Aug. 10th, 2008

mcgillianaire: (Team GB @ 2008 Beijing Olympics)
Nicole Cook becomes the first Welsh person to win an Olympic event since Richard Meade in 1972, by winning the Mass Start Roadrace.
mcgillianaire: (India Flag)
While going through the LJ-entries I made during the last Olympics, I found this and it is reproduced below. It's almost exactly four years since I posted it and exacerbates the pain of India's absence in the field hockey this year. :(

"The 13 member Indian team for the 1928 Olympics (with 3 students joining in London) set sail on March 10, 1928 from Mumbai to London. The Indian team landed at the Tilbury docks near London on March 10, 1928, en route to Amsterdam. After witnessing the Indian jugglers’ game in the Folkstone Hockey Festival, defending champions England, gold winners at the 1908 and 1920 Olympics, lost their enthusiasm. The English decided to withdraw from the Olympics to avoid defeat at the hands of a 'subject' people. Britain never played India as long as the latter remained its colony.

The ten-day hockey competition in the Amsterdam Games was held in May, two months before the rest of the Olympic events. India made its debut in the Olympic Games on May 17, 1928, beating Austria 6-0. India went on to beat Belgium 9-0, Denmark 5-0 and Switzerland 6-0 in the semi-finals to set up the title clash against Holland. The finals, held on May 26, 1928, aroused tremendous interest. Nearly 24,000 spectators, till then the biggest crowd for a hockey match, saw the game. India beat Holland 3-0 to win its first ever Olympic gold medal, and its first ever victory in a world tournament. On May 29, when the prize giving ceremony was held at the Olympic Stadium, and Eric Pinniger lead the team to the victory stand, this marked the first time that a team from Asia had won any medal in the Olympics.

Richard James Allen did not concede a single goal in the 1928 Olympics. Allen, who kept India's goal in 3 consecutive Olympics (1928, 1932, 1936), conceded a total of only 3 goals in the 3 Olympics and won 3 gold medals.

The Amsterdam Games marked the debut of a Lance Naik from the Indian Army - the 'Hockey Wizard' Dhyan Chand. He had come by the sobriquet with a sensational feat in the final of the Punjab Indian Infantry tournament in the town of Jhelum. 'Come on, Dhyan! We are two goals down,' said his commanding officer. 'Do something about it.' Dhyan Chand then scored three goals in the last four minutes for his side to snatch a dramatic victory. Dhyan Chand was the favourite of all at the Amsterdam Games, dazzling spectators and critics alike.

An awe-struck Dutch journalist wrote 'The Indian ball seems ignorant of the laws of gravity. One of those tanned diabolical jugglers stares at the ball intently; it gets upright and remains suspended in the air. This is no longer the game of hockey. It is a juggling turn. It is splendid.' The Indian team's performance revived interest in hockey, and overnight it became a world sport."
[SOURCE]

PS: Rome 1960 - Pakistan defeats bitter rival India with the only goal fo the men's hockey final. India's loss came after six straight Olympic gold medals and 30 wins since Amsterdam in 1928 in which it scored 197 goals while conceding just 8.

PS 2: One of the players in the squad, the Nawab of Pataudi, also played cricket for England and India, captaining the latter in 1946.

Pint

Aug. 10th, 2008 09:50 pm
mcgillianaire: (Did You Know?)
1384, from O.Fr. pinte (13c.), from V.L. *pincta (cf. O.Prov., Sp., It. pinta), perhaps ult. from L. picta "painted," fem. pp. of pingere (see paint), on notion of a painted mark on a vessel indicating this measure. Used elliptically for "pint of ale" (or beer) from 1742. Pint-sized "small" (esp. in ref. to children) is recorded from 1938.

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