MB
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I am a bird aficionado and really enjoy spotting them them on hikes. I greatly appreciate the variety of birds cross North America and the world. They are amazing and intelligent creatures, each so unique and with a wonderful life.
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1992 Olympics
The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games, were a multi-sport, ice festival that was played from 8 to 23 February 1992 in Albertville, France. They were the last Winter Games that took place in the same year as the Summer Olympics, and the first at the same arena where the Winter Paralympics were held. Albertville was chosen as host in 1986, and defeated Sofia, Falun, Lillehammer, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Anchorage and Berchtesgaden. The games were the 3rd Winter Olympics in France, after Chamonix in 1924 and Grenoble in 1968 and the 5th Olympics overall in the area. In Albertville only some of the skating and opening and closing ceremonies took place while the other competitions took place in the villages of Courchevel, La Plagne, Les Arcs, Les Menuires, Les Saisies, Méribel, Pralognan-de-Vanoise, Tignes and Val d'Isère. Sixty-four nations and the Joint Team of former non-Baltic Soviet republics played in the games. Upon reunification in 1990, Germany returned as a single body after five newly independent European countries, along with six 'warm-weather' states, appeared. Short track sprint cycling, women's and mogul biathlon mark their debut as an Olympic event. The competitions became the first Winter Games to feature exhibition activities up to 2014, consisting of curling, aerials, dance skiing, and sprint skiing. Outdoor speed skating arena was the last Games to have. The 1992 Winter Paralympics were followed by the Olympics from March 25 to April 1. Norwegians won every male ski race in the cross country, picking up three golds from both Bjørn Dæhlie and Vegard Ulvang. Ski jumper Toni Nieminen, 16, became the youngest male gold medallist at an Olympic Winter event. Petra Kronberger won both the mixed race and the slalom, with Bonnie Blair winning both the 500-meter and 1000-meter speed skating events and Gunda Niemann taking the fastest heats. In all men's short-track events Kim Kihoon won gold medals. In the Winter Olympics, China's Ye Qiaobo won first prize, a women's speed skating silver in 500 metres. New Zealand's Annelise Coberger has won the first Winter Olympic gold in the southern hemisphere — a silver in women's slalom. During one training session Nicolas Bochatay has been killed. Germany has won most the more gold medals. Following a six-Olympic stint with the American Broadcasting Corporation, CBS became the telecast network for the USA's Winter Games. The 1992 Olympic Winter Games marked the last time that the same year's Winter and Summer games were held. Indirect building costs for road, rail or airport facilities, hotel renovations or other industry improvements are not considered for the Games preparation and are not specifically linked to the Games. The budget and investment shortfall for Albertville 1992 were equal to a deficit of US$ 2.5 billion and a cost overrun of 13 per cent for Vancouver 2010, and a cost overrun of US$ 51 billion and 289 per cent for Sochi 2014, the latter becoming the most expensive Olympics to date. Winter Games 'total loss since 1960 has been US$ 3.1 billion, and the average cost savings is 142 per cent. The Games of 1992 still mark the final time that France hosted the Olympics. France is scheduled to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The Oxford Olympics Report projected the construction expense of the Albertville 1992 Winter Olympics in 2015-dollars at US$ 2.0 billion and a real-life revenue surplus at 137 per cent. This contains only sport-related expenditure, i.e. logistical expenditure incurred by the organising committee for the purposes of hosting the Games, e.g. expenditure on travel, logistics, staff, infrastructure, lodging, ceremonies and medical facilities, and direct capital expenditure incurred by the host city and government or private donors to build, e.g. competition stadiums.
By MB6 years ago in Unbalanced
1992 Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympics, officially known as the XXV Olympic Games, was an multi-sport event and was held in Barcelona, Spain from 25 July to 9 August 1992.Established in 1994, the International Olympic Committee has decided to organise the Summer and Winter Olympics in consecutive, even-numbered years. The 1992 Summer Olympics was the final time that the Summer and Winter Games will be held the same year. This Olympiad was the first since the Cold War began, and was spared from boycotts for the first time since the 1972 Olympiad. The Unified Team has outperformed the tally of trophies, winning 45 gold medals and 112 overall. At the opening ceremony the Greek mezzo-soprano Agnes Balsa sang "Romiossini," as the Olympic flag was paraded in the stadium. The Olympic Hymn was also sung by Alfredo Krause’s the flag was hoisted in Spanish, Catalan, and French. The Olympic cauldron, lit by the Olympic torch flame, was set on fire with a flaming spear. This was launched by the Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo, who attempted to set off the gas with the projectile above, which exploded into the cauldron. The room was where the arrow detonated. This innovative method of lighting the cauldron was meant to eliminate the possibility of stadium arrow falling when Rebollo missed its target. 1960Summer Olympics, after being expelled for their apartheid practises South Africa entered the Summer Olympics. The The Women's 10,000-meterrace has been widely discussed. The White South African athlete Elana Meyer and the Black Ethiopian athlete Derartu Tulu have marched hand in hand during a victory parade. Germany sent a new squad to the 1964 Summer Olympics, having defeated the last of those teams in 1990.In 1991, when the Soviet Union was dissolved, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania organised their own teams for the first time since 1936.The other former Soviet republics as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan's Solidarity Squad voted to join. The World States finished fourth in the medal table and beat the USA. The split in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has led to the Olympic debuts for Serbia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thanks to UN limitations, teams from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were not permitted to play for their own team. Nevertheless, any single competitor competed as individual Olympic athletes under the Olympic banner. The participation of NBA players in basketball has helped to build the "Dream Team “of the United States, including Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and other NBA stars. It had allowed only European and South American stars to compete before 1992, when the Americans had college teams. The Dream Team received the gold trophy in 2010, and has-been inducted as a team into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Tatiana Guts has won gold in the All-Around division edging Shannon Miller in the US for women's artistic gymnastics. Russian swimmers dominated the men's freestyle events, with both Alexander Popov and Yevgeny Sadovyi winning two titles a piece. Sadovyi had won the relays too. Evelyn Ashford won her fourth Olympic gold medal in the 4,100-meter relay, making her one of four woman athletes in history to do so. Krisztina Egerszegi, a Hungarian student, has won three individual gold medals while swimming. At 14 and 6, Japan's Kyoko Iwasaki earned a gold medal in a breaststroke of200 metres for women making her the youngest ever gold medalist in Olympic swimming competitions. Algerian runner Hassiba Boulmerka, who was regularly targeted by Muslim groups in Algeria who appeared to have revealed so much of her body in cycling, faced death threats and was forced to flee to Europe, won the 1,500 metres, while holding the African women's record at this time. Baseball was officially an Olympic sport at six previous Olympic Summer Games. The Olympic schedule was concluded by Badminton and the female judo, while slalom canoeing returned to the Olympics following a 20-year absence. Hockey, Basque pelota, and taekwondo's both showed up at the 1992 Summer Olympics Rolling.
By MB6 years ago in Unbalanced
1932 Olympics
The 1932 Summer Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Games, was an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games took place largely in the aftermath of the Great Depression and many nations were unable to pay for the travel to Los Angeles; 37 nations were participating in Amsterdam, equal to 46 at the 1928 Summer Olympics; US President Herbert Hoover was not present at the Games, either. The organising committee did not announce the Games ' financial reports but contemporary newspapers claimed that the Games yielded a profit of $1 million. In 1923 the selection of host city for the 1932 Summer Olympics was decided at the 23rd IOC Conference in Rome, Italy. Remarkably the selection process consisted of a single bid from Los Angeles, and because there were no bids from any other country, Los Angeles was selected by default to host the 1932 Games. Originally established in Baldwin Hills, an Olympic Village has become a destination for male-inhabited amateur athletes. Women’s clubs are operated by Chapman Park Lounge on Wilshire Boulevard. We used the table for triumph for the second time too. In 1932, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was called The Olympic Arena. Tenth Street, a major Los Angeles thoroughfare, was called Olympic Boulevard to commemorate the 10th Olympic Games. Babe Didrikson won two Gold Medals in the javelin and hurdles event. She has also played in a face-off for the high jump for a victory. Her failed jump-off has been ruled illegal, leaving Didrikson in secondi had disqualified Paavo Nurmi from the competition for alleged amateur rules violations. Finns accused the Swedish authorities of using devious tactics in their fight against Nurmi's amateur status and severed all sporting relations with Sweden’s Kitamura won the gold medal at the freestyle swimming event for the men of 1500 metres. He’s the first male swimmer ever to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games and he continues to do so. Dunc Gray won Australia's first gold medal on cycling; he seta world record in the 1000-time trial at 1 m 13s.The Dunc Gray Velodrome that was built in Sydney for the 2000 Olympic Games was named after him. The 3,000-m steeplechase went down for 3,460 almost a whole course, due to an official's mistake. In 1932 the Olympic Schedule featured 117events in 20 disciplines plus 14 others. Any of the two Jumping Equestrian competitions won no trophies. Scandals on the track and in the newspapers a year earlier had led Finland to withdraw from the Finnish-Swedish rivalry. Not until 1939, after Nurmi was fired, Finland consented to the condition return. In field hockey only three countries had participated. The host nation lost both matches, 1-24 matches against India and 2-9 matches against Japan but also won a bronze medal. Stanislaw Alexievich from Poland won the 100 m gold medal for women; in the event, four years ago, she would also win the silver medal. Eddie Tolan has previously won 100metre and 200 metre sprint events. Romeo Nery has won3 Gold Medals in gymnastics. Helene Madison won three gold medals in swimming as the Japanese dominated men's events and claimed all but one title. Takeichi Nishi and his horse Uranus were the gold medallist on the equestrian show jumping individual event. Nishi's gold medal has been Japan's only gold medal in equestrian sport to date. Nishi would later die in 1945 as an officer fighting in defence of the island of Iwo Jima and as such is a central character in Clint Eastwood's film, Letters from Iwo Jima.
By MB6 years ago in Unbalanced
2002 Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002, was a multi-sport winter event that took place from 8 to 24 February 2002 at and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. 2,399 athletes from 78 nations participated in 78 sports in 15 disciplines over 165 sporting activities. The 2002 Winter Olympics and the 2002 Paralympic Games were both organised by the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, the first time a single body has co-ordinated both events in Olympic and Paralympic history. Utah became the sixth state of the United States to host the Olympic Games, following Florida, New York, California and Georgia. The 2002 Winter Games were the final games held in the United States until the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. They were the first Olympic Games to be held by Jacques Rogge under IOC presidency. The opening ceremony took place on 8 February 2002, and sporting events were held prior to the closing ceremony on 24 February 2002. Seven Nielsen scheduled production for the two ceremonies, and for both ceremonies, Mark Watters arranged the music. Although the number of the two potential host cities was lower, Salt Lake City was the most heavily inhabited city ever to host the Winter Olympics. The 2002 Olympic Winter Games were much better as a theme than the previous Winter Games, boasting 10 more events than the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Norway won the most gold medals while Germany won the most. The Salt Lake Games had faced a dispute over the bribes and some local opposition during the auction. Nevertheless, from a sports and industry viewpoint, this was one of the most popular Winter Olympiads in history; records were achieved in both TV and commercial programmes. About 13 billion spectator-hours were watched by about 2 billion people. The Games proved financially successful, generating more funds from fewer donors than the previous Olympic Games, leaving SLOC with a surplus of $40million. The surplus was used to found the Utah Athletic Foundation which has managed which operated all of the new Olympic stadiums. NBC became the telecast network for the US Winter Games later on following a three-Olympics run for CBS from 1992–1998. The Oxford Olympics Survey measured the manufacturing costs of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics at US$ 2.5 billion in 2015-dollars and 24 per cent of actual time excess expenditures. That mainly includes sport-related expenditures, i.e. administrative costs borne by the organising committee for the purposes of hosting the Games, e.g. spending on transportation, transport, personnel, administration, accommodation, ceremonies and medical services, and direct construction costs borne by the host city and country or private donors to build, e.g. competition stadiums; Indirect building costs for bridge, rail or airport infrastructure, hotel upgrades or other Games ready commercial developments are not included, nor are they directly related to the Games. The budget and expense overrun for Salt Lake City 2002 are compared with a deficit of US$ 2.5 billion and a cost overrun of 13 per cent for Vancouver 2010, and a cost overrun of US$ 51 billion and 289 per cent for Sochi 2014, which has been the most expensive Olympics to date. The estimated cost of Winter Games since 1960 is US$ 3.1 billion, with a gross production reduction of 142 per cent. The grass was removed inside the stadium before the ceremony, and a giant, geometrically shaped ice rink, designed by Seven Nielsen, was constructed, covering a significant portion of the Venue. Performers then put ice skates on, rather than boots. An American flag rescued on September 11 from the World Trade Center Site was carried into the stadium by an official American athlete guard and brought in by NYPD firefighters and police, Port Authority police and FDNY. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, dressed in white sweaters, sung The Star Spangled Banner, the U.S. national anthem, as it raised the flag.
By MB6 years ago in Unbalanced
2006 Olympics
The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games and simply known as Turin 2006 or Torino 2006, was a multi-sport winter event that was held in Turin, Piedmont, Italy from 10 to 26 February 2006. This was the second time Italy had hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the 1956 Winter Olympics at Cortina d'Ampezzo. Italy also hosted the Summer Olympics in Rome in 1960. Turin was selected as host city for the Olympics in June 1999. The official motto of the XX Olympic Winter Games was: "Passion lives here." The official logo displays the stylised profile of the Mole Antonelliana building, made in crystals of white and blue ice, signifying the snow and the stars. The crystal network was also meant to reflect the new technology climate, and the Olympic spirit of the world. Neve, a female snowball, became the Games ' Olympic mascots, and Gliz, a male ice cube. Italy will host the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo twenty years after those games. On 19 June 1999, Turin was announced as host of the Olympics at the 109th IOC Meeting in Seoul, South Korea. It came after the IOC's adopted revised voting procedures at the 108th Extraordinary IOC Session in the aftermath of the 1998 and 2002 controversy surrounding the Winter Olympic votes. The Oxford Olympics Report placed the development budget of the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics at US$ 4.4 billion in 2015-dollars and the actual spending reached 80%. It mainly includes sport-related expenditures, i.e. administrative costs borne by the organising committee for the purposes of hosting the Games, e.g. spending on transportation, transport, personnel, administration, accommodation, ceremonies and medical services, and direct construction costs borne by the host city and government or private donors to build, e.g. competition stadiums; Indirect building costs for bridge, rail or airport infrastructure, hotel upgrades or other Games ready commercial developments are not included, nor are they directly related to the Games. The budget and expense overrun for Torino 2006 are equal to the loss of US$ 2.5 billion and a cost overrun of 13 per cent for Vancouver 2010, and the expense of US$ 51 billion and a cost overrun of 289 per cent for Sochi 2014, the latter being the most expensive Olympics to date. The overall cost of Winter Games since 1960 is US$ 3.1 billion, and the gross cost reduction is 142 per cent. Winter Olympics 2006 held 84 medal events, including 15 disciplines, in seven sports. Stefania Belmondo, 10-time Olympic medalist in cross-country skiing, lit the Olympic Flame on 10 February at the opening ceremonies. Prior to that, the festival had honoured the best of Italy and Sport with a section celebrating the Alps. The opening and closing ceremonies of the 2006 XX Olympic Winter Games in Turin were created and produced by K-events of the FilmMaster Company. Product production Alfredo Accatino, Executive Producer Marco Balich, Art Direction Lida Castelli. Monica Maimone of Studio Festi directed the section From the Renaissance to the Baroque, part of the opening ceremonies Olympic games were conducted mainly in Turin but other activities took place in outlying mountain areas for obvious purposes. A historically unprecedented 80 National Olympic Committees entered athletes at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. At the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, that was a two-plus increase from the 78. The number in parentheses indicates how many NOC attendees have applied. This was their first visit to Albania, to Ethiopia and Madagascar. This was the first appearance in the Winter Olympics for Serbia and Montenegro, coming after their change of name in 2003 and the independence vote in May.
By MB6 years ago in Unbalanced
1998 Olympics
The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially the XVIII Olympic Winter Games and simply known as Nagano 1998, was a multi-sport winter festival held from 7th to 22nd February 1998 in Nagano, Japan. The games also took place in nearby mountain villages Hakuba, Karuizawa, Nozawa Onsen and Yamanouuchi. Nagano City had previously been a candidate to host the 1940 Winter Olympics, as well as the 1972 Winter Olympics, but Sapporo each time eliminated Nagano at the national level. The games hosted 2,176 athletes from 72 countries taking part in 7 disciplines and 68 events. Around the moment a benchmark was the number of entrants and nations participating. The sports saw the inclusion of female field hockey, curling, and snowboarding. National Hockey League teams were first allowed to play for the children of ice hockey. Five continents have made their Winter Olympic debuts including Belarus, Kenya, Macedonia, Uruguay and Venezuela. The athlete winning the most medals at these competitions was Russian cross-country skier Larisa Lazutina who won five medals including three gold medals. The Norwegian cross- skier Bjørn Dæhlie has won four medals, including three gold medals, taking his overall Olympic medal to 12, including eight gold medals, which is a record for Winter Olympics. Czech men's ice hockey team also won the gold cup. Kazuyoshi Funaki has won two gold medals for host Japan in Ski Jumping and one silver medal. The American Figure Skater Tara Lipinski has been the youngest Olympic champion in history at the age of 15 years and 255 days. Germany topped the Medal table with 29 medals with 12 gold. Norway and Russia led Germany, each receiving 25 and 18, respectively. Canada, who finished fourth with six gold medals at the 15-medal table, has had the most successful Winter Olympics to date. The host was chosen over Salt Lake City, Östersund, Jaca, and Aosta on 15 June 1991. It was the third Olympic and second Olympic Winter to be held in Japan, after the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics and 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics. The games were followed by the 1998 Winter Paralympics from March 5 to 14. These were the last Winter Olympic Games organised by Juan Antonio Samaranch under the IOC presidency. The staging of the games improved the transport networks between Tokyo and Nagano Station, between Takasaki and Miya, by constructing the high-speed Shinkansen, the Nagano Shinkansen, now the Shinkansen Hokuriku. Furthermore, new highways were built, including the Nagano Expressway and the Jōshin-etsu Expressway, and upgrades were made to existing highways. The Olympic stadiums ' construction and property costs totalled 106.6 billion dollars, approximately USD 914 million. The federal government of Japan has invested $51.1 billion for this, the prefectural government of Nagano has spent $29.6 billion, and Nagano cities and towns $23.4 billion; Hakuba $1 billion; and Nozawa Onsen $1.1 billion; the remaining $25.5 billion is divided. M-Wave became the most lavish facility to host events for long-distance speed skating. It has saved $34.8billion. All the ice hockey arenas, Big Hat and Aqua Wing Arena, cost 19.1 and 9.1 billion, respectively. The White Ring, which contained racing figures and short-track speed racing, cost 14.2 billion, cost 10.1 billion for the Loop, which hosted bobsleigh, luge, which skeleton. About $8.6 billion has been invested in the Hakuba Ski Jumping Arena, $7 billion has been invested in Snow Harp – the cross-country skiing venue, and $3 billion has been spent on the biathlon location at Nozawa Onsen Snow Resort. Nagano is situated in a mountainous region of Japan, where there are major snowfalls. Both combined to create a big barrier for the planning committee to fly too. In comparison, the Olympic Village was a 7 kilometre distance from the city centre, and sporting events were spread across five local regions.
By MB6 years ago in Unbalanced
2010 Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, technically known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Vancouver 2010, informally the 21st Winter Olympics, was an international multi-sport winter event taking place from 12 to 28 February 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events taking place in the surrounding suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University Endowment Lands. Approximately 2600 athletes from 82 nations competed in 86 events in 15 disciplines. The planning committee in Vancouver, headed by John Furlong, had organised for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The 2010 Winter Olympics is the third-largest host of Games in Canada and the first in British Columbia. Canada also hosted the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta. Metro Vancouver is the largest urban region hosting the Summer Olympics while Calgary is the largest town hosting the Summer Olympics. We are all to be overtaken by Beijing in 2022. In line with Olympic tradition, at the closing ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, the mayor of Vancouver, Sam Sullivan, raised the Olympic flag. The flag was raised on 28 February 2006 at a formal ceremony and was on display at Vancouver City Hall before the Olympic Games opening ceremonies. The festival was officially opened by Governor General Michaëlle Jean joined by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and International Olympic Committee Chairman Jacques Rogge. Canada captured gold for the first time in an international competition at home-hosted Olympic Games, having failed to do so at both the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics and the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. Canada clinched their first gold medal on the second day of the tournament and finished fourth in the gold medal tally on the tournament's second to last day, becoming the first host nation since Norway in 1952 to top the gold medal count. Canada broke the record for the most gold medals won at a single Winter Olympics, 13 held in 1976 by the Soviet Union and 14 in 2002 by Norway. In all, the United States won the most medals, their second time at the Winter Olympics, and set the record for the most medals won at a single Winter Olympics with 37, a record held by Germany with 36 medals in 2002 up to that point. Slovak and Belarusian athletes have captured the first gold medals in their country's Winter Olympics. Many venues such as the Richmond Olympic Oval were at sea level, a rarity for the Winter Games. The 2010 Games is also the first indoor opening ceremony — winter or summer — to have been held. Greater Vancouver is the most populous metropolitan city ever to be represented at the Winter Olympics. In February, the month the Games were being played, Vancouver had an average temperature of 4.8 ° C. The mean temperature as measured at Vancouver International Airport for the month of February 2010 was 7.1 ° C. The Olympic Games in Vancouver is broadcast internationally through a number of television networks. Because the rights for the 2010 Games were combined with those for the 2012 Summer Olympics, the broadcasters were practically identical with both competitions. Olympic Broadcasting Services Vancouver, a subsidiary of the current in-house programming network of Olympic Broadcasting Services located within the IOC, became the host broadcaster. The 2010 Olympics marked the first Games at which the host transmission services were only provided by OBS. Nancy Lee, a former director and president at CBC Sports, was the Managing Director at Vancouver's Olympic Broadcasting Services. The flame was lit at Olympia for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver on 22 October 2009. It then travelled from Greece to Canada's High Arctic, around the North Pole, and on to the West Coast and then on to Vancouver. The relay continued its long voyage through Canada from British Columbia's capital of Victoria. The torch travelled in Canada for about 45,000 kilometres over 106 days, making it the longest relay run in one country's Olympic history. About 12,000 people carried the Olympic torch and visited nearly 1,000 neighbourhoods. The Olympic Torch Relay is the transfer of the Olympic torch from Ancient Olympia, Greece into the civic stadium where the current Olympic Games are held. The fires come just in time for the ceremony to begin.
By MB6 years ago in Unbalanced
2018 Olympics
The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as the 2018 PyeongChang, was an international multi-sport winter festival held in Pyeongchang District, Gangwon Province, South Korea on February 9-25, 2018, the day before the opening ceremony. Pyeongchang was chosen as host city in July 2011, at the 123rd IOC Session in Durban, South Africa. This was the second hosting of the Olympic Games in South Korea, having previously hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, but it was only the first Winter Olympics in the region. This was the first of three consecutive Games in East Asia, with the next two being Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022. This was the third time since the Winter Games were hosted by Sapporo and Nagano, both of those towns in Japan, an East Asian country. It was also Central Asia's first Winter Games to take place. The Games held 102 competitions ranging over 15 disciplines, a unprecedented number of competitions on the Winter Games. Four events make their 2018 Olympic debut: "big air" snowboarding, mass start speed skating, mixed curling doubles and mixed alpine team skiing. A total of 2,914 athletes from 92 NOCs participated including the national debuts from Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Indonesia, Nigeria and Singapore. Throughout the 2014 Winter Olympics, the Russian Olympic Committee was suspended after a state-sponsored doping programme was exposed, but selected competitors were permitted to compete neutrally in the special IOC group "Russian Olympic Competitors" North Korea agreed to take part in the Games amid the tense ties with South Korea; the two nations paraded together as a unified Korea at the Games; Norway led the tally with 39 national medals, followed by 31 in Germany and 29 in Canada. Germany and Norway, with all 14, were tied for the highest number of gold medals. Host nation South Korea has won 17 medals, five of which were gold at a Winter Olympics, their highest medal haul. The opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics took place at the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium on February 9, 2018; the $100 million facility was planned to be used solely for the opening and closing ceremonies of these Olympics and possible Paralympics, and was demolished upon completion. Many of the outdoor snow events were organised in Pyeongchang City, while some of the alpine skiing practises were conducted in neighbouring Jeongseon Borough. Indoor ice competitions were held in neighbouring city of Gangneung. The opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics was held at the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium on February 9, 2018; the US$ 100 million stadium was planned to be used exclusively for the opening and closing ceremonies of these Olympics and future Paralympics, and was demolished upon completion. The 2018 Winter Olympics held 102 competitions covering over 15 disciplines in 7 sports, making them the first Winter Olympics to exceed 100 medal competitions. The closing celebration of the 2018 Winter Olympics took place at the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium on 25 February 2018. IOC chief Thomas Bach declared the Games over, and the cauldron was extinguished. Television rights for the 2018 Winter Olympics were already sold in many countries as part of long-term television rights deals, including local Games rights provider SBS, which in July 2011 had extended its access to the Olympics by 2024. SBS had sub-licensed the rights to the MBC and KBS. On 29 June 2015, the IOC announced that Exploration Communications had acquired exclusive Olympic rights in Europe from 2018 through 2024. The pan-European Eurosport channels of Discovery were positioned as the main broadcaster of the Sports, but the free-to-air networks of Discovery, such as DMAX in Spain, Channel 5 in Sweden and TVNorge in Norway, were also involved in the programming arrangements in general. Discovery was required to sub-license, in each market, at least 100 hours of programming to free-to-air stations; some of these agreements allowed Eurosport and its affiliated networks to be exclusive to those sports. The deal originally did not include France because of the broadcasting rights of France Télévisions, which will continue until the Olympics in 2020. United Country.
By MB6 years ago in Unbalanced
1994 Olympics
The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, was a multi-sport winter event held from 12th to 27th February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. In 1992, Lillehammer had not won the bid for the event, losing to Albertville. The 1994 Winter Olympics were awarded to Lillehammer in 1988, after crushing Anchorage, USA; Östersund, Sweden; and Sofia, Bulgaria. Lillehammer is the northernmost town ever to host Winter Games and Olympics overall. The Games was the first to be held in a year other than the Summer Olympics, the first and only to be played two years since the previous winter games. The Games were the second Winter Olympics held in Norway, after the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, and the fourth Nordic Olympics, the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, and the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. While there were few events in Lillehammer, there was cycling in Hamar, numerous ice hockey matches were held in Gjøvik, while there was alpine skiing in Øyer and Ringebu. 67 nations and 1,737 athletes competed in 6 disciplines and 61 events. Fourteen nations made their Olympic Winter debuts, nine of them were former Soviet republics. The Games also saw more stringent classification criteria being introduced, raising the number of underperforming athletes arriving from countries with warm weather. New events included two separate distances in short track speed skating and aerials, while figure skating was moved indoors. Over two million people spectated the games, the first to witness the Olympic truce in place. From 10th to 19th March, the 1994 Winter Paralympics preceded the games. Manuela Di Centa and Lyubov Yegorova led women's cross-country skiing, winning five and four medals, respectively. A crowd of over 100,000 saw Italy beat Norway by 0.4 seconds on the men's 4 around 10 km relay Vreni Schneider has won a full medal series in alpine skiing while Norway has taken a gold sweep in the men's combination. Before the match, Shane Stant, an associate of Tonya Harding, had clubbed Nancy Kerrigan but managed to take silver in the ladies ' singles. Once Kim Yoon-Mi, 13, became the first Olympic gold medalist ever to win, Johann Olav Koss won three speed skating competitions. Sweden has beat Canada in a thrilling penalty shootout in the ice hockey final. Russia won the bulk of events with 11 gold medals while Norway won the highest number of 26 medals. The opening ceremony was held at a ski jumping slope, Lysgårdsbakken. Artistic resources have been given for a variety of Norwegian history, including Sami joik, Telemark skiing, fiddlers and folk dancing, versions of traditional weddings and their processions, and Norse mythology vetter. Following speeches by Heiberg and IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, the games were officially proclaimed opened by King Harald V. Before lighting the cauldron the Olympic Flame was to be skied down the skijump. This job initially depended on Ole Gunnar Fidjestøl, but after being injured in a practise jump, his back-up Stein Gruben earned the distinction. The Cauldron was illuminated by Crown Prince Haakon Magnus. Vegard Ulvang gave the athletes the Olympic oaths, and the officials the Kari Kåring. The games were spread across ten venues in five municipalities across two counties, Oppland and Hedmark. Mjøsa Bay is both based on Lillehammer, with a population of 25,000, and Hamar and Gjøvik, each of which have a population of 27,000. Located 45 and 54 km south of Lillehammer, Gjøvik and Hamar respectively. Hunderfossen is located 15 kilometres north of Lillehammer but is within the municipality. Located 18 and 50 kilometres north of Lillehammer in the Gudbrandsdalen Valley, Øyer and Ringebu, all of which have a population of just under 5000. Lillehammer had four stadiums, Hamar had two stadiums, and Hunderfossen, Gjøvik, Øyer and Ringebu each had one venue. Lysgårdsbakken in Lillehammer boasts hills that hop twin skis. The big hill is 138 in size while the regular hill is 100 in size and 90 in critical stage. In addition to the ski jumping events, the hill has space for 35,000 fans, and hosted the opening and closing ceremonies.
By MB6 years ago in Unbalanced
2014 Olympics
The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXII Olympic Winter Games and simply known as Sochi 2014, was an international multi-sport winter event held in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia from February 7-23, 2014, with preliminary rounds in several sports played on the eve of the opening ceremonies, February 6, 2014. Both the Games and the 2014 Winter Paralympics were hosted by the Sochi Organising Committee. In July 2007, Sochi was selected as host city at the 119th IOC Session held in Guatemala City. This was the first Games to be held on a CIS territory since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Formerly the Soviet Union was the host nation of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. This is the first Olympic Games of the World Olympic Committee chaired by Thomas Bach. A record 98 events took place in 15 disciplines of winter sport during the Olympics. A number of new activities – a total of twelve gender records – were held during the Games, including mixed relay biathlon, female ski jumping, mixed-team racing, mixed-team luge, half-pipe skiing, ski and snowboard slopestyle, and parallel slalom snowboarding. The events took place around two clusters of new venues: an Olympic Park built on the Black Sea coast in Sochi's Imeretinsky Valley, with Fisht Olympic Stadium and indoor facilities within walking distance of the Olympics, and snow sports in the resort city of Krasnaya Polyana. Winter Games 2014 is the most lavish games in the history of the Olympics. Although initially budgeted at US$ 12 billion, major cost overruns resulted in this figure rising to US$ 51 billion, more than three times the cost of the 2012 London Olympics and almost exceeding the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics ' nearly $44 billion loss. The 2014 Games reached an audience of 2.1 billion people globally on TV. An independent investigation published in 2016 by the World Anti-Doping Agency revealed charges that the Russian Olympic team had engaged in a state-sponsored doping programme, running from at least the late 2011 to August 2015. At the Sochi Winter Olympics, the plan got embroiled, and the cover-up had covered the athletes. In 2017, the IOC stripped thirteen medals from Russian athletes but nine were returned by the Court of Arbitration for Competition. In December 2017, the IOC voted to disband the Russian Olympic Committee, with an incentive for whitelisted athletes to compete independently in the 2018 Winter Olympics. On 29 September 2013, the Olympic torch was lit in Ancient Olympia, beginning a seven-day journey through Greece and on to Russia, then the torch relay started in Moscow on 7 October 2013 before passing through 83 Russian cities and arriving in Sochi on the opening day, 7 February 2014. It is the longest torch relay in Olympic history, a 60,000-kilometer (40,000 miles) journey from west Kaliningrad to east Chukotka, travelling all over the country. The Olympic torch reached the North Pole with a nuclear powered icebreaker for the very first time. The torch was also sent to the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time on Soyuz TMA-11 M flight into orbit, but not lit for safety reasons for the remainder of the mission. The spacecraft itself has been painted in livery, with an Olympic theme like the Games logo. Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazansky have lifted the torch on a spacewalk outside ISS. The torch returned to Earth five days later on board Soyuz TMA-09M. The torch also reached the highest point in Europe, Mount Elbrus and Lake Baikal in Siberia. The opening ceremony for Winter Olympics 2014 took place on 7 February 2014 at Fisht Olympic Stadium, an indoor venue built especially for the ceremonies. The ceremonies featured scenes based on aspects of Russian culture and the arts including theatre, classical music, the Russian Revolution and the time of the Soviet Union. The opening scene of the ceremony featured a noticeable technical malfunction, in which one of five snowflakes to be stretched to form the Olympic rings failed and did not develop.
By MB6 years ago in Unbalanced
1980 Olympics
The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIII Olympic Winter Games, was a multi-sport festival contested from 13-24 February 1980 in Lake Placid, New York, U.S. The village in Upstate New York hosted the Olympics for the second time since 1932. Vancouver-Garibaldi, British Columbia, Canada, which withdrawn before the final vote, was the only other applicant city to qualify for the Olympics. The Games mascot was a raccoon, "Roni." On a raccoon's muzzle the mask-like rings are reminiscent of the gloves and goggles that many winter sports competitors wear. In the Olympic Arena, Whiteface Mountain, Olympic Bobsled Run Mt. Van Hoevenberg, Olympic Ski Jumps, Waterfall Cross Country Ski Club, and Lake Placid High School Speed Skating Oval, the events were carried out. The qualification process for Winter Olympic 1980 consisted of one bid, from Lake Placid, New York, USA. This was selected at the International Olympic Committee's 75th Meeting in Wien on 23 October 1974. The venue was considered suitable for the amenities accessible from the Winter Olympics of 1932, in particular the Bobsleigh event. Congressional appropriations law included a provision for extra facility use, and it was agreed that the Olympic Village would be built to serve the needs of the Federal Prison Department. After the Olympic Games, it was repurposed for Federal Correctional Facility, Ray Brook, prompting resistance from civic parties and international players. The U.S. men's ice hockey team, composed mostly of college players, won the gold medal and didn't expect advancements in previous group stage. The U.S. team's 4–3 triumph over the experienced Soviet side, which entered the 1980 Games after winning four consecutive Olympic gold medals, became known as the "Miracle on Ice" in U.S. culture The triumph won American hearts, but it was the victory over Finland that earned the gold medal. Eric Heiden of the United States won gold in the 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m, 5000 m, and 10,000 m speed skating events, shattering four Olympic records and one world record in the process and providing 83 per cent of American gold medals. Heiden was the first person to win all five speed skating events, the first of only three to win five gold medals in individual competitions at a single event, and he is also the first competitor to win five gold medals at one Winter Games. 38 Sporting events were held in six disciplines. Thomas Wassberg of Sweden defeated Finland's Juha Mieto by 0.01 seconds in 15 km of cross-country skiing, the closest margin of victory ever in Olympic cross-country skiing, in possibly the most thrilling duel of the games. Although they received no awards, the People's Republic of China entered the Olympic Games for the first time since the IOC agreed to designate the Republic of China for "Chinese Taipei" 1980 Lake Placid was the first time artificial snow was seen in Olympic sports. 1980 Lake Placid was the final Games held by the Vice President of the United States, since 1980 was a year of presidential elections. Roni is the Olympic mascot of those Games, created by Don Moss. The mascot is a racoon, a popular character from the mountainous region of the Adirondacks where Lake Placid is situated. The name Roni derives from the Iroquoian term racoon, the language of the New York State and Lake Placid area native peoples, and was selected by Lake Placid school children. For the 1980 Winter Olympics, the official theme song for the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra was "Give It Everything You Can," by the American flugelhorn player Chuck Mangione, who performed the song live at the Closing Ceremony.
By MB6 years ago in Unbalanced
1924 Olympics
The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Winter Games, were a 1924 multi-sport winter festival held in Chamonix, France. Originally arranged in tandem with the 1924 Summer Olympics, the sporting competitions were held between 25 January and 5 February 1924 at the foot of Mont Blanc in Chamonix, and Haute-Savoie, France. The Games were funded by the French Olympic Committee and were originally known as the "World Winter Sports Week." Following the event's success it was retroactively recognised by the International Olympic Committee as the I Olympic Winter Games. The tradition of hosting the Winter Olympics in the same year as the Summer Olympics would continue until 1992, after which in the second year the Summer Olympics began the modern practise of hosting a Winter Olympics. Although Figure Skating was an Olympic event in both London and Antwerp, and Ice Hockey was an event in Antwerp, the winter sports had been limited to season only. In 1921, the IOC conference in Lausanne called for equality for winter sports, and after much discussion it was decided to organise a "general winter sports event" in Chamonix in 1924. A recognition was received for a sport that did not lend itself too well to rivalry at the end of the games: Pierre de Coubertin presented Charles Granville Bruce, the expedition leader who tried to climb Mount Everest in 1922, with a ' alpinisme ' trophy. ' In this situation France, the host country, for the first time in the history of modern Olympics, had failed to win any gold medals, signing off with three bronze medals. This feat will happen later at the next St. Moritz Winter Olympics, where Switzerland won only one bronze medal, the lowest result a host nation has ever seen at an Olympics. Canada at the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics, and the 1988 Calgary and Yugoslavia Winter Olympics at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics were later host nations to complete without gold medals. In 1925, the IOC voted to hold the first historical Olympic Winter Games every four years, irrespective of the proper Olympic Events, Olympic Winter Games and approved the Annual Winter Sports Event. In 1974 the last single Chamonix 1924 award was granted. A bronze medal has been awarded to Anders Haugen, who was reported to finish fourth in the ski jumping event up to then. After 50 years an mistake has been found in the ranking of Thorleif Haug. In 2006 the IOC announced that the awards were officially awarded to 1924 curling teams. The IOC acknowledged that curling was legally part of the programme, after a complaint was brought on behalf of the team members by the Glasgow Herald newspaper. Medals were awarded at 16 events in 5 contested disciplines. Many sources do not list as demonstration events, or mark, curling and military patrol. However no such designation was made in 1924. In February 2006 the International Olympic Committee determined that curling was a full part of the Olympic programme and included the medals won on the official list. Competitors from 16 nations competed at first Olympic Winter Games. Germany was removed from the competitions, and instead held a series of competitions, the Deutsche Kampfspiele. At the Bobsleigh competitions a total of nine teams from five countries participated. Two teams withdrawn after the first test and another team retired after the third match. The three Swiss, Great Britain and Belgium teams were medalist. Bobsleigh speeds were hitting up to 115 km / h at the race. Le Tremplin Olympique du Mont was a ski jumping venue to host the 1924 Winter Olympics, built in Chamonix, France. The jumper took off at an altitude of 1189.8 m, flying 79.4 metres before falling to a take-off point of 1152.8 metres in height. The K-point was measured to be 71.5 metres at takeoff.
By MB6 years ago in Unbalanced
