Unusual Olympic Sports

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—By Eric Chalifour

Here is a look at some of the stranger actual events in the history of the modern Olympics.

Live Pigeon Shooting

The 1900 Paris Olympics has the distinction of being the only Olympics where athletes killed animals for sport. Belgium’s Leon Lunden took home the gold with 21 downed birds, with a total of 300 birds being killed during the competition.

Tug-of-War

Remember playing Tug-of-War in elementary school during gym class? In the early days of the modern Olympics, this event was a mainstay of the games, with the Tug-of-War being held at every Olympiad as a track-and-field event between the years 1900 and 1920. The sports’ greatest scandal came in 1908 when the City of London Police Club purportedly wore illegal footwear that was so heavy the men had trouble moving their feet.

The champions were as follows: 1900, a combination Swedish/Danish team; 1904: the Milwaukee Athletic Club, representing Team USA; 1906: Germany/Switzerland; 1908: The London Police Club, representing Great Britain; 1912: Sweden; and 1920: Great Britain.

Racewalking (20km and 50km)

It seems ridiculous that racewalking continues to be an Olympic sport while more popular sports like baseball and cricket continue to be snubbed by the Olympic Committee. For the uninformed, Racewalking differs from running in that competitors must maintain contact with the ground at all times with at least one foot. While the event is very technically difficult (competitors are continually judged for proper form and docked if caught using illegal technique), there is nothing exciting about watching a bunch of people walking at a brisk pace. Finally, it doesn’t help that the athletes look like constipated penguins when competing. See for yourself.

Rope Climbing

One of the more unusual events in the history of the modern Olympic movement, Rope Climbing was part of the gymnastics programs in 1896, 1904, 1906, 1924 and 1932. Starting in a seated position, competitors raced to the top of a roughly 8-meter rope and were judged on both their time and style. In the 1986 Olympics,

The sport is enjoying a resurgence in France and the Czech Republic, giving hope for those who wish to see this event return to the Olympic Games.

Dueling Pistols

It is hard to believe that dueling pistols was an actual Olympic event, but it was part of the 1906 Athens Olympics. Despite the name of the event, competitors were forced to fire at mannequins with bulls eyes affixed to their chests. Evidently, the lack of bloodshed made this shooting event unpopular, as it was not renewed in future Olympics.

Solo Synchronized Swimming

Solo Synchronized Swimming was an official Olympic sport between 1984 and 1992. What’s most shocking about this is that it took the IOC three Olympics to realize that the sport is an oxymoron since a person swimming alone cannot be synchronized with someone else. In reality, competitors were judged for their synchronization with the music. Quite frankly, we’re OK if this event never returns from the abyss of retired Olympic sports.

—By Eric Chalifour

Saudi female judo competitor allowed to wear Islamic headscarf in competition

The Saudi Olympic Committee, International Olympic Committee and International Judo Federation have agreed that a Saudi Female judo competitor can wear a headscarf in competition at the Olympics.

Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shaherkani is one of just two women Saudi Arabia has sent to the 2012 Games in London. But she claimed she would only compete if she was allowed to wear an Islamic headscarf, or hijab. Originally judo officials refused, claiming it was dangerous, but now a compromise has been reached.

Razan Baker, a spokeswoman for the Saudi National Olympic Committee told Reuters of the agreement reached. "They agreed on a design and she will compete wearing this design," Baker said.
The IOC pushed Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei to end their bans on allowing women in the Olympics. All three countries have representatives in London.

The IJF's rules for the Olympics state that headgear can't be worn because of the danger it could cause. Obviously they made an exception in this case.

Shaherkani will compete in the heavyweight division on Friday.

Native American Tribe Races to Preserve Endangered Language

Native American Tribe Races to Preserve Endangered Language

By Jessica Cheung-New American Media

 

Convinced that discarding their language would be tantamount to discarding their identity, members of one Indian tribe recently donated $1 million to California State University (CSU), Fresno, in an effort to save their language from extinction.

The funds, which leaders of the Chukchansi tribe hope will allow linguists at the CSU to compile a dictionary and assemble grammar texts over the next five years, generated from the tribe-owned casino nestled in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

“When [the United States] began the genocide of Native American communities, the reason they allowed us to sign our treaties was because we had a language,” Kimberly Lawhon, education coordinator for the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians, said. “Generations of our elders went through drought and atrocities; the core of our language is our identity.”

Jose Diaz, associate dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at the Fresno school, said the grant would “speed up the process” already in motion at the school “to preserve an endangered language.”

“Before the grant, faculty members were volunteering on their own time with the Chukchansi tribe,” Diaz observed.

Research on the language started in the summer of 2009 when the Chukchansi tribe reached out to faculty linguists.

Agbayani, Chris Golston, and Niken Adisasmito-Smith are three of the main CSU Fresno linguistic professors currently working with the Chukchansi tribe.

A 2011 UC Berkeley survey of native Indian languages in California by UC Berkeley indicated that only a few fluent speakers of Chukchansi exist today.

“We were very lucky to be approached by a few Chukchansi fluent speakers,” Agbayani said. “[But even among them] a lot of the vocabulary is at the tip of the tongue. The more time we spend with them, the more we’re able to tap it.”

Two centuries ago, California was the most linguistically diverse region in the western hemisphere with about 90 native Indian languages spoken. Today, only about 50 native languages are spoken in the state — but just barely. Half of those languages have a scant number of native speakers, most of whom are in their 80s.

“Most speakers are semi-speakers” who remember their language, UC Berkeley Linguistics Professor emerita Leanne Hinton observed. “There’s a movement of language revitalization, with an increasing amount of second language speakers, and a growing number of families trying to use [their tribal languages] at home.”

Around the world, one language dies every 14 days, according to a study done by National Geographic and the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, which estimates that roughly half of the 7,000 world languages spoken today will disappear by the next century.

The movement to revitalize endangered languages is at high tide as students and schools across the nation are banding together to create Native American student groups and implement preservation projects. Hinton recently directed a Breath for Life workshop at UC Berkeley, where students and a linguistics mentor worked with a group of Indians to document languages.

But the effort is fraught with challenges partly because there is a scarcity of people who want to learn the language.

“The problem is that diversity in languages is so great in California that there aren’t strong programs where people can be fluent,” Hinton said. “Revitalization is pulled by the bootstraps, pioneered by individuals, organizations, advocates and living speakers.”

“We have a lot of people dedicating time and effort to teaching the language, but there aren’t a lot of adults dedicated to reach fluency of their language,” Lawhon said. “The biggest hurdle is getting our membership to devote themselves to learning.”
But Lawhon remains optimistic, saying that she’s even had “non-native speakers in the community come to learn the language.”

Chukchansi courses for kids and adults are taught predominantly by members of the tribe at Coarsegold Elementary School near their Rancheria. They will offer Chukchansi courses as an elective in the junior high class if 20 students sign up.

Even though the recent efforts to document endangered languages will provide records, the future of native languages, Hinton said, is in “revitalization, not survival.”

“There are two sides to language preservation,” Agabayani said. “One is to revitalize the language, encouraging their children to carry [forward] the language. The second is to document the language.”

Language research and documentation can only prevent endangered languages from complete extinction. The population of native speakers is shrinking, and researchers worry that in due time, all that will be left may be records.

Only a minute fraction of today’s 7,000 existing languages are indigenous, which Golston describes as “precious.”

When a language goes silent, knowledge along with it dissipates. Because speakers of endangered languages generally live near animals and plants, their language holds key to unlocking insight to nature.

“Languages don’t fossilize” like dinosaurs, Golston said. “We can still learn about dinosaurs [beyond their extinction]. When languages are not recorded, they’re gone forever. It’s becoming more critical as the number of native speakers dwindle into small numbers.”

“This may be the last generation of speakers,” Agbayani said. “We’re hoping that more tribes are taking action to revitalize their language, and I think it’s becoming a worldwide effort.”

see article link here:

http://www.nationofchange.org/native-american-tribe-races-preserve-endangered-language-1342965738

Abu Dhabi To Welcome Tourists With Behavioral Guidelines

posted on Huff Post online July 5, 2012

Nothing says “make yourself at home” quite like a list of rules.

This is apparently the thinking behind the new behavior guides that Abu Dhabi’s tourism police will soon hand out to visitors arriving in the conservative emirate.

The booklets, which offer “Advice for tourists” in several languages were designed to help foreigners understand that activities that wouldn’t turn any heads in New York, London or Beijing are actionable in the wealthy Islamic city-state.

"The pamphlet was prepared to educate tourists on rules of public behavior," Brig. Gen. Omair Al Mihiri, deputy director general of police operations, told The National. "It includes trends and behavior which is uncivilized and would make them subject to prosecution."

The booklet urges visitors to “wear respectful clothing,” “avoid any behavior in public place, which could be considered indecent, such as, kissing, cross-dressing, etc.” and remember that “abuse of drugs and psychotropic substances is against the law.” In publicizing these guidelines Abu Dhabi runs the risk of alienating overly-affectionate, acid-dropping cross dressers, but one gets the sense that the UAE was never the leading destination for that demographic.

The rules are also being released amid a national debate over the implementation of a dress code for tourists, a measure supported by Emirati Culture Minister Abdul Rahman Al Owais, but viewed with some trepidation by westerners in the hospitality industry who believe it sends the wrong message.

In a sign of the region’s modernity, the debate has played out on Twitter, where @UAEDressCode has gained over 3,000 followers and stirs the pot daily with such statements as, “As you plan for the coming weekend, plan some proper outfits respecting others in public who'd like to enjoy their time too.”