The Express Tribune hi five - July 22

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Hijinks at the Olympics PAGE 2 Build your very own Olympic torch PAGE 4 Surfing goats, tech savy sheep and giant penguins!

PAGE 5 Polar bears are like ninjas!

PAGE 6

Enter the odd-lympics

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JULY 22, 2012

Hi light

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The 2012 Summer Olympic Games are finally here and I for one cannot wait! I’m looking forward to watching the 100 metres sprint, the 200 metres freestyle swimming and the e live pigeon shooting. What? There’s no live pigeon shooting? What about delivery van driving and tug of war? No? But those were my favourite events!

You see, prior to World War II, the Olympics were a little more experimentall and had all kind of crazy sports. Let’s have a look at those crazy times and the odd sports that offered ered individuals the chance to win an Olympic gold. Not so good at sports? Well that didn’t matter ter back in the day.

There was something for everyone.

The Olympic Games began over 2,700 years ago in Olympia, in southwestt Greece. For more than a thousand years, the Olympic games took place every four years in August ust without a single cancellation. The last recorded ‘old-school’ Olympics were in 393 BC. Back then, hen, it was not just fun and games, it was a way to help men keep fit for war. No medals were awarded. warded. The winner (there are no second or third place winners in war!) was given a wreath of olive ve leaves. In 1894, a French nobleman, the Baron Pierre de Coubertin, proposed that the games be revived. Two years later the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens.

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The first Olympics in 1896 were pretty run-of-the-mill. They had athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, swimming, tennis, weightlifting, wrestling and art competitions. Now you might be wondering about the art competitions, they were part of the modern Olympic Games during its early years, from 1912 to 1952. They actually gave medals for architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture!

It just got weirder from the 1900 Olympics when the crazy French introduced the standing triple jump. It had three phases — the hop, the step and the jump. No run-up was allowed in the standing version of the triple jump. Contestants got three attempts and the winner was the one who covered the greatest distance after all three attempts. The ultimate champion was a man by the name of Ray Ewry, polio had confined Ewry to a wheelchair in his childhood, but the American overcame heavy odds to become a champion in the standing long jump, high jump and triple jump.

Then there was the swimming obstacle race. This fun race involved over 200 meters of swimming. The competitors had to swim to a pole, climb up and down the pole, then swim some more, then crawl over two boats, swim under two more boats and then swim to the finish. This was held only once, during the 1900 Olympics, and was won by Frederick Lane of Australia. It’s kind of like the novelty race at school, only with water!

One sport we really hope returns to the Olympics was the rope climb. It was actually part of the gymnastics programme, and was sensationally won by American George Eyser, who competed with one wooden leg. Eyser went on to win five more gymnastics medals, including two gold medals.

Have you ever played tug of war with your friends? It’s probably one of the top events at your annual sports day but did you know that it was part of the Ancient Olympics? The ancient Greeks,

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JULY 22, 2012

Hi light

3 renowned for their physical and intellectual stamina, staged their first tug in 500BC. In the 1908 Olympics, team America were beaten in just a few short seconds by Great Britain. The unhappy losers accused the British of wearing illegal spiked boots and were offered a rematch in their socks but the British still beat them! It was match-fixing, I tell you!

The Olympics also once featured pigeon racing as a sport. Very little is known about this event other than that it simply happened. Competitors released specially trained pigeons from designated starting points over measured distances back to their homes. The birds’ rate of travel was calculated and whoever had the bird with the fastest speed won. If you think that’s crazy, wait till you read about the next sport, which wasn’t as much fun for the pigeons as racing.

And that was live pigeon shooting! The poor pigeons were released in front of the shooters, who would try and blow them away as they flew for their little lives. Nearly 300 of the poor birds perished, no wonder the birds are angry! Understandably, the sport was dropped from the programme after the 1900 Games and eventually replaced with clay pigeon shooting. If you were wondering who won, it was Belgium’s Leon de Lunden who shot 21 birds to get the gold.

The target of another shooting competition from 1908 to 1956 was a running deer. Thankfully, the event involved deer-shaped targets and not live animals. Seventy-two-year-old Oscar Swahn of Sweden became famous after becoming the oldest medal winner in the games’ history by shooting down silver in the 100m team running deer double shot event in 1920. Yes, no bambis were hurt in this event, I assure you.

Since we’re on the topic of shooting, let’s talk about the dueling pistols competition. This was about as odd a sport as they come, especially when you consider the fact that contestants were shooting at a fancily dressed mannequin. It was part of the 1906 games and again in 1912 before it was removed from the Olympics. Competitors took turns shooting at a mannequin dressed in fancy clothes from 20 and 30 meters. If you think that’s silly and pointless, wait till you hear about the next one!

A silly event that almost certainly attracted equally silly people was the distance plunging competition. A diver would stand stationary on the edge of a pool and, from that stand still, jump as far as possible. Once they got underwater, they could swim forward for up to 60 seconds or as long as they could keep their head below the surface, after which their distance was measured. Well all of these crazy sports are still sports but what if you could get a medal for ... firefighting!

Firefighting was a non-official event that made its first and only appearance in the 1900 Summer Olympic Games in Paris. Competitions were held for both professional and volunteer firefighters. We assume the event consisted of teams trying their best to put out a fire as fast as they could.

Motor Racing was also part of the 1900 games. Now you might be thinking: “Motor racing is a real sport, that’s not strange”. Well the vehicle events were based on weight and distance. Some vehicle classes included: “2 Seater Car — Under 400kg”, “Taxi — Petrol” and the “Delivery Van — 500 to 1,200 kg”. Essentially, Frenchmen were racing small cars, cabs, trucks and delivery vans around Paris and calling them Olympic affiliated events.

Cricket, the gentleman’s game, was so unpopular back then that only two nations competed in 1900: Great Britain and France. The French team comprised almost entirely staff from the British Embassy who had taken a few days off from work. A report summed up the hopelessly one-sided contest thus: ‘The French temperament is too excitable to enjoy the game and no Frenchman can be persuaded to play more than once.’ More significantly, no one on the Olympic committee could be persuaded that cricket should stay in the games.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JULY 22, 2012

Activity Corner

4 Olympic Torch

Supplies needed: Instructions: • 1 sheet of white construction paper • Clear tape • Red, yellow and orange tissue paper, 12” x 12” square of each color • White craft glue

Step 1

Roll the construction paper into a cone shape, tape closed.

Layer the tissue paper squares, red on the bottom, then orange, and yellow on top.

Step 3

Gather from the center of the squares and hold in your hand like a bouquet of flowers.

Put some white craft glue into the sides of the opening of the cone.

Step 5

Step 2

Step 4

Place the tissue paper into the cone and let the glue dry completely.

Tips: • If you want a really tall torch like the real Olympic torch, use a piece of white poster board instead of the construction paper.

• Instead of tissue paper you can use construction paper in the same colors. Simply cut them into flame shapes and glue inside the cone opening.

• Have a piece of tape ready before rolling the cone, this way you won’t be struggling with the tape while trying to hold the cone’s shape.

Remember kids, always get permission from your parents before you start.

It’s always a good idea to have a helper nearby.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JULY 22, 2012

World wide weird

Get your weekly dose of the unusual and funny from across the globe!

Mini Monet makes a million You need to dream and aim big, preferably so at an early age. That’s exactly what this nine-yearold artist has done. He is about to become a millionaire after selling his latest collection of 24 paintings for £250,000 (Rs36.8 million).

Kieron Williamson, from Norfolk, had his landscape pictures snapped up by telephone and internet buyers from around the world in just 15 minutes. The youngster only started painting during a family trip to Devon and Cornwall in 2008. But since then, he has become an international art sensation with some of his pieces being bought for tens of thousands of pounds.

The paintings sold recently included two landscapes priced at £34,950 (Rs5.2 million) each while even small pastels which took him just a few minutes to paint sold for between £6,000 (Rs885,102) and £7,000 (Rs1.03 million). SOURCE: WEB.ORANGE.CO.UK

Surfing goats make waves

What’s the most bizarre thing you have seen at the beach in Karachi? Was it a whale washed ashore or a dog going for a swim? But in California, you’ll be wowed by the surfing skills of two goats named Goatee and Pismo.

The goats’ owner, Dana McGregor, says he taught his goats to surf because he loves to ride the waves and thought they would like to as well.

The goats stood on surfboards and cruised along waves at San Onofre State Beach, as bystanders watched in amazement.

Goatee, a nanny goat, and her billy goat, Pismo, even rode waves together. But after a few rides, Goatee swam to shore.

McGregor says he originally got Goatee to eat unwanted foliage on his property. Then he began taking the goat to the beach with him, eventually putting her on a surfboard.

McGregor says he started putting Pismo on a board after he was born in March. SOURCE: GEO.TV

Sheep dial

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Have any ideas on how to prevent your sheep from being stolen? A South African sheepherder, Erard Louw, has one — give them a cell phone to report their sheep-napping.

As his farm near Durbanville is too far away for police to quickly respond if he reports a possible sheep rustling, instead of calling the police, he has the sheep call him — via their own personal cell phones.

The cell phones are attached to the collars of four sheep in separate flocks and are set to switch on as soon as they are on the lam. “As they run, it gives me a phone call and says ‘sheep one’ or ‘sheep two’ and so on, so at least I know where to start looking because the farm is [1850 acres],” he said.

He added: “The phone did start ringing that night and I went out. I checked all the fences –- because [the thieves] normally cut the fences -– and [the sheep] were all okay and the gates were closed. But the phone kept ringing, so I knew they were running. Then I found a new place where they had cut the fence.”

Luckily for Louw, the sheep cell phones have led to at least one arrest. SOURCE: HUFFINGTONPOST.COM

Penzilla

The worldwide wheel

When the Olympics come to town, the entire community pledges to put its best foot forward. In this case, it is not just people as London’s iconic Gherkin building is set to be transformed into ‘The Penguin’ — a giant bird towering over Londoners this summer.

Bosses at ZSL London Zoo commissioned a production team to draw up a dramatic redesign of the famed skyscraper to remind visitors to the capital not to miss their penguins in 2012. They plan to approach city bigwigs with the bold concept of turning the prominent Swiss Re Building — more commonly known as The Gherkin — into a giant penguin.

The zoo’s head of communications, Emma Edwards said: “We don’t want anyone to miss our penguins, and they certainly wouldn’t be able to miss this one looming over the capital. We know it’s audacious, but let’s be honest — penguins are a lot more interesting than gherkins!” SOURCE: WEB.ORANGE.CO.UK

A multicultural crowd in Gothenburg has set a new Guinness World Record after people from 72 different nationalities took a spin together on a Ferris wheel.

The successful attempt to have “the most nationalities on a theme park ride” took place on the 60-metre-high Ferris wheel at the Liseberg theme park.

“By bringing different nationalities together on one ride we want to show our borderless world and our common responsibility for its future, regardless of nationality, religion, sex or colour,” said Dennis Andersson, General Secretary of Gothia Cup. The record, which shattered the previous record of 50 nationalities on a ride, was witnessed by Guinness World Records representative, Annabel Lawday, who congratulated the new world record holders.

SOURCE: WORLDRECORDSACADEMY.ORG

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JULY 22, 2012

Did you know?

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s n i g i r O Word Stump Someone Have you ever heard someone say that they’re ‘stumped’? To stump someone means to ask someone a question they can’t answer. It actually refers to tree stumps. “Pioneers built their houses and barns out of logs … and they frequently swapped work with one another in clearing new ground. Some frontiersmen would brag about their ability to pull up big stumps, but it wasn’t unusual for the boaster to suffer defeat with a stubborn stump.”

Crazy laws!

In Alabama, it is legal to drive the wrong way down a one-way street if you have a lantern attached to the front of your automobile.

In Arizona, there is a possible 25 years in prison for cutting down a cactus.

In California, you may not set a mouse trap without a hunting license.

The city of San Francisco holds a copyright on the name “San Francisco.” It is illegal to manufacture any item with the name without first getting permission from the city. Since the Supreme Court upheld the copyright, San Francisco has had an annual $300 million surplus every year.

In Florida, Key West, chickens are considered a ‘protected species’.

In Alabama, you cannot chain your alligator to a fire hydrant.

Cool facts Dogs are about as smart as a two- or threeyear-old child.

Butterflies have their skeletons on the outside of their bodies, this is known as the exoskeleton.

Polar bears are the world’s largest land predators.

Butterflies can only see the colours red, green and yellow.

A dik-dik is a tiny antelope that lives in East Africa, Namibia and Angola.

Even though a polar bear’s average body temperature is 37°C, they don’t give off any detectable heat, so they won’t show up in infrared photographs.

Dogs can see better when the light is low.

Many species of owls have special feathers for flying silently.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JULY 22, 2012

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Fun & games

Want to be hi five’s artist of the week?

Send your drawing with your name and age to: hifive@tribune. com.pk

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JULY 22, 2012

Guide the Olympian to the finish line

SOURCE: PRINTACTIVITIES.COM

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