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Olympics Oddness

ramonmercado said:
I just think it's a bit much though, Irish Dancing was invented in the 19th Century, it's not really traditional. The same is likely true of the Scottish variants on such dances.
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Invented for tourism?
 
Update ...

This later (2010) article indicates the skeletons were of Vikings who died between 890CE and 1030CE.

Beheaded Vikings found at Olympic site
An analysis shows that many of the men suffered wounds thought to relate to the process of decapitation.
They were 51 young men who met a grisly death far from home, their heads chopped off and their bodies thrown into a mass grave.

Their resting place was unknown until last year, when workers excavating for a road near the London 2012 Olympic sailing venue in Weymouth, England, unearthed the grave. But questions remained about who the men were, how long they had been there and why they had been decapitated.

On Friday, officials revealed that analysis of the men's teeth shows they were Vikings, executed with sharp blows to the head around a thousand years ago. They were killed during the Dark Ages, when Vikings frequently invaded the region.

"To find out that the young men executed were Vikings is a thrilling development," said David Score, project manager for Oxford Archaeology, which excavated the remains. "Any mass grave is a relatively rare find, but to find one on this scale, from this period of history, is extremely unusual and presents an incredible opportunity to learn more about what is happening in Dorset at this time."

Radiocarbon dating had already placed the remains between A.D. 890 and 1030, before the Norman conquest of Anglo-Saxon England. ...
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SOURCE: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/science/03/12/viking.olympics/index.html
 
Was an Olympic torch flame ever sprayed with water before?

During the Tokyo Olympic Games torch run last week, a 53-year-old woman tried to douse the torch's flame with a squirt gun.

Several witnesses reported hearing her shout: "Olympic opposition! Stop the Olympics!" and she began to squirt at the torch's flame as the torchbearer passed by. She was immediately accosted by security agents.

https://boingboing.net/2021/07/07/w...tinguish-olympic-torch-with-a-squirt-gun.html
 
ramonmercado said:
Was an Olympic torch flame ever sprayed with water before?

During the Tokyo Olympic Games torch run last week, a 53-year-old woman tried to douse the torch's flame with a squirt gun.

Several witnesses reported hearing her shout: "Olympic opposition! Stop the Olympics!" and she began to squirt at the torch's flame as the torchbearer passed by. She was immediately accosted by security agents.

https://boingboing.net/2021/07/07/w...tinguish-olympic-torch-with-a-squirt-gun.html
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I think there have been a number of attempts in recent torch runs to extinguish the flame
 
ramonmercado said:
Was an Olympic torch flame ever sprayed with water before?

During the Tokyo Olympic Games torch run last week, a 53-year-old woman tried to douse the torch's flame with a squirt gun.

Several witnesses reported hearing her shout: "Olympic opposition! Stop the Olympics!" and she began to squirt at the torch's flame as the torchbearer passed by. She was immediately accosted by security agents.

https://boingboing.net/2021/07/07/w...tinguish-olympic-torch-with-a-squirt-gun.html
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Here is a story from the Brazil torch relay

Rio 2016: Water thrown on Olympic flame in Brazil​

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36643346
 
Souleater said:
I think there have been a number of attempts in recent torch runs to extinguish the flame
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A few more unsuccessful and successful attempts to put out the flame during the torch relay.

Brazil again 2016.
As the flame passed through Angra dos Reis, a group of striking teachers – furious at Rio’s state government for funding the Olympics while not paying them for two months – seized upon it, successfully putting it out as part of their protest.

London (Beijing 2008)
As the Olympic torch passed through London on the way to the 2008 Games in Beijing, a protester unsuccessfully tried to put it out using a literal fire extinguisher.

Paris (Beijing 2008)
French protesters succeeded where that fire extinguisher fan failed, though, successfully extinguishing the flame at least three times in an effort to call attention to the Chinese government’s record of human rights abuses in occupied Tibet.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jul/07/olympic-torch-protests
 
I have visions of motile oysters snapping at competitors.

Officials in Tokyo are nervously eyeing the waters at a major Olympic venue where an unwanted visitor has cost $1.28m (£930,000) in emergency repairs.

The Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo Bay which will host the canoeing and rowing events was ready ahead of schedule. But the one thing no-one counted on was oysters. Massive numbers of them had attached themselves to floats intended to stop waves bouncing back across the water and on to the athletes. The oysters were discovered when puzzled officials began investigating why the floats had started sinking.

Solving the problem has been a huge and time consuming task. Equipment laid over a span of 5.6km (3.4mi) either had to be dragged ashore and repaired, or cleaned in place by teams of divers. In total, they removed 14 tonnes of oysters.

And these weren't just any shellfish. Officials found they were magaki oysters, which are a hugely popular delicacy during the winter in Japan.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57883922
 
Be unbearable if the bear had covid.

We're going on a bear hunt... at the Olympic softball stadium?

The United States softball team say they were on the lookout on their way to the Azuma Stadium in Fukushima on Thursday after reports of a furry, ticketless intruder - an Asian black bear - were heard the day before.

The one-metre-long animal was spotted on a number of occasions before the opening match of the Olympic softball tournament, but thwarted capture and is still roaming the area, according to local media reports.

US coach Ken Eriksen, who lives in Florida, said the team attempted to spy it during their bus journey to the stadium.

"We were actually looking to see if we could find another bear," he added. "We don't have a lot of bears back where we are at."

https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/57927169
 
25 surreal pictures of Olympians

'Surreal' is a bit strong but it's interesting nonetheless.

Here's an example:

1626970417671.png
 
CarlosTheDJ said:
He doesn't but he can cycle bloody fast. Or a long way. Or up really steep hills.

Whatever quads do.
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As far as I know, those legs would make a nasty slapping noise in action.
They'd need inter-thigh lube.
 
CarlosTheDJ said:
25 surreal pictures of Olympians

'Surreal' is a bit strong but it's interesting nonetheless.

Here's an example:

View attachment 42411
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Celebrity nut crackers?

I'm gonna suggest this to C4 and C5 now.

I don't think the one on the right is a cyclist - power-lifter of some sort? - but the one on the left has a cracking cycling tan. I'm guessing/hoping that the distortion of the outer thighs is due to the lens. I hope so... either that or there really is something very odd.
 
Why do I get the feeling that, seeing as it is being held in Japan, that this thread will get quite busy over the next few weeks...........
 
ramonmercado said:
US coach Ken Eriksen, who lives in Florida, said the team attempted to spy it during their bus journey to the stadium.

"We were actually looking to see if we could find another bear," he added. "We don't have a lot of bears back where we are at."

https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/57927169
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“[There are] more than 4,000 adult Florida black bears today. Not only is the population growing, there are now more black bears in the state than at any time in the last 100 years.”

https://www.fws.gov/southeast/news/2017/04/florida-black-bear-population-continues-to-increase/

maximus otter
 
A life-sized statue of a sumo wrestler is blamed for spooking horses during the Tokyo games' equestrian competition and adversely affecting the events' outcomes.


Sumo scare? Riders say horses might be spooked by statue

Equestrian jumpers aren’t keen on surprises. Neither are the horses, and it takes years of training to keep them from getting spooked.

Of course, no horse in Tuesday night’s Olympic jumping qualifier had ever seen anything like obstacle No. 10.

“As you come around, you see a big guy’s (butt),” British rider Harry Charles said. ...

Riders say a life-size sumo wrestler positioned next to the 10th obstacle on the 14-jump Olympic course may have distracted several horses in qualifying for the individual jumping final Tuesday night. A few pairings pulled up short of the barrier, accumulating enough penalty points to prevent entry into Wednesday’s finals. ...

The statue is positioned to the left of a jump placed in the corner of the arena. Hunched over and seemingly ready to attack, the wrestler is facing away from approaching riders, meaning that when they complete a sharp turn to take on the jump, the first thing horse and human see is the wedgie created by the wrestler’s mawashi.

“I did notice four or five horses really taking a spook to that,” Charles said. ...
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FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/article/2020-tok...mo-sculpture-8c9a3588952acf9502221636a5bf29d5
 
I wonder what word Harry used that they substituted in the report with "(butt)"? Any ideas? Can't think, myself.
 
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