In 2000, Pirates of the Caribbean, Battle for Buccaneer Gold, the attraction allows up to five players to board a virtual pirate ship and attempt to sink other ships with water cannons. A Pirates of the Caribbean board game Monopoly is manufactured by USAopoly, a Pirates of the Caribbean version of the board game The Game of Life was developed. A Pirates of the Caribbean version of the board game Battleship is produced by Hasbro under the title of Battleship Command, Pirates of the Caribbean was the name of a team participating in the 2005–2006 Volvo Ocean Race. Their boat was named the Black Pearl, a Pirates of the Caribbean multiplayer online game was released by Disney on October 31,2007. The British Melodic Hard Rock band Ten have released an album entitled Isla De Muerta, the title of which is about the legendary island of the series
12.
Gymnastics
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Gymnastics is a sport involving the performance of exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, endurance and control. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shoulders, chest, alertness, precision, daring, self-confidence and self-discipline are mental traits that can also be developed through gymnastics. Gymnastics evolved from exercises used by the ancient Greeks that included skills for mounting and dismounting a horse, most forms of competitive gymnastics events are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique. Each country has its own governing body affiliated to FIG. Competitive artistic gymnastics is the best known of the gymnastic events and it typically involves the womens events of vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. Mens events are floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, other FIG disciplines include rhythmic gymnastics, trampolining and tumbling, acrobatic gymnastics and aerobic gymnastics. Disciplines not currently recognized by FIG include wheel gymnastics, aesthetic group gymnastics, mens rhythmic gymnastics and TeamGym. The word gymnastics derives from the common Greek adjective Greek, by way of the related verb γυμνάζω, whose meaning is to train naked, train in gymnastic exercise, generally to train, the verb had this meaning, because athletes in ancient times exercised and competed without clothing. It came into use in the 1570s, from Latin gymnasticus, from Greek gymnastikos fond of or skilled in bodily exercise, Gymnastics originated in ancient Spain and was originally intended for military training, where it was used by soldiers to prepare for warfare. Don Francisco Amorós y Ondeano, was born on February 19,1770 in Valencia and he was a Spanish colonel, and the first person to introduce educative gymnastic in France. Jahn promoted the use of bars, rings and high bars in international competition. The Federation of International Gymnastics was founded in Liege in 1881, by the end of the nineteenth century, mens gymnastics competition was popular enough to be included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. During the 1920s, women organized and participated in gymnastics events, the first womens Olympic competition was primitive, only involving synchronized calisthenics and track and field. These games were held in 1928, in Amsterdam, by 1954, Olympic Games apparatus and events for both men and women had been standardized in modern format, and uniform grading structures had been agreed upon. At this time, Soviet gymnasts astounded the world with highly disciplined and difficult performances, television has helped publicize and initiate a modern age of gymnastics. Both mens and womens gymnastics now attract considerable international interest, in 2006, a new points system for Artistic gymnastics was put into play. With an A Score being the difficulty score, which as of 2009 is based on the top 8 high scoring elements in a routine, the B Score, is the score for execution, and is given for how well the skills are performed. The following disciplines are governed by FIG, Artistic Gymnastics is usually divided into Mens and Womens Gymnastics
13.
Oksana Chusovitina
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Oksana Aleksandrovna Chusovitina is a world and Olympic level gymnast who has competed for the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan, and Germany. Chusovitinas career as an elite gymnast has spanned more than a quarter century and she won the USSR Junior Nationals in 1988 and began competing at the international level in 1989, before many of her current rivals were even born. Chusovitina has also competed in 10 World Championships, three Asian Games and three Goodwill Games, Chusovitina holds the record for the most individual world championships medals on a single event. Chusovitina is one of a few women, along with Cuban Leyanet Gonzalez, Soviet Larisa Latynina, australias head womens coach, Peggy Liddick, said Chusovitina is a role model and an inspiration. In 1988, at the age of 13, she won the title at the USSR National Championships in the junior division. By 1990, Chusovitina was a member of the Soviet team. She was the gold medalist at the 1990 Goodwill Games and nearly swept the 1990 World Sports Fair in Japan, winning the all-around. The following year she won the exercise at the 1991 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. In 1992 Chusovitina competed at the Olympics with the Unified Team, shared in the gold medal. She also won her second World Championships vault medal, a bronze, in spite of this setback, she was able to consistently produce world-class routines. Chusovitina represented Uzbekistan from 1993 to 2006 and competed for them at the 1996,2000 and 2004 Olympics, the 1994,1998 and 2002 Asian Games and the 1994 and 2001 Goodwill Games. During this era she was the strongest gymnast on the Uzbekistan national team, earning more than 70 medals in international competitions, for her contributions to gymnastics, Chusovitina was granted the title of Honored Athlete of the Republic of Uzbekistan by the Uzbekistan Ministry of Cultural and Sports Affairs. In 2001, she was named as the first WAG representative to the International Gymnastics Federation s Athletes Commission, in addition, Chusovitina graduated from the Sports University in Tashkent. In late 1997 Chusovitina married Uzbek Olympic wrestler Bakhodir Kurbanov, whom she first met at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, the couples son, Alisher, was born in November 1999. In 2002, Alisher was diagnosed with lymphocytic leukemia. While Alisher underwent treatment in Cologne, Chusovitina trained with the German team, Uzbekistan released Chusovitina to compete for Germany in 2003. However, due to rules requiring three years of residency, she was unable to gain German citizenship immediately, from 2003 to 2006 she trained in Germany but continued to compete for Uzbekistan, representing her native country at the 2003 and 2005 World Championships and the 2004 Olympics. In 2003,12 years after her world debut, Chusovitina won the gold medal on the vault at that years world championships in Anaheim
14.
Summer Olympic Games
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The Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad, first held in 1896, is an international multi-sport event that is hosted by a different city every four years. The most recent Olympics were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the International Olympic Committee organizes the games and oversees the host citys preparations. In each Olympic event, gold medals are awarded for first place, silver medals are awarded for second place, and bronze medals are awarded for third, the Winter Olympic Games were created due to the success of the Summer Olympics. The Olympics have increased in scope from a 42-event competition with fewer than 250 male competitors from 14 nations in 1896 to 302 events with 10,768 competitors from 204 nations in 2012, eighteen countries have hosted the Summer Olympics. The United States has hosted four Summer Olympics, more than any other nation, four cities have hosted two Summer Olympics, Athens, Paris, Los Angeles, and Tokyo. Tokyo is the first city outside of the Western world to host the Summer Olympics multiple times, asia has hosted the Summer Olympics four times in Japan, South Korea, and China. The only Summer Olympics held in the Southern Hemisphere have been in Australia, the 2016 Games are the first Summer Olympics to be held in South America and the first to be held during the local winter season. Africa has yet to host a Summer Olympics, only five countries—Greece, Australia, France, Great Britain, and Switzerland—have been represented at every Summer Olympic Games. The only country to have won at least one medal at every Summer Olympic Games is Great Britain. The United States leads the medal table. Qualification rules for each of the Olympic sports are set by the International Sports Federations that governs that sports international competition, for individual sports, competitors typically qualify through attaining a certain place in a major international event or on the IFs ranking list. There is a rule that maximum three individual athletes may represent each nation per competition. Nations most often qualify teams for team sports through continental qualifying tournaments, each nation may be represented by no more than one team per competition a team is two people in some sports. The United States has hosted four Summer Olympic Games, more than any other nation, the United Kingdom hosted the 2012 Olympic Games, its third Summer Olympic Games, in its capital London, making London the first city to host the Summer Olympic Games three times. Australia, France, Germany, Greece, and Japan have all hosted the Summer Olympic Games twice. Other countries that have hosted the Summer Olympics are Belgium, Brazil, China, Canada, Finland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, the Soviet Union, asia has hosted the Summer Olympics three times and will host again in 2020. In 2016, Rio de Janeiro hosted the first Summer Olympics in South America, three cities have hosted two Summer Olympic Games, Los Angeles, Paris, and Athens. Stockholm has hosted events at two Summer Olympic Games, having hosted the games in 1912 and the events at the 1956 Summer Olympics—which they are usually listed as jointly hosting
15.
Asian Games
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The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a Pancontinental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation from the first Games in New Delhi, India, since the 1982 Games they have been organized by the Olympic Council of Asia, after the breakup of the Asian Games Federation. The Games are recognized by the International Olympic Committee and are described as the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games, in its history, nine nations have hosted the Asian Games. Forty-six nations have participated in the Games, including Israel, which was excluded from the Games after their last participation in 1974. The most recent games was held in Incheon, South Korea from 19 September to 4 October 2014, while the games will be held in Jakarta and Palembang. The Far Eastern Games were first held in Manila in 1913 with 6 participating nations, ten more Far Eastern Games were held until 1934. Consequently, the Far Eastern Games scheduled for 1938 were cancelled, after World War II, a number of Asian countries became independent. During the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, a conversation between sportsmen from China and the Philippines raised the idea of restoring the Far Eastern Games. As a result, he proposed to sports leaders the idea of having a new competition – which came to be the Asian Games. This led to an agreement to form the Asian Athletic Federation, a preparatory committee was then set up to draft the charter for this new body. Starting in 1962, the Games were hit by several crises, first, the host country Indonesia, refused to permit the participation of Israel and Taiwan due to political and religious issues. As a result, the IOC removed its sponsorship of the Games, the Asian Football Confederation, International Amateur Athletics Federation and International Weightlifting Federation, also removed their recognition of the Games. Prior to the Games, Japan was asked to host the Games and this edition also marked the first time the Games have a television broadcasting throughout the world. In Tehran, in 1974, the Games formally recognized the participation of China, North Korea, the last is 1978, Pakistan dropped its plan to host the Games in 1975 due to financial crisis and political issues. Thailand offered to help and the Games were once held in Bangkok. However, once again, like in 1962, Taiwan and Israel were refused the participation by Games Federation, amid political issues and security fears. Several governing bodies protested against the ban, like IAAF, threatened to bar the players from 1980 Summer Olympics. Following this series of crises, the National Olympic Committee in Asia decided to revise the constitution of the Asian Games Federation, a new association, named the Olympic Council of Asia, was created in November 1981 with the exclusion of Israel
16.
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
17.
1992 Summer Olympics
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The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event played in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain in 1992. The games were the first to be unaffected by boycotts since 1972, Barcelona is the second-largest city in Spain, and the birthplace of then-IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch. The city was also a host for the 1982 FIFA World Cup, on October 17,1986, Barcelona was selected to host the 1992 Summer Games over Amsterdam, Belgrade, Birmingham, Brisbane, and Paris, during the 91st IOC Session in Lausanne, Switzerland. Barcelona had previously bid for the 1936 Summer Olympics, but they ultimately lost to Berlin, at the Opening Ceremony Greek mezzo-soprano Agnes Baltsa sang Romiossini as the Olympic flag was paraded around the stadium. Alfredo Kraus later sang the Olympic Hymn in both Catalan and Spanish as the flag was hoisted, the Olympic flame cauldron was lit by a flaming arrow, shot by Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo. The arrow had been lit by the flame of the Olympic Torch, Rebollo overshot the cauldron as this was the original design of the lighting scheme. South Africa was allowed to compete in the Olympic Games for the first time since the 1960 Summer Olympics, after a long suspension for its apartheid policy. After a close race in the Womens 10,000 metres event, white South African runner Elana Meyer and black Ethiopian runner Derartu Tulu ran a victory lap together, hand-in-hand. Following its reunification in 1990, Germany sent a single, unified Olympic team for the first time since the 1964 Summer Olympics. As the Soviet Union had been dissolved in 1991, the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania sent their own teams for the first time since 1936, the other Soviet republics competed under the name Unified Team. These nations consisted of present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, the separation of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia led to the Olympic debuts of Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Due to United Nations sanctions, athletes from Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were not allowed to participate with their own team, however, some individual athletes competed under the Olympic flag as Independent Olympic Participants. Fermín Cacho won the 1,500 metres in his home country, chinese diver Fu Mingxia, age 13, became the youngest Olympic gold medalist of all time. In mens artistic gymnastics, Vitaly Scherbo from Belarus, won six gold medals, Scherbo tied Eric Heidens record for individual gold medals at a single Olympics, winning five medals in an individual event. In womens artistic gymnastics, Tatiana Gutsu took gold in the All-Around competition edging the United States Shannon Miller, russian swimmers dominated the freestyle events, with Alexander Popov and Yevgeny Sadovyi each winning two events. Sadovyi also won in the relays, evelyn Ashford won her fourth Olympic gold medal in the 4×100-metre relay, making her one of only four female athletes to have achieved this in history. The young Krisztina Egerszegi of Hungary won three individual swimming gold medals, in womens 200 metre breaststroke, Kyoko Iwasaki of Japan won a gold medal at age of 14 years and six days, making her the youngest-ever gold medalist in swimming competitions at the Olympics. After demonstrated in six previous Summer Olympic Games, baseball became an Olympic sport
18.
2002 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
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The 36th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Debrecen, Hungary, in 2002 at Főnix Hall. The team and all-around events were not contested at the 2002 Worlds, the format was similar to that of the 1992 Worlds, with medals being awarded for the individual WAG and MAG apparatus. There were three rounds of competition, the preliminary round open to everyone, the open to the top sixteen qualifiers. In July 2003, Gervasio Deferr was stripped of his medal after testing positive for marijuana prior to the 2002 World Championships. FIG Official Results, 36th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
19.
2002 Asian Games
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The 2002 Asian Games, also known as XIV Asiad is a multi-sport event held in Busan, South Korea from September 29 to October 14,2002. Busan is the city in South Korea, after Seoul in 1986 to host the Games. A total of 419 events in 38 sports were contested by 7,711 athletes from 44 countries, the Games also co-hosted by its four neighbouring cities, Ulsan, Changwon, Masan and Yangsan. The emblem of the Games featured the blue waves of sea in the shape of Taegeuk, symbolising Busan and Korea. It expresses the image of development and unity of the Asian people, sea gulls, are sometimes called the city bird of Busan. In conjunction with the Games, eight songs were released as the music for the Games. – Baby box Theme from Duria – Hong Jong-myung, Shin Hyo-bum The Fanfare – Busan city Orchestra Welcome to Busan Korea – Kim Hyo-soo Lets Go. – Gang Hyun-soo Love to All of Us – CAN44 venues were used in the Games with twelve of them are newly built, below is the list of competition venues in the Games. All 44 members of Olympic Council of Asia with 7,711 athletes took part in the Games, timor-Leste participated for the first time since its independence and Afghanistan returned to the action since Taliban had come to power. Below is a list of all the participating NOCs, the number of competitors per delegation is indicated in brackets, a total of 419 events in 38 sports was contested in the Games for 16 days of competition. Football and basketball was kickoff two and one day prior to the opening ceremony. Bodybuilding was the debutant sport in Games, the top ten ranked NOCs at these Games are listed below. The host nation, South Korea, is highlighted, list of IOC country codes Official Website Of The Games
20.
2014 Asian Games
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Incheon was awarded the right on April 17,2007, defeating Delhi, India to host the Games. Incheon was the city in South Korea after Seoul and Busan to host the Asian Games. The final medal tally was led by China, followed by host South Korea,14 World and 27 Asian records were broken during the Games. Japanese swimmer Kosuke Hagino was announced as the most valuable player of the Games, though there were several controversies, the Games were deemed generally successful with its low price tag and with the rising standard of competition amongst the Asian nations. Two cities bid for the Games, both New Delhi and Incheon submitted their formal bid on December 2,2006 in Doha, Qatar. The vote was held on April 17,2007 at the Marriott Hotel in Kuwait City, Kuwait, during the final presentation prior to voting, Incheon made a new offer, raising USD$20 million funds to support the countries that are yet to win a medal in the Games. It also offered free tickets and accommodation to all the participants. All 45 members voted, with voting held in secret ballot, around 4 p. m. local time, it was announced that Incheon won the rights. Though the vote results were not released, it was revealed that Incheon won by 32–13 and it was widely felt that Delhis lack of enthusiasm to host the event was the primary reason for its loss. The Indian Olympic Association president revealed that Indias Sports Minister remarks against hosting the Games was the reason for New Delhis loss. The IOA delegation also added that the evaluation committee was concerned about pollution. Delhi offering US$200,000 to each team for games support against Incheons offer of US$20 million to all 45 nations participating in the event could also have contributed to the defeat, unveiled on September 16,2010, Diversity Shines Here is the official English slogan of the Games. It represents and highlights the significance of Asia’s wonderful diversity in history, cultures, the official slogan in Korean, 평화의 숨결, 아시아의 미래 literally means Breath of Peace, Future of Asia. Three Spotted seal siblings were unveiled on November 4,2010 as the mascots of the Games in Songdo Island. The three seals, known as Barame, Chumuro and Vichuon, meaning wind, dance and light in Korean, were chosen in accordance with the theme of the main venue, the prototype was taken from Baengnyeong Island. According to the organizers, the mascots were chosen as symbolic to the peace between South Korea and North Korea. The six official posters for the Incheon Asian Games were released on March 31,2011, the design represents the 28 Olympic sports categorized into five groups, racquet sports, ball sports, water sports, athletic sports and weight class. On September 27,2012, Swiss watchmaker company Tissot was named as the timekeeper of the Games
21.
1994 Asian Games
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The 1994 Asian Games also known as XII Asiad were held from October 2 to October 16,1994, in Hiroshima, Japan. The main theme of this edition was to promote peace and harmony among Asian nations and it was emphasized by the host because the venue was the site of the first atomic bomb attack 49 years earlier. Due to the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq was suspended from the games, there were a total number of 6,828 athletes and officials involved, from 42 countries, with a total number of 34 events. Debut sports at this edition of the Asiad were baseball, karate, the official mascot of the XII Asiad is a pair of white doves. Poppo and Cuccu, male and female respectively, represent peace, national Olympic Committees are named according to their official IOC designations and arranged according to their official IOC country codes in 1994. The top ten ranked NOCs at these Games are listed below, the host nation, Japan, is highlighted. The Chinese had 11 athletes test positive for the banned drugs and anabolic steroids at the 1994 Asian Games
22.
2008 Summer Olympics
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A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events. China became the 22nd nation to host the Olympic Games and the 18th to hold a Summer Olympic Games. It was the time that the Summer Olympic Games were held in East Asia and Asia, after Tokyo, Japan, in 1964 and Seoul, South Korea. Beijing was awarded the Games over four competitors on 13 July 2001, the Government of the Peoples Republic of China promoted the Games and invested heavily in new facilities and transportation systems. A total of 37 venues were used to host the events, the official logo of these Olympic Games, titled Dancing Beijing, refers to the host city by featuring a stylized calligraphic character jīng. The Games were the second most watched Olympics in history, attracting 4.7 billion viewers worldwide, there were 43 world records and 132 Olympic records set at the 2008 Summer Olympics. An unprecedented 86 countries won at least one medal during the Games, Chinese athletes won the most gold medals with 51, and with 100 medals in total became only the 7th different Olympic team to top an overall medal tally. The United States won the most total medals with 110, the games were deemed highly successful with the rising standard of competition among nations across the world. Beijing was elected as the host city for the 2008 Summer Olympics on 13 July 2001, during the 112th IOC Session in Moscow, defeating bids from Toronto, Paris, Istanbul, and Osaka. Prior to the session, five other cities had submitted bids to the IOC, after the first round of voting, Beijing held a significant lead over the other four candidates. Osaka received only six votes and was eliminated, in the second round, Beijing was supported by a majority of voters, eliminating the need for subsequent rounds. Torontos bid was their 5th failure since 1960, the size of China, its increased enforcement of doping controls, and sympathy concerning its loss of the 2000 Summer Olympics to Sydney were all factors in the decision. Eight years earlier, Beijing had led every round of voting for the 2000 Summer Olympics before losing to Sydney by two votes in the final round. Human rights concerns expressed by Amnesty International and politicians in both Europe and the United States were considered by the delegates, according to IOC Executive Director François Carrard, Carrard and others suggested that the selection might lead to improvements in human rights in China. In addition, a number of IOC delegates who had formerly been athletes expressed concern about heat and air quality during the Games, China outlined plans to address these environmental concerns in its bid application. The Oxford Olympics Study 2016 estimates the outturn cost of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics at USD6.8 billion in 2015-dollars and this includes sports-related costs only, that is, operational costs incurred by the organizing committee for the purpose of staging the Games, e. g. The Beijing Olympics cost of USD6.8 billion compares with costs of USD4.6 billion for Rio 2016, average cost for the Summer Games since 1960 is USD5.2 billion. They went on to claim that revenues from the Games would exceed the original target of $16 million
23.
Gymnastics at the 2008 Summer Olympics
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At the 2008 Summer Olympics, three different gymnastics disciplines were contested, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline. The artistic gymnastics events were held at the Beijing National Indoor Stadium on August 9–19, the rhythmic gymnastics events were held at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium on August 21–24. The trampoline events were held at the Beijing National Indoor Stadium on August 16–19. All times are China Standard Time The traditional Gymnastics Champions Gala took place on August 20 at the National Indoor Stadium, participants are mainly selected from the 2008 Olympic trampoline and artistic gymnastics, as well as medalists from world championships. In addition, some Chinese pop stars appeared in the Gala, the FIG requires that all gymnasts be at least 16 years of age in the Olympic calendar year. The IOC had initially accepted the ages of all the Chinese participants, but newly uncovered documents suggested He was 14 years old, the investigation was initiated after an American blogger reported on a cached official Excel spreadsheet showing Hes birthday as January 1,1994. His discoveries support earlier reports from The New York Times and other bloggers regarding Hes age discrepancy, earlier, several bloggers found links to news stories and photo captions from 2007 and early 2008, including stories in the state-run Xinhua news service, that cited Hes age as 13. On October 1,2008, the FIG ended their investigation and concluded that He and this ruling confirmed the FIGs initial conclusions. Though some media outlets have voiced doubts about the decision, the gymnasts have been cleared by the FIG of any wrongdoing, in 2014, North Korean female gymnast Cha Yong-hwa was a subject of disciplinary hearing because of false passport used to falsify her age. The FIG decided to withdraw her license and nullify all her results, including the results from 2008 Olympics
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