Olympic sports

A graphic from the BBC shows which sports and disciplines have taken place at each of the 26 Olympic games. I'll bet not many people would be able to name the four that have been in all 26 games.

Cleverly skirting trademark restrictions

In late 2009, lululemon released a line of clothing named the "Cool Sporting Event That Takes Place in British Columbia Between 2009 & 2011 Edition", an apparent reference to the 2010 Winter Olympics. The name does not infringe Canada's Olympic and Paralympic Marks Act in that it does not use the terms "Olympic(s)", "Vancouver", "2010", or any other term protected under that law. Representatives from the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, while acknowledging that no explicit infringement had taken place, nevertheless expressed disappointment at lululemon's tactic.

The antikythera mechanism and the Olympics

The Antikythera mechanism (top photo) was recovered in 1900 from a Greek shipwreck dating to about 100 BC. Made of bronze and of amazing complexity, it consists of at least 30 gears which allowed it to function as an astronomical computer (like an orrery), specifically for calculating solar and lunar calendars. More details are available at the Wiki page. The lower image is a modern reconstructed replica.

The device was reportedly remarkably accurate in predicting eclipses, which was "the apparent task of a second, four-twist spiral dial on the instrument's back. Its 223 divisions correspond to months in the Saros cycle, another ancient calendar system—this one an 18-year cycle—for tracking eclipses... The pattern of glyphs was highly accurate: it matched the start dates of 100 eclipses that occurred during the final four centuries BC, as determined by NASA."

I remember some of the early articles about the discovery of this device speculated that this degree of technical sophistication proved that our planet had been visited by extraterrestrials in the past.  What it proves instead is how little we appreciate the intellectual abilities of our remote ancestors.

I was reminded of the Antikythera mechanism by article in Scientific American indicating that one its principal uses was for ascertaining the dates for the Olympic games: "the researchers discovered that the markings on a smaller dial inside the Metonic one spelled out the locations of the names of Panhellenic games, the highly popular sporting events of which the most famous is the Olympics. The games were on a four-year cycle, and each quarter turn of the dial indicated which games took place that year in the cycle."

Questions about Canada and the Olympics

Q: I have never seen it warm on Canadian TV, so how do the plants grow?(UK)
A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around and watch them die.

Q: Will I be able to see Polar Bears in the street? (USA)
A: Depends on how much you've been drinking.

Q: I want to walk from Vancouver to Toronto. Can I follow the Railroad tracks? (Sweden)
A: Sure, it's only Four thousand miles, take lots of water.

Q: Can I bring cutlery into Canada? (UK)
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.

Q: Can you tell me the regions in British Columbia where the female population is smaller than the male population? (Italy)
A: Yes, gay nightclubs.

Q: Are there supermarkets in Toronto and is milk available all year round? (Germany)
A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of Vegan hunter/gatherers. Milk is illegal.

Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Canada, but I forget its name. Its a kind of big horse with horns. (USA)
A: Its called a Moose. They are tall and very violent, eating the brains of anyone walking close to them. You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking.

As explained at Snopes, these are all "fake" questions.  More at the link.

TAB

Some activists for disabled people use an acronym - "TAB" - to refer to normal people.  The letters stand for "Temporarily Able-Bodied," as a reminder that any normal healthy person is only an illness or accident away from disability.  The term has been around for years, but the current Olympics has offered some striking reminders of the validity of the acronym.

Photo: Britain's Chemmy Alcott crashes after crossing the finish line in the women's Alpine Skiing Downhill race on February 17, 2010. (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach) #

The cost of "throwing stones at houses"

The Wisconsin State Journal has an article today about the Olympics-related boom in business for a curling supplies store in Madison:

Brown, who runs Steve's Curling Supplies out of his Far East Side home, gets calls from guys in bars who see the sport of curling on TV. They think it doesn't look too tough, that maybe they and their buddies could be like the Jamaican bobsled team and head from oblivion into the Olympics.

"So they'll get on a cell phone and say, ‘How much are those puck things? We want to go to the next Olympics,'" Brown said. "You tell them they cost about $500 and — boom — they hang up the phone."

Those delivering the stone need special Teflon-soled shoes to slide on the ice, and a pair of those range from $75 to the $236 shoes most Olympians are wearing. Grippers, for $16 a pair, go over the shoes to help competitors maneuver on the ice.

The top-selling brush is a $67 fiberglass model; carbon fiber ones used by Olympians cost $159...

Chariots of money

The commercialization and "professionalization" of the Olympics is a phenomenon that is widely recognized and apparently grudgingly accepted by the public.  The extent to which the athletes are subsidized by their corporate sponsors is best exemplified by snowboarder Shaun White, who has a private halfpipe built exclusively for him by his [name redacted] sponsor, located in a remote mountain site accessible only by helicopter.

When 60 Minutes reported on White's multimillion-dollar enterprise, the reporter/interviewer apparently found it convenient (or was required?) to address the camera while leaning on the corporate sponsor's logo.  They're all in this bed together...

For a modicum of relief, I turn to the curling teams, whose lifestyles are a bit closer to the old ideal of the amateur athlete.  The Star Tribune reported on their accommodations in Vancouver:

A brand-new penthouse suite, with a spectacular view, valued somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 million.  For an athlete used to living in anonymity, though, a three-week stay in these digs offers a rare taste of the high life. The living room is bigger than the two-bedroom apartment that curlers John Shuster, Jason Smith and Jeff Isaacson share with three other guys in Duluth. Their lavish temporary home is all part of the fun of the Winter Games...

Many of the curlers are Minnesotans

...from places such as Bemidji and Chisholm and St. Michael, people with regular jobs and average physiques who earned the right to walk alongside global superstars at the Olympics.

U.S. men's coach Phill Drobnick of Duluth is a probation officer for St. Louis County. Shuster tends bar at the Duluth Curling Club and is a groundskeeper at a golf course in the summer. Nicholson works a 2-10 p.m. shift as an emergency-room nurse at a Bemidji hospital, and Isaacson is a substitute teacher...

They also have sponsors, whose backing allows them to "break even" re their Olympic expenses, and they gladly accept some perks, including custom-tailored clothing by Ralph Lauren and "duffel bags stuffed with gear."

That's probably as close to "amateur" athletes as one can find at the Olympics.