1.
Zagreb
–
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of Croatia. It is located in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately 122 m above sea level. In the last official census of 2011 the population of the City of Zagreb was 792,875, the wider Zagreb metropolitan area includes the City of Zagreb and the separate Zagreb County bringing the total metropolitan area population up to 1,237,887. It is the biggest metropolitan area in Croatia, and the one with a population of over one million. Zagreb is a city with a history dating from the Roman times to the present day. The oldest settlement located in the vicinity of the city was the Roman Andautonia, the name Zagreb is recorded in 1134, in reference to the foundation of the settlement at Kaptol in 1094. Zagreb became a royal town in 1242. In 1851 Zagreb had its first mayor, Janko Kamauf, and in 1945 it was made the capital of Croatia when the demographic boom, the city extends over 30 kilometres east-west and around 20 kilometres north-south. The transport connections, concentration of industry, scientific, and research institutions, Zagreb is the seat of the central government, administrative bodies, and almost all government ministries. Almost all of the largest Croatian companies, media, and scientific institutions have their headquarters in the city and it is a city known for its diverse economy, high quality of living, museums, sporting, and entertainment events. Its main branches of economy are high-tech industries and the service sector, the etymology of the name Zagreb is unclear. It was used of the city only from 1852, but it had been in use as the name of the Zagreb dioecese since the 12th century. The name is first recorded in a charter by Ostrogon archbishop Felician, dated 1134, the older form of the name is Zagrab, the modern Croatian form Zagreb is first recorded in a 1689 map by Nicolas Sanson. An even older form is reflected in Hungarian Zabrag, for this, Desy proposes the etymology of Chabrag, a well-attested hypocorism of the name Cyprian. The same form is reflected in a number of Hungarian toponyms, the name Agram was used in German in the Habsburg period, this name has been classified as probably of Roman origin but according to Desy it could be an Austrian German reanalysis of *Zugram. In Middle Latin and Modern Latin, Zagreb is known as Agranum, in Croatian folk etymology, the name of the city has been derived from either the verb za-grab-, meaning to scoop or to dig. One folk legend illustrating this derivation ties the name to a drought of the early 14th century, in another legend, a city governor is thirsty and orders a girl named Manda to scoop water from Manduševac well, using the imperative, zagrabi, Mando. The oldest settlement located near todays Zagreb was a Roman town of Andautonia, now Šćitarjevo, Gradec and Kaptol were united in 1851 by ban Josip Jelačić, who was credited for this, with the naming the main city square, Ban Jelačić Square in his honour
2.
Croatia
–
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a sovereign state between Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean. Its capital city is Zagreb, which one of the countrys primary subdivisions. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres and has diverse, mostly continental, Croatias Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands. The countrys population is 4.28 million, most of whom are Croats, the Croats arrived in the area of present-day Croatia during the early part of the 7th century AD. They organised the state into two duchies by the 9th century, tomislav became the first king by 925, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for nearly two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Petar Krešimir IV and Dmitar Zvonimir, Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest, the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918, after World War I, Croatia was included in the unrecognized State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs which seceded from Austria-Hungary, a fascist Croatian puppet state backed by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany existed during World War II. After the war, Croatia became a member and a federal constituent of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On 25 June 1991 Croatia declared independence, which came wholly into effect on 8 October of the same year, the Croatian War of Independence was fought successfully during the four years following the declaration. A unitary state, Croatia is a republic governed under a parliamentary system, the International Monetary Fund classified Croatia as an emerging and developing economy, and the World Bank identified it as a high-income economy. Croatia is a member of the European Union, United Nations, the Council of Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization, the service sector dominates Croatias economy, followed by the industrial sector and agriculture. Tourism is a significant source of revenue during the summer, with Croatia ranked the 18th most popular tourist destination in the world, the state controls a part of the economy, with substantial government expenditure. The European Union is Croatias most important trading partner, since 2000, the Croatian government constantly invests in infrastructure, especially transport routes and facilities along the Pan-European corridors. Internal sources produce a significant portion of energy in Croatia, the rest is imported, the origin of the name is uncertain, but is thought to be a Gothic or Indo-Aryan term assigned to a Slavic tribe. The oldest preserved record of the Croatian ethnonym *xъrvatъ is of variable stem, the first attestation of the Latin term is attributed to a charter of Duke Trpimir from the year 852. The original is lost, and just a 1568 copy is preserved—leading to doubts over the authenticity of the claim, the oldest preserved stone inscription is the 9th-century Branimir Inscription, where Duke Branimir is styled as Dux Cruatorvm. The inscription is not believed to be dated accurately, but is likely to be from during the period of 879–892, the area known as Croatia today was inhabited throughout the prehistoric period
3.
Medvednica
–
Medvednica is a mountain in central Croatia, just north of Zagreb and marking the southern border of the historic region of Zagorje. The highest peak, at 1,035 metres is Sljeme, most of the area of Medvednica is a nature park, a type of preservation lesser than a national park. The area of the park is 228.26 square kilometres, Sljeme means summit, and is a name often used to refer to the entire mountain. The climate of the Medvednica mountain is typical for Central European mountain ranges, the average annual precipitation is around 1300 mm, which provides for an abundance of rich spring wells. There is a cover for approximately for 100 days in a year. The skiing slopes are covered with artificial snow when necessary. There is much more sunshine during the winter on Medvednica than in Zagreb or Zagorje, Medvednica area is located in a temperature zone where air temperature decreases for 0.5 °C for every 100 metres of elevation. Based on the rate of precipitation, Medvednica is characterised as having a continental precipitation regime with maximum precipitation during the warm part of the year. During summer and winter temperature inversion is sometimes present, an anticyclone forms above the cold continent during winter. When its center is close to Croatia, the weather is cold and gloomy in Zagreb, the mean annual air temperature on Medvednica is 6.2 °C, compared with 11.4 °C in Zagreb. The mean temperature in summer months is on average lower by 6 °C than in Zagreb, on average, there are 15 days with temperature below −10 °C, eight days a year have average daily maximum higher than 25 °C, and only one day reaches above 30 °C. The coldest month is January with a mean air temperature of −3.1 °C. Insolation is bigger than in Zagreb by about 100 hours annually and this difference manifests itself during the colder period of the year, from October to March, when there is more fog in Zagreb. The relative air humidity is largest during the part of the year, and generally is larger on stations with higher altitude because of lower temperatures. The number of days with relative humidity above 80% is greatest on Puntijarka, on all stations, the warm part of the year has the most thunderstorm days, these are often connected to showers. June has the most thunderstorm days, the annual precipitation on Medvednica is about 50% higher in comparison to Zagreb. Average number of days with hoar is 40, the mean annual number of days with snowfall on the top of Medvednica, most usually in January and February, is 54 days. The number of days with strong wind is 91 and they are frequent during the cold part of the year
4.
Sea level
–
Mean sea level is an average level of the surface of one or more of Earths oceans from which heights such as elevations may be measured. A common and relatively straightforward mean sea-level standard is the midpoint between a low and mean high tide at a particular location. Sea levels can be affected by factors and are known to have varied greatly over geological time scales. The careful measurement of variations in MSL can offer insights into ongoing climate change, the term above sea level generally refers to above mean sea level. Precise determination of a sea level is a difficult problem because of the many factors that affect sea level. Sea level varies quite a lot on several scales of time and this is because the sea is in constant motion, affected by the tides, wind, atmospheric pressure, local gravitational differences, temperature, salinity and so forth. The easiest way this may be calculated is by selecting a location and calculating the mean sea level at that point, for example, a period of 19 years of hourly level observations may be averaged and used to determine the mean sea level at some measurement point. One measures the values of MSL in respect to the land, hence a change in MSL can result from a real change in sea level, or from a change in the height of the land on which the tide gauge operates. In the UK, the Ordnance Datum is the sea level measured at Newlyn in Cornwall between 1915 and 1921. Prior to 1921, the datum was MSL at the Victoria Dock, in Hong Kong, mPD is a surveying term meaning metres above Principal Datum and refers to height of 1. 230m below the average sea level. In France, the Marégraphe in Marseilles measures continuously the sea level since 1883 and it is used for a part of continental Europe and main part of Africa as official sea level. Elsewhere in Europe vertical elevation references are made to the Amsterdam Peil elevation, satellite altimeters have been making precise measurements of sea level since the launch of TOPEX/Poseidon in 1992. A joint mission of NASA and CNES, TOPEX/Poseidon was followed by Jason-1 in 2001, height above mean sea level is the elevation or altitude of an object, relative to the average sea level datum. It is also used in aviation, where some heights are recorded and reported with respect to sea level, and in the atmospheric sciences. An alternative is to base height measurements on an ellipsoid of the entire Earth, in aviation, the ellipsoid known as World Geodetic System 84 is increasingly used to define heights, however, differences up to 100 metres exist between this ellipsoid height and mean tidal height. The alternative is to use a vertical datum such as NAVD88. When referring to geographic features such as mountains on a topographic map, the elevation of a mountain denotes the highest point or summit and is typically illustrated as a small circle on a topographic map with the AMSL height shown in metres, feet or both. In the rare case that a location is below sea level, for one such case, see Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
5.
Croatian language
–
It is the official and literary standard of Croatia and one of the official languages of the European Union. Croatian is also one of the languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a recognized minority language in Serbia. Croatian is written in Gajs Latin alphabet, besides the Shtokavian dialect, on which Standard Croatian is based, there are two other main dialects, Chakavian and Kajkavian. It is still used now in parts of Istria, which became a crossroads of various mixtures of Chakavian with Ekavian/Ijekavian/Ikavian dialects, the cultural apex of this 17th century idiom is represented by the editions of Adrianskoga mora sirena by Petar Zrinski and Putni tovaruš by Katarina Zrinska. However, this first linguistic renaissance in Croatia was halted by the execution of Petar Zrinski. Subsequently the Croatian elite in the 18th century gradually abandoned this combined Croatian standard, specifically, three major groups of dialects were spoken on Croatian territory, and there had been several literary languages over four centuries. The leader of the Illyrian movement Ljudevit Gaj standardized the Latin alphabet in 1830–1850, the uniform Neo-Shtokavian then became common in the Croatian elite. In the 1860s, the Zagreb Philological School dominated the Croatian cultural life, drawing upon linguistic, while it was dominant over the rival Rijeka Philological School and Zadar Philological Schools, its influence waned with the rise of the Croatian Vukovians. Croatian is commonly characterized by the Ijekavian pronunciation, the use of the Latin alphabet. Some differences are absolute, while some appear mainly in the frequency of use, Croatian, although technically a form of Serbo-Croatian, is sometimes considered a distinct language by itself. Differences between various forms of Serbo-Croatian are often exaggerated for political reasons. Most Croatian linguists regard Croatian as a language that is considered key to national identity. The issue is sensitive in Croatia as the notion of a language being the most important characteristic of a nation is widely accepted. The terms Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat are still used as a term for all these forms by foreign scholars. Within ex-Yugoslavia, the term has largely replaced by the ethnic terms Serbian, Croatian. In 2013, the EU started publishing a Croatian language version of its official gazette, Standard Croatian is the official language of the Republic of Croatia and, along with Standard Bosnian and Standard Serbian, one of three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is also official in the regions of Burgenland, Molise, additionally, it has co-official status alongside Romanian in the communes of Carașova and Lupac, Romania. Croatian is officially used and taught at all the universities in Croatia, there is no regulatory body that determines the proper usage of Croatian
6.
FIS Alpine Ski World Cup
–
The first World Cup ski race was held in Berchtesgaden, West Germany, on January 5,1967. Jean-Claude Killy of France and Nancy Greene of Canada were the winners for the first two seasons. Competitors attempt to achieve the best time in four disciplines, slalom, giant slalom, super G, the fifth event, the combined, employs the downhill and slalom. The World Cup originally included only slalom, giant slalom, combined events were included starting with the 1974/75 season, while the Super G was added for the 1982/83 season. The current scoring system was implemented in the 1991/92 season, for every race points are awarded to the top 30 finishers,100 points to the winner,80 for second,60 for third, winding down to 1 point for 30th place. The racer with the most points at the end of the season in wins the Cup. Sub-prizes are also awarded in individual race discipline, with a smaller 3.5 kg crystal globe. The World Cup is held annually, and is considered the competition for alpine ski racing after the quadrennial Winter Olympics. Races are hosted primarily at ski resorts in the Alps in Europe, with stops in Scandinavia, North America, and east Asia. Lower competitive circuits include the NorAm Cup in North America and the Europa Cup in Europe, multiple individual overall World Cup winners are marked with. For a complete list of winners in each discipline, see Alpine Skiing World Cup Men, the following skiers have at least three overall alpine World Cup titles. The following skiers have at least three overall alpine World Cup titles, combined crystal globe was officially awarded from 2007–2012. However, there are counted all season titles, both official and unofficial, the records for most World Cup titles in each discipline are as follows, For a complete list of winners in each discipline, see Alpine Skiing World Cup Men and Alpine Skiing World Cup Women. The records for most World Cup wins in each discipline are as follows, based on ski-database super ranking system. This is a scoring system calculating points together from three categories, Olympic Games, World Championships and World Cup, as of 20 March 2017 NOTE, Only crystal globe awarded discipline officially counts as titles. And medals awarded DH, GS, SL disciplines in seasons 1967-1977 as well, combined crystal globe was officially awarded only in seasons 2007-2012. NOTE, Super G not contested at that time, NOTE, Parallel events are not included in the list as slalom wins. Only a few of the most versatile racers have ever managed to win races in all five World Cup alpine skiing disciplines during their career, marc Girardelli, Petra Kronberger, Janica Kostelić and Tina Maze are the only skiers to have won all five events in a single season
7.
Alpine skiing
–
Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the sport or recreation of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. It is typically practiced at ski resorts which provide such as ski lifts, artificial snow making and grooming, first aid. Back-country skiers use alpine skiing equipment to ski off the marked pistes, in cases with the assistance of snowmobiles. Alpine skiing has been an event at the Winter Olympic Games since 1936, as of 1994, there were estimated to be 55 million people worldwide, who engaged in Alpine skiing. Approximately 30 million of these were in Europe,15 million in the US, as of 1996, there were reportedly 4,500 ski areas, operating 26,000 ski lifts and enjoying skier visits. The preponderant region for downhills skiing was Europe, followed by Japan, a skier following the fall line will reach the maximum possible speed for that slope. A skier with skis pointed perpendicular to the line, across the hill instead of down it. The speed of descent down any given hill can be controlled by changing the angle of motion in relation to the fall line, downhill skiing technique focuses on the use of turns to smoothly turn the skis from one direction to another. Good technique results in a motion from one descent angle to another one. This looks more like a series of Ss than turns followed by straight sections. The oldest and still form of alpine ski turn is the stem. In doing so, the ski pushes snow forward and to the side, the force backwards directly counteracts gravity, and slows the skier. The force to the sides, if unbalanced, will cause the skier to turn, carving is based on the shape of the ski itself, when the ski is rotated onto its edge, the pattern cut into its side causes it to bend into an arc. The contact between the arc of the ski edges and the snow naturally causes the ski to tend to move along that arc, slowing the skier, modern alpine skis are shaped to enable carve turning, and have evolved significantly since the 1980s. During the 1930s, the Kandahar binding was introduced, which could be locked down at the heel for the downhill portions, the Kandahar remained in widespread use until the 1960s. As more skiers took up the sport, especially in the 1950s, dr. Richard Spademan saw 150 spiral fractures pass through his emergency department near Squaw Valley in three days, an event that led to the development of the Spademan binding. By the early 1950s, several safety bindings were on the market allowed the ski to come off when the ski twisted to the side. This helped reduce the incidence of spiral fractures, originally boots were cut low, just over the ankle, and soft laterally, both of which limited the amount of sideways rotating force that could be applied
8.
Racing
–
In sport, racing is a competition of speed, against an objective criterion, usually a clock or to a specific point. The competitors in a try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific goal, a race may be run continuously from start to finish or may be made of several segments called heats, stages or legs. A heat is run over the same course at different times. A stage is a section of a much longer course or a time trial. Early records of races are evident on pottery from ancient Greece, a chariot race is described in Homers Iliad. The word race comes from a Norse word and this Norse word arrived in France during the invading of Normandy and gave the word raz which means swift water in Brittany, as in a mill race, it can be found in Pointe du Raz, and raz-de-marée. The word race to mean a contest of speed was first recorded in the 1510s, a race and its name are often associated with the place of origin, the means of transport and the distance of the race. As a couple of examples, see the Dakar Rally or the Athens Marathon. Running a distance is the most basic form of racing, but races may be conducted in vehicles, such as boats, cars, cycles and aircraft, or with animals such as horses or dogs. Races may also be conducted with other modes of such as skis, kicksled, skates or wheelchair. In a relay race members of a team take turns in racing parts of a circuit or performing a certain racing form, orienteering races add an additional task of using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain. A race can also involve any type of goal like eating. A common race involving eating is a hot dog eating race, Racing can also be done in more humoristic and entertaining ways such as the Sausage Race, the Red Bull Trolley Grand Prix and wok racing. Racing can be entertained from around the world, a sprint finish is a racing tactic used in many forms of racing where a competitor accelerates towards top speed in the final stages of a race. The tactic relies upon keeping greater energy reserves than your opponent until the last part of the race in order to be able to reach the finish point first and it is the opposing tactic to keeping a steady optimal pace throughout a race to maximise your energy efficiency. In track and field, distances from 1500 metres upwards often feature sprint finishes and they can also be found in cross country and road running events, even up to the marathon distance. A runners ability to sprint at the end of a race is known as their finishing kick
9.
Slalom skiing
–
Slalom is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline, involving skiing between poles or gates. These are spaced more closely than those in giant slalom, super giant slalom and downhill, internationally, the sport is contested at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, and at the Olympic Winter Games. The term may refer to waterskiing on one ski. The word slalom is from the Morgedal/Seljord dialect of Norwegian slalåm, sla, meaning slightly inclining hillside, the inventors of modern skiing classified their trails according to their difficulty. Slalåm was a used in Telemark by boys and girls not yet able to try themselves on the more challenging runs. Ufsilåm was a trail with one obstacle like a jump, a fence, a turn, a gorge. Uvyrdslåm was a trail with several obstacles, a Norwegian military downhill competition in 1767 included racing downhill among trees without falling or breaking skis. Sondre Norheim and other skiers from Telemark practiced uvyrdslåm or disrespectful/reckless downhill where they raced downhill in difficult, the 1866 ski race in Oslo was a combined cross-country, jumping and slalom competition. In the slalom participants were allowed use poles for braking and steering, during the late 1800s Norwegian skiers participated in all branches often with the same pair of skis. Slalom and variants of slalom were often referred to as hill races, around 1900 hill races are abandoned in the Oslo championships at Huseby and Holmenkollen. Mathias Zdarskys development of the Lilienfeld binding helped change hill races into a specialty of the Alps region, the rules for the modern slalom were developed by Arnold Lunn in 1922 for the British National Ski Championships, and adopted for alpine skiing at the 1936 Winter Olympics. A course is constructed by laying out a series of gates, formed by alternating pairs of red, the skier must pass between the two poles forming the gate, with the tips of both skis and the skiers feet passing between the poles. A course has 55 to 75 gates for men and 40 to 60 for women, the vertical drop for a mens course is 180 to 220 m and slightly less for women. The gates are arranged in a variety of configurations to challenge the competitor, because the offsets are relatively small in slalom, ski racers take a fairly direct line and often knock the poles out of the way as they pass, which is known as blocking. In modern slalom, a variety of equipment is used such as shin pads, hand guards, helmets. Traditionally, bamboo poles were used for gates, the rigidity of which forced skiers to maneuver their entire body around each gate. The early 1980s, rigid poles were replaced by hard plastic poles, hinged at the base with a universal joint designed and patented by Peter Laehy and Stefan Dag in Aspen, CO. USA. The hinged gates require, according to FIS rules, only that the skis, by 1989 most of the top technical skiers in the world had adopted the cross-block technique
10.
Moscow
–
Moscow is the capital and most populous city of Russia, with 13.2 million residents within the city limits and 17.8 million within the urban area. Moscow has the status of a Russian federal city, Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, and scientific center of Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as the largest city entirely on the European continent. Moscow is the northernmost and coldest megacity and metropolis on Earth and it is home to the Ostankino Tower, the tallest free standing structure in Europe, the Federation Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Europe, and the Moscow International Business Center. Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia, the city is well known for its architecture, particularly its historic buildings such as Saint Basils Cathedral with its brightly colored domes. Moscow is the seat of power of the Government of Russia, being the site of the Moscow Kremlin, the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square are also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament also sit in the city and it is recognized as one of the citys landmarks due to the rich architecture of its 200 stations. In old Russian the word also meant a church administrative district. The demonym for a Moscow resident is москвич for male or москвичка for female, the name of the city is thought to be derived from the name of the Moskva River. There have been proposed several theories of the origin of the name of the river and its cognates include Russian, музга, muzga pool, puddle, Lithuanian, mazgoti and Latvian, mazgāt to wash, Sanskrit, majjati to drown, Latin, mergō to dip, immerse. There exist as well similar place names in Poland like Mozgawa, the original Old Russian form of the name is reconstructed as *Москы, *Mosky, hence it was one of a few Slavic ū-stem nouns. From the latter forms came the modern Russian name Москва, Moskva, in a similar manner the Latin name Moscovia has been formed, later it became a colloquial name for Russia used in Western Europe in the 16th–17th centuries. From it as well came English Muscovy, various other theories, having little or no scientific ground, are now largely rejected by contemporary linguists. The surface similarity of the name Russia with Rosh, an obscure biblical tribe or country, the oldest evidence of humans on the territory of Moscow dates from the Neolithic. Within the modern bounds of the city other late evidence was discovered, on the territory of the Kremlin, Sparrow Hills, Setun River and Kuntsevskiy forest park, etc. The earliest East Slavic tribes recorded as having expanded to the upper Volga in the 9th to 10th centuries are the Vyatichi and Krivichi, the Moskva River was incorporated as part of Rostov-Suzdal into the Kievan Rus in the 11th century. By AD1100, a settlement had appeared on the mouth of the Neglinnaya River. The first known reference to Moscow dates from 1147 as a place of Yuri Dolgoruky. At the time it was a town on the western border of Vladimir-Suzdal Principality
11.
Olympiapark (Munich)
–
The Olympiapark München in Munich, Germany, is an Olympic Park which was constructed for the 1972 Summer Olympics. Located in the Oberwiesenfeld neighborhood of Munich, the Park continues to serve as a venue for cultural, social, the Park is administered by Olympiapark München GmbH, a holding company fully owned by the state capital of Munich. Also in this area are the Aquatic Center and Olympic Event Hall, Olympic Village, comprising two villages, one male and one female. Olympia-Pressestadt, today the home of the Olympic Shopping Center, strictly speaking, this portion belongs to the area of district of Moosach. Olympic Park, Adjoining the Olympic Area to the south, this includes the Olympic Mountain. The park is located in the Milbertshofen-Am Hart borough near BMW Group headquarters, Georg-Brauchle-Ring divides the area into two halves, Olympic Village and Olympia Pressestadt to the north and Olympic Area and Olympic Park to the south. After the International Olympic Committee in 1966 awarded Munich the Olympic Games, up until 1939, Oberwiesenfeld had largely been used as an airfield, however, the then-recently opened Munich-Riem airport left the Oberwiesenfeld area largely idle. Under Nazi plans for the development of Munich into the Capital of the Movement, the Second World War, however, hindered the implementation of this plan. In October 1957, since the US Army had facilities at the Oberwiesefeld, apart from infrastructure projects such as the Oberwiesenfeld Ice Rink, Oberwiesenfeld remained largely vacant, and as such was an ideal place for the construction of the Olympic Stadium. The concept of a green Olympic Games was chosen, and so too was the orientation toward the ideals of democracy. Officials sought to integrate optimism toward the future with an attitude toward technology. The architecture firm of Günther Behnisch and its partners developed a master plan for the sports and recreation area. The landscape layout was designed by landscape architect Günther Grzimek, the eye-catching tensile structure that covers much of the park was designed by German architect and engineer Frei Otto with Günther Behnisch. In all, the project cost 1.35 billion German Marks to complete, using public transportation, the Munich U-Bahns U3 line provides a direct route, From Münchner Freiheit, the line connects to Olympiapark via Schwabing and the midtown area. In 2007, the U3 line was extended to continue on to Oberwiesenfeld station at the end of the Olympic Village. The continuation to Moosach, where the line connects to the S1 S-Bahn line, was completed in 2010, olympiazentrum U-Bahn station is a central stop for the MVG bus line. Between 1972 and 1988 the Olympiastadion Station existed, which was oft-snubbed at events, currently, the station is abandoned continues to decay. The Olympiapark is accessible by car via Mittlerer Ring motorway, the Olympic Village itself is closed off from car traffic
12.
Euro
–
Outside of Europe, a number of overseas territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency. Additionally,210 million people worldwide as of 2013 use currencies pegged to the euro, the euro is the second largest reserve currency as well as the second most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar. The name euro was adopted on 16 December 1995 in Madrid. The euro was introduced to world markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999. While the euro dropped subsequently to US$0.8252 within two years, it has traded above the U. S. dollar since the end of 2002, peaking at US$1.6038 on 18 July 2008. In July 2012, the euro fell below US$1.21 for the first time in two years, following concerns raised over Greek debt and Spains troubled banking sector, as of 26 March 2017, the euro–dollar exchange rate stands at ~ US$1.07. The euro is managed and administered by the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank, as an independent central bank, the ECB has sole authority to set monetary policy. The Eurosystem participates in the printing, minting and distribution of notes and coins in all states. The 1992 Maastricht Treaty obliges most EU member states to adopt the euro upon meeting certain monetary and budgetary convergence criteria, all nations that have joined the EU since 1993 have pledged to adopt the euro in due course. Since 5 January 2002, the central banks and the ECB have issued euro banknotes on a joint basis. Euro banknotes do not show which central bank issued them, Eurosystem NCBs are required to accept euro banknotes put into circulation by other Eurosystem members and these banknotes are not repatriated. The ECB issues 8% of the value of banknotes issued by the Eurosystem. In practice, the ECBs banknotes are put into circulation by the NCBs and these liabilities carry interest at the main refinancing rate of the ECB. The euro is divided into 100 cents, in Community legislative acts the plural forms of euro and cent are spelled without the s, notwithstanding normal English usage. Otherwise, normal English plurals are used, with many local variations such as centime in France. All circulating coins have a side showing the denomination or value. Due to the plurality in the European Union, the Latin alphabet version of euro is used. For the denominations except the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, beginning in 2007 or 2008 the old map is being replaced by a map of Europe also showing countries outside the Union like Norway
13.
Marcel Hirscher
–
Marcel Hirscher is an Austrian World Cup alpine ski racer. Hirscher made his World Cup debut in March 2007, at the 2010 Winter Olympics, Hirscher placed fourth in the giant slalom and fifth in the slalom at Whistler Creekside. He placed fourth in the giant slalom at the 2009 World Championships, but broke his ankle the weekend preceding the 2011 World Championships, which ended his 2011 season. Returning after injury, Hirscher had his best season to date in terms of wins in 2012 with 9 victories and he won the World Cup overall and giant slalom titles, and placed third in the slalom. In October 2012, Hirscher was awarded the Skieur dOr Award by members of the International Association of Ski Journalists for his performances during the previous season. Hirscher won the overall World Cup title again in 2013 with 6 victories, Hirscher scored a total of 18 podium finishes out of 19 races in the two technical events. The only race in either slalom or giant slalom where he finished outside the top 3 was the giant slalom in Adelboden. In 2015 Hirscher dominated the giant slalom standings with 5 wins, including a margin of 3.28 seconds in Garmisch. With his slalom win in Zagreb he became the most successful Austrian male World Cup slalom skier surpassing Benjamin Raich. In the final race of the season in Meribel he overturned a 55-point deficit in the standings by winning his 16th World Cup slalom, Hirscher became the first male alpine skier to win the overall World Cup title four times in a row. In 2016 Hirscher became the most successful Austrian male World Cup GS skier by winning in Beaver Creek, Colorado, surpassing Benjamin Raich, with his GS win in Alta Badia, Italy, he became Austrias most successful World Cup GS skier overtaking Annemarie Moser-Pröll. Another GS win in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia confirmed Hirscher as the GS title winner with one race to go. To wrap up a season with 8 wins and 19 podiums Hirscher also won the mens overall World Cup title, his 5th consecutive overall title. His points total also enabled Austria to narrowly beat France in the nations cup by 201 points. Hirscher was the only Austrian male skier to win a race in the entire season, in 2017 Hirscher won the first slalom of the season on 13 November in Levi, Finland and equalled Pirmin Zurbriggens win total of 40, putting him equal 5th in the standings. He also achieved his 93rd podium, surpassing Benjamin Raichs total, on 7 January Hirscher achieved his 100th podium from 191 starts with a 2nd place finish in the giant slalom in Adelboden. On 29 January Hirscher won the GS in Garmisch, achieving his 20th GS and 43rd World Cup win, and with it attained Austrias 100th GS win for men. At the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2017 in St. Moritz, Switzerland Hirscher won gold in the GS and slalom and he was the most successful athlete at the championships
14.
Marlies Schild
–
Marlies Raich is a retired Austrian World Cup alpine ski racer. She specializes in the disciplines of slalom and giant slalom. Schild won four Olympic medals, with silvers in the combined and slalom and she has seven World Championship medals won five World Cup season titles. Schild completed her World Cup career with 37 wins, all and she retired from international competition at age 33 in September 2014. Born in Admont, Styria, Schild initially preferred the downhill event, however, by the age of 19 she had already undergone five knee surgeries, prompting her to concentrate on the less dangerous slalom and giant slalom competitions. Since 2004, she has finished every season among the top 3 in the World Cup slalom standings, while training for the giant slalom in October 2008, Schild fell and sustained a comminuted fracture in her left tibia and fibula, as well as a fractured tibial head. This severe injury sidelined Schild for the entire 2009 season, a few weeks after her return to competition in Levi in November 2009, she celebrated her first victory after the injury, winning the slalom in Lienz on 29 December. Her podium-run ended on 10 March 2012, when she finished 6th at the slalom at Åre, Schild has not competed in downhill or super-G since her injury. After Schild tore ligaments in her knee on 20 December 2012 in Sweden, it was announced that she would miss most of the 2013 season. On 13 February, Schild announced her plans to compete in the three days later, only 58 days after the injury. She managed a top ten result with a ninth-place finish, with 35 World Cup victories in slalom, Schild leads the career list in that discipline. She has at least two World Cup podiums in each of the five disciplines, with over fifty in slalom. In 2007 at Åre, Sweden, Schild won silver in the slalom, in team events she won gold 2007 in Åre and silver in 2011 at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. At the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Schild won a medal in combined. In 2010 in Vancouver, Schild improved to silver in the slalom at Whistler. She also competed in 2002 in Salt Lake, but did not finish the slalom at Deer Valley, Schild is married to Austrian ski racer Benjamin Raich. Her sister Bernadette is also a World Cup racer, they made the podium twice during the 2014 season, at Courchevel in December. 5 titles –37 wins – Marlies Schild at the International Ski Federation FIS-ski. com – Marlies Schild – World Cup season standings Ski-db. com – results – Marlies Schild Marlies Schild
15.
2013 Alpine Skiing World Cup
–
The 47th FIS Alpine Ski World Cup season began on 27 October 2012, in Sölden, Austria, and concluded on 17 March 2013, at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. The overall titles were won by Marcel Hirscher of Austria and Tina Maze of Slovenia, a break in the schedule was for the biennial World Championships, held 4–17 February in Schladming, Austria. Changes for the 2013 season included the awarding of World Cup points for the crystal globe for the limited field city events. Also, a crystal trophy was no longer awarded for the combined event, as many organizers considered the event difficult to market. Maze became the first Slovenian to win an overall World Cup title, she clinched it on 24 February after her victory of the season. The previous record of 2,000 points was held by Hermann Maier, Maze finished on podium in all giant slalom events, previously achieved only by Vreni Schneider in 1989. She is also the woman to remain at the top of the overall standings throughout the season - a feat previously achieved only by Bode Miller in 2005. Those titles went respectively to two Americans, Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin, vonns season ended with a knee injury on 5 February at the World Championships, but she held on to win the downhill title by a single point after the final race was cancelled. Three days after turning 18, Shiffrin won the slalom race at Lenzerheide on 16 March to overtake Maze. The mens overall title wasnt decided until the World Cup finals at Lenzerheide, a runner-up finish in the giant slalom on 16 March gave Hirscher his second consecutive overall title, the first male to achieve this feat since Stephan Eberharter in 2002 and 2003. Hirscher also won the title, while the downhill and super-G titles went to Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway. The giant slalom title went to American Ted Ligety, who won six of the eight GS races for his fourth title in that discipline. Names in bold have clinched title, names in bold have clinched title. Nations in bold have clinched title, fIS-ski. com, Alpine skiing, FIS World Cup FIS Alpine. com
16.
Mikaela Shiffrin
–
Mikaela Pauline Shiffrin is an American World Cup alpine ski racer with the U. S. Ski Team, specializing in the events of slalom and giant slalom. Born in Vail, Colorado, Shiffrin is the child of Eileen and Jeff Shiffrin. When Mikaela was eight in 2003, the moved to rural New Hampshire near Lyme. After five years, he took a new job in Denver, her older brother Taylor was in school at Burke Mountain Academy in northeastern Vermont. Shiffrin also attended Burke for middle school, but went with her parents to Colorado, shiffrins father Jeff grew up in New Jersey, but was an avid skier on weekends in Vermont with his family, as an undergraduate, he raced for Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Her mother Eileen raced in high school in northwestern Massachusetts in the Berkshires, Shiffrin began rising up through the ranks in alpine racing as soon as she was old enough to compete in FIS sanctioned races. Shiffrin followed it up by three podiums in her next three Nor-Am races, runner-up in a super-G, third in a GS, and victory in a slalom, weeks later, she won a pair of Nor-Am slalom races held at Sunday River, Maine. A month later Shiffrin took the bronze medal at the FIS Junior World Ski Championships held at Crans-Montana. In 2014 she was named one of ESPNWs Impact 25, Shiffrin made her World Cup debut on March 11,2011, in a giant slalom at Špindlerův Mlýn in the Czech Republic. On December 29,2011, Shiffrin took her first World Cup podium at a slalom in Lienz and she started fortieth and lost her left shin guard halfway down, but finished in 12th place in the first run. Shiffrin, age 16, then posted the fastest time in the run to secure third place. Shiffrin won her first World Cup race in December 2012 at age 17, in a slalom in Åre. She became the second-youngest American to win an alpine World Cup event, shiffrins second win came two weeks later at a night slalom at Zagreb, Croatia, and her third win 11 days later at another night slalom in Flachau, Austria. After winning the slalom at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, though she spent most of her last two years of high school in Europe on the World Cup circuit, she graduated on time from Burke Mountain Academy in June. Shiffrin opened the 2014 season in October 2013 in Sölden, Austria, with a career-best sixth in giant slalom and she won the next event, a slalom at Levi, Finland, improving on her podium finish the previous year for her fifth World Cup victory. At Beaver Creek, she was runner-up in the giant slalom, on January 5, Shiffrin secured first place in a two-run slalom race in Bormio, Italy. She also won the world cup races in Flachau, Åre and Lenzerheide
17.
Austria
–
Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.7 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, the territory of Austria covers 83,879 km2. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps, only 32% of the country is below 500 m. The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene. The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty, from the time of the Reformation, many northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. Following Napoleons defeat, Prussia emerged as Austrias chief competitor for rule of a greater Germany, Austrias defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany. In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary, Austria was thus the first to go to war in the July Crisis, which would ultimately escalate into World War I. The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919, in 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss. This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral, today, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna, other major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $43,724, the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro currency in 1999. The German name for Austria, Österreich, meant eastern realm in Old High German, and is cognate with the word Ostarrîchi and this word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976, the word Austria is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. Accordingly, Norig would essentially mean the same as Ostarrîchi and Österreich, the Celtic name was eventually Latinised to Noricum after the Romans conquered the area that encloses most of modern-day Austria, around 15 BC. Noricum later became a Roman province in the mid-first century AD, heers hypothesis is not accepted by linguists. Settled in ancient times, the Central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes, the Celtic kingdom of Noricum was later claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province
18.
Mario Matt
–
Mario Matt is an Austrian former World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. Born in Flirsch, Tyrol, Matt made his World Cup debut in December 1999 and he claimed 15 World Cup victories,14 in slalom and one super combined. Matt is also a world champion in slalom, with titles in 2001 and 2007. With a remarkably long career as a top racer, he is the oldest to win an Olympic gold medal in alpine skiing. Matt also has the third longest time interval between first and last World Cup victories, after Ingemar Stenmark and Didier Cuche, Matt announced his retirement from ski racing on March 12,2015. 15 wins –42 podiums – Matt is the brother of skicross competitor Andreas Matt and fellow alpine skier Michael Matt. Mario Matt at the International Ski Federation FIS-Ski. com – World Cup season standings – Mario Matt Ski-db. com – results – Mario Matt Mario Matt at Sports Reference – Olympic results Official website
19.
Reinfried Herbst
–
Reinfried Herbst is a retired slalom skier from Austria. Herbst won the medal for the mens slalom event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. On 11 March 2006 he won his first World Cup race in Shigakogen Slalom and he was 8th in the slalom World Cup standings after the 2006 season. In July,2006 he injured his knee in a charity soccer game, after two victories in the 2008 season he finished 3rd in the slalom world cup. Sports profile for the 2006 Winter Olympics at the Wayback Machine Official website Profile at SKI-DB Reinfried Herbst at the International Ski Federation
Mario Matt
Ivica Kostelić
Jean-Baptiste Grange
Giuliano Razzoli
André Myhrer
Felix Neureuther
Sebastian Foss Solevåg
Tanja Poutiainen
Kristina Koznick
Šárka Záhrobská
Veronika Zuzulová
Tina Maze
Erin Mielzynski
Wendy Holdener
