Christo's Second Live: Sport

Showing posts with label Sport. Show all posts

Thursday, December 6, 2018

Winter sport

A winter sport or winter activity is a recreational activity or sport which is played on snow or ice. Most such sports are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally such sports were only played in cold areas during winter, but artificial snow and artificial ice allow more flexibility. Artificial ice can be used to provide ice rinks for ice skating, ice hockey and bandy in a milder climate.

Common individual sports include cross-country skiing, Alpine skiing, snowboarding, ski jumping, speed skating, figure skating, luge, skeleton, bobsleigh and snowmobiling. Common team sports include ice hockey, curling and bandy. Based on the number of participants, ice hockey is by far the world's most popular winter sport, followed by bandy. Winter sports often have their own multi-sport tournaments, such as the Winter Olympic Games.

History

Snow and ice during the wintertime has led to other means of transportation, such as sledges, skis and skates. This also led to different pastimes and sports being developed in the winter season as compared to other times of the year. Naturally, winter sports are more popular in countries with longer winter seasons.

While most winter sports are played outside, ice hockey, speed skating and to some extent bandy have moved indoors starting in the mid-20th century. Indoor ice rinks with artificial ice allow ice skating and hockey to be played in hot climates.

Winter Sports by Type:

Ice Sports

Curling, ice boating, ice fishing, and ice skating sports such as ice figure skating, ice hockey, and ice speed skating.

Snow Sports

Includes skiing, sledding, snow kiting, snow skating, snowboarding, and many other snow sports.

Sledding Sports

Bobsledding, Sledding, Snow Ludge, Snowmobiling and Toboganning

Thursday, August 31, 2017

TENNIS

Tennis is a racket sport that can be played individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's court. The object of the game is to play the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. The player who is unable to return the ball will not gain a point, while the opposite player will.

Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society and at all ages. The sport can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including wheelchair users. The modern game of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century as "lawn tennis". It had close connections both to various field ("lawn") games such as croquet and bowls as well as to the older racket sport of real tennis. During most of the 19th century, in fact, the term "tennis" referred to real tennis, not lawn tennis: for example, in Disraeli's novel Sybil (1845), Lord Eugene De Vere announces that he will "go down to Hampton Court and play tennis."

The rules of tennis have changed little since the 1890s. Two exceptions are that from 1908 to 1961 the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times, and the adoption of the tiebreak in the 1970s. A recent addition to professional tennis has been the adoption of electronic review technology coupled with a point challenge system, which allows a player to contest the line call of a point, a system known as Hawk-Eye.

Tennis is played by millions of recreational players and is also a popular worldwide spectator sport. The four Grand Slam tournaments (also referred to as the "Majors") are especially popular: the Australian Open played on hard courts, the French Open played on red clay courts, Wimbledon played on grass courts, and the US Open played also on hard courts.

History

Historians believe that the game's ancient origin lay in 12th century northern France, where a ball was struck with the palm of the hand. Louis X of France was a keen player of jeu de paume ("game of the palm"), which evolved into real tennis, and became notable as the first person to construct indoor tennis courts in the modern style. Louis was unhappy with playing tennis outdoors and accordingly had indoor, enclosed courts made in Paris "around the end of the 13th century". In due course this design spread across royal palaces all over Europe. In June 1316 at Vincennes, Val-de-Marne and following a particularly exhausting game, Louis drank a large quantity of cooled wine and subsequently died of either pneumonia or pleurisy, although there was also suspicion of poisoning. Because of the contemporary accounts of his death, Louis X is history's first tennis player known by name. Another of the early enthusiasts of the game was King Charles V of France, who had a court set up at the Louvre Palace.

It wasn't until the 16th century that rackets came into use, and the game began to be called "tennis", from the French term tenez, which can be translated as "hold!", "receive!" or "take!", an interjection used as a call from the server to his opponent. It was popular in England and France, although the game was only played indoors where the ball could be hit off the wall. Henry VIII of England was a big fan of this game, which is now known as real tennis. During the 18th century and early 19th century, as real tennis declined, new racket sports emerged in England.

Further, the patenting of the first lawn mower in 1830, in Britain, is strongly believed to have been the catalyst, worldwide, for the preparation of modern-style grass courts, sporting ovals, playing fields, pitches, greens, etc. This in turn led to the codification of modern rules for many sports, including lawn tennis, most football codes, lawn bowls and others.

Friday, August 5, 2016

2016 Summer Olympics

The 2016 Summer Olympics (Portuguese: Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, and commonly known as Rio 2016, is a major international multi-sport event in the tradition of the Olympic Games as governed by the International Olympic Committee, being held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Opening rounds in certain events began on 3 August 2016, two days before the opening ceremony, and the Games will formally run from 5 August to 21 August 2016.

More than 11,000 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), including first time entrants Kosovo and South Sudan, are scheduled to take part. With 306 sets of medals, the games will feature 28 Olympic sports—including rugby sevens and golf, which were added by the International Olympic Committee in 2009. These sporting events will take place at 33 venues in the host city and at five venues in the cities of São Paulo (Brazil's largest city), Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Brasília (Brazil's capital), and Manaus.

These will be the first Summer Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Thomas Bach. The host city of Rio de Janeiro was announced at the 121st IOC Session held in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 2 October 2009. Rio will become the first South American city to host the Summer Olympics. These will be the first games to be held in a Portuguese-speaking country, the first to be held entirely during the host country's winter season (the 2000 games began on 15 September – five days before the Southern Hemisphere's spring equinox), the first since 1968 to be held in Latin America, and the first since 2000 (and third overall) to be held in the Southern Hemisphere.

The lead-up to these Games have been marked by controversies—including the instability of the country's federal government, health and safety concerns surrounding the Zika virus and significant pollution in the Guanabara Bay, as well as a doping scandal involving Russia which has affected the participation of its athletes in these Games.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

RUGBY chapter III

Six Nations Championship

The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The RBS 6 Nations Championship is contested each season over seven weekends during February, March and sometimes April by the international sides of France, England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales.

Each team plays the other five once per season with home advantage in alternate seasons (eg England hosted France in 2003, and so France host England in 2004), giving a total of 15 matches per Championship.

The RBS 6 Nations Championship Trophy is presented to the team who earn the most points during the season, with 2 points being awarded for a win, and 1 point for a drawn match.

If two or more teams finish the Championship with the same number points, the winner is decided on match-points difference (subtracting match-points 'against' from match-points 'for' in all Championship matches). If there is still no winner, then it is awarded to the team who scored the most tries during the Championship.

If after all this a winner still cannot be decided then the Championship is shared between the teams.

If in winning the Championship a team also wins all of their five matches, they are given the title of 'Grand Slam' winner.

There is also the title of 'Triple Crown' competed for each season, which is awarded if a team from the 4 Home Unions (England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) beats each of the other 3 Home Unions.

History

The Six Nations Championship is the oldest rugby championship in the world, dating back to 1882. Originally held between the four United Kingdom countries England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, France joined in 1910 and Italy joined in 2000.

France did not join the fray until 1910 and, despite their later dominance, they struggled at first to achieve any notable success. They did however, coin the phrase 'five nations'. In their first four years of entry, the French won just one game - a one point victory over Scotland in 1911.

The outbreak of war in 1914 saw the tournament put on hold until 1920 and the inter-war years were dominated by England as they swept to nine championship victories, including five Grand Slams.

Scotland collected their first Grand Slam in 1925 , with an emphatic win against England at Murrayfield. In 1926 , Scotland became the first Home Union side to defeat England at Twickenham after England had won the Grand Slam (winning the Triple Crown AND beating the French) five times in eight seasons.

France continued to struggle and in 1931 the inadequacies of the French game's administration and the discovery that a number of their players had been paid at club level, forced them to pull out of the tournament. Due to this, the championship became an entirely domestic affair for eight years and France rejoined in 1939-40, with the outbreak of World War Two delaying their re-entry for a further eight years.

The Six Nations is the successor to the Five Nations Championship (1910–31 and 1947–99) which in turn succeeded the Home Nations Championship (1883–1909 and 1932–39). The Home Nations Championship, played between teams from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, was the first international rugby union tournament. The winners of the Six Nations Championship are sometimes unofficially referred to in the media as the European Champions or Northern Hemisphere Champions.

England and Wales are the joint current record holders for outright wins of the Home Nations, Five Nations and Six Nations tournaments, with 26 titles each, although Wales add to that record with 12 shared victories to England's 10 shared titles. Since the Six Nations era started in 2000, only Italy and Scotland have failed to win the actual Six Nations title, although Scotland were the last outright winners of the tournament's predecessor event, the Five Nations, in 1999.

Six Nations 2014

As we go past the halfway point of the Six Nations 2014, things are starting to bubble up pretty nicely indeed.

Wins for England and Wales mean that there are four teams deadlocked on four points heading into the final two fixtures, whilst Scotland’s last-gasp victory over Italy brought them their first points of the campaign.

The competition is as tight as it has been for many a year, and here’s a look at the standings ahead of the fourth round of games, which are to be played out on the weekend of 8 & 9 March:

RUGBY chapter II

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" is a historic American Negro spiritual song. The earliest known recording was in 1909, by the Fisk Jubilee Singers of Fisk University. It is also the anthem of the English Rugby team.

In 2002, the Library of Congress honored the song as one of 50 recordings chosen that year to be added to the National Recording Registry. It was also included in the list of Songs of the Century, by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.

History

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" was written by Wallis Willis, a Choctaw freedman in the old Indian Territory in what is now Choctaw County, near the County seat of Hugo, Oklahoma sometime before 1862. He was inspired by the Red River, which reminded him of the Jordan River and of the Prophet Elijah's being taken to heaven by a chariot (2 Kings 2:11). Many sources claim that this song and "Steal Away" (also composed by Willis) had lyrics that referred to the Underground Railroad, the resistance movement that helped slaves escape from the South to the North and Canada.

Alexander Reid, a minister at the Old Spencer Academy, Choctaw boarding school, heard Willis singing these two songs and transcribed the words and melodies. He sent the music to the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. The Jubilee Singers popularized the songs during a tour of the United States and Europe.

The song enjoyed a resurgence during the 1960s Civil Rights struggle and the folk revival; it was performed by a number of artists. Perhaps the most famous performance during this period was that by Joan Baez during the legendary 1969 Woodstock festival.

Oklahoma State Senator, Judy Eason McIntyre from Tulsa, Oklahoma proposed a bill nominating "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" as the Oklahoma State official gospel song in 2011. The bill was co-sponsored by the Oklahoma State Black Congressional Caucus. Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed the bill into law on May 5, 2011, at a ceremony at the Oklahoma Cowboy Hall of Fame; making the song the official Oklahoma State Gospel Song.

Use in rugby union

Chris Oti

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" has been sung by rugby players and fans for some decades, but became associated with the English national side, in particular, in 1988. Coming into the last match of the 1988 season, against Ireland at Twickenham, England had lost 15 of their previous 23 matches in the Five Nations Championship. The Twickenham crowd had only seen one solitary England try in the previous two years and at half time against Ireland they were 0–3 down. However during the second half England scored six tries to give them a 35–3 win. Three of the tries came in quick succession from Chris Oti, a black player making his Twickenham debut. A group of boys from the Benedictine school Douai following a tradition at their school games sang "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" whenever a try was scored. When Oti scored his second try, amused spectators standing close to the boys joined in, and when Oti scored his hat-trick the song was heard around the ground. The song is still regularly sung at matches by supporters. There are associated gestures, sometimes used in a drinking game, which requires those who wrongly perform the gestures to buy a round of drinks.

The England national rugby union team returned from the 2003 World Cup triumph in Australia on a plane dubbed "Sweet Chariot".

Recordings associated with England's participation at the Rugby World Cup

The song became the England Rugby World Cup theme for 1991, when performed by "Union featuring the England World Cup Squad". It reached no. 16 on the UK singles chart.

The song was then covered in 1995 for that year's tournament by British pop/reggae duo China Black together with South African male choral group, Ladysmith Black Mambazo. It reached no. 15 on the chart, selling 200,000 copies – and South Africa won the tournament.

1999's tournament saw Russell Watson record a version which had less success, only peaking at no. 38 on the UK chart.

The song enjoyed more success in 2003's tournament, when recorded by UB40 and the United Colours of Sound. It originally peaked at no. 23, but following England's victory in the tournament returned to reach no. 15.

A new version was recorded by Blake for the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

For 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand popular all-girl group Our Lady Muse (O.L.M) released an England Rugby World Cup Song. An upbeat party anthem version of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – The Song was premiered at the "Polo Rocks" concert in aid of The Prince's Trust.

Swing low, sweet chariot Traditional lyrics

Chorus:

Swing low, sweet chariot

Coming forth to carry me home,

Swing low, sweet chariot,

Coming forth to carry me home.

I looked over Jordan, and what did I see

Coming forth to carry me home?

A band of angels coming after me,

Coming forth to carry me home.

Chorus

Sometimes I'm up, and sometimes I'm down,