Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2010 March 2

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March 2

Thomas & Uber Cup (Badminton)

Friends, i am a resident of India and an aspiring badminton pro. I wish to watch the thomas & Uber Badminton Cup on TV or computer. can you please inform me as in which indian channel or web tv or any other medium is it being shown, its timings, etc. Bye. Kvees. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 164.100.1.97 (talk) 05:55, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Maybe try searching google. No one here is really that inelegant, we just use google to find answers. Cut out the middle man and do it yourself and safe all the time! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Delvenore (talk • contribs) 11:11, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

Olympic medals ceremony

Are there some nations that do not have a national anthem? I assume "yes", but I am not sure. If so, what song do they play at the Olympics medal ceremony if that nation's athlete wins the gold medal? Also, what national anthem (or what song) do they play if the gold medal is awarded to athletes from, say, a mixed-nation team? Thank you. (64.252.68.102 (talk) 14:17, 2 March 2010 (UTC))

As I recall, during games that were played soon after the CCCP broke up and before they fully re-established themselves as just "Russia", there was some kind of generic anthem played - possibly an Olympic-related song. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:30, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, the Unified Team used the Olympic Anthem for their medals. Nanonic (talk) 14:45, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

The key question would be whether it was their choice or the IOC's choice. For example, let's suppose Sealand had won the hockey tournament and had no anthem. They might have opted for "We Are the Champions", or "Celebration", or maybe even "Hey, Jude". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:12, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

My understanding is that countries that are members of the IOC advise it of what their anthem is, and that is what is used. However, some teams do not represent member countries, such as the previously-mentioned Unified Team in 1992. In this case the Olympic Anthem is used. I believe that Taiwan (which competes under the name Chinese Taipei in the Olympics) falls in the same category. Some countries have borrowed another country's anthem: at the Lake Placid Games, Liechtenstein used "God Save the King" as their anthem at the time, since they did not have a "national" anthem (not sure if that has changed). At the FIFA World Cup, Scotland (and presumably Northern Ireland and Wales, although they haven't qualified for a finals for a while) does not have an anthem of its own. --Xuxl (talk) 15:49, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Liechtenstein's anthem, Oben am jungen Rhein, has the same melody as "God Save the King/Queen" but different words. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 17:24, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

The really are my favourite country: Britain's anthem, Haiti's flag, and you can rent the whole country for a business conference (the government website used to say this more explicitly). 86.177.121.239 (talk) 03:50, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

Haiti's flag is nowhere identical as Liechtenstein's (not anymore). Try Côte d'Ivoire and Ireland or Monaco and Indonesia. --Kvasir (talk) 23:22, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Neither of our article, National anthems and List of national anthems, spend any time talking about countries which don't have them. Although it is noted that the Spanish national anthem has no words. Rmhermen (talk) 16:13, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

I would be interested to know why exactly it is the OP assumes there even are countries with no national anthem. I'd instantly assume the opposite, and would be surprised to find a country with no anthem. TomorrowTime (talk) 08:45, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

There are probably nations without official national anthems. Even the USA was in that category when the Olympics started. But a song doesn't need an official mandate from the government to be the National Anthem. If everyone assumes that it is the anthem then it is.

Perhaps really new or recently reorganized countries might not have a current anthem? Even if they were in that situation, it'd be easy enough for that country's Olympic committee to pick some vaguely patriotic tune and hand it over to the IOC. APL (talk) 15:35, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

To TomorrowTime – I am the OP. I had assumed that most countries do indeed have a national anthem. But, I was thinking that — throughout history, not necessarily today — there might be several reasons that a country might not have a national anthem. The map is constantly changing and new countries are being "added" and "subtracted" all the time. (That is, countries overtake other countries ... or, some countries break apart from others, thereby establishing themselves as a "new" country ... and the like.) Sometimes, I assume that there might be a very brief window between these events and the actual holding of the Olympic Games of that particular year. Thus, the "new" country (or newly-formed or newly-recognized or newly-reorganized country) might not have had quite enough time to pick a national anthem. In the midst of political upheaval and restructuring, I'd think that they would have bigger fish to fry than worrying about a song. That was the underlying basis of my original question as the OP. Also, as pointed out above, sometimes a country might not have an official national anthem ... and therefore, technically at least, they have no national anthem. So, I was not sure how the Olympics powers-that-be handle these unusual circumstances as they popped up throughout history. Thanks. (64.252.68.102 (talk) 17:27, 3 March 2010 (UTC))

Perhaps my wonder came from the fact that I am a citizen of exactly such a "new country" myself :) Here in Slovenia, the anthem was declared anthem at the same moment as independence had been declared (and it had been chosen for this role way beforehand), and I think the same goes for other ex-Yugoslav countries as well. But you are right, a set of circumstances such as the one you describe above is conceivable, even if it is in my opinion not very likely.

By the way, an interesting historic tidbit from around the day of independence here in Slovenia: while the anthem really was chosen well beforehand, the flag was not, and had been designed only a little before the big event. On the morning following the declaration of independence, a video was shown on Slovene TV, showing some people climbing to the top of Triglav, highest mountain and something of a national symbol itself, and placing the Slovene flag on top, to let it fly its colors and all that patriotic stuff. The only problem is, at the time the video was shot, a couple of days before the independence, the finalized design for the flag had not yet been known, so the flag doesn't have the coat of arms on it. Without the coat of arms, the Slovene flag is essentially the flag of Russia :) Unfortunately, I can't find the video on youtube... TomorrowTime (talk) 13:54, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Thanks to all for the above input and discussion. This was helpful to me ... and much appreciated. Thank you! (64.252.68.102 (talk) 09:58, 5 March 2010 (UTC))

A better scenario would be in the Commonwealth Games where "nations" and dependent territories compete, not only independent sovereign countries. Some of these do not have official national anthems. See God_Save_the_Queen#Other_United_Kingdom_anthems. I am not sure, however, if there are special anthems for each of the current and former BOTs. --Kvasir (talk) 23:27, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Hong Kong won the gold in women's sailboard (Mistral class) in 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and they played God Save the Queen as expected. I think it's one of the few instances a team from a non-sovereign country have won Olympic gold medal (hence having its anthem played). --Kvasir (talk) 23:43, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Disabled athletes at the Olympics

I already asked this question on German Wikipedia, I'll ask also here: is there a list of all athletes with disability who ever participated in the Olympic Games? Here "disability" means any disability, be it bodily or intellectual. So far I have only 4 on my own list (McKeever, du Toit, Partyka, Parkin). Does somebody know more? I'm "collecting" high achievements by disabled people.--Alexmagnus2 (talk) 16:29, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Disability can cover a lot of conditions, and a lot of athletes may not want to publicize their disabilities, especially if they're not relevant to the sport they are practicing. McKeever will be the first athlete to compete in the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the same year. I recall hearing the story of a Hungarian shooter who won gold both before and after World War II, even though he lost an arm in the conflict. Someone may know the name. (found him: Karoly Takacs) --Xuxl (talk) 17:19, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Didn't du Toit and Partyka participate in Olympic and Paralympic Games 2008?--Alexmagnus2 (talk) 17:47, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Actually, although selected to the provisional team, Brian McKeever did not compete in the Men's 50 km classical. -- Flyguy649 ^talk 17:25, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

I found one more: Marla Runyan--Alexmagnus2 (talk) 21:35, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Any disability, like asthma for instance? Not necessarily a disadvantage though, see Marit Bjørgen#Asthma medications use controversy. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 23:41, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Does asthma officially count as a disability? Never heard...--Alexmagnus2 (talk) 00:27, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

Terence Parkin is a South African deaf swimmer who swam at the two previous Olympics, winning silver in 2000. Zunaid 09:38, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

I mentioned Parkin in my original post. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Alexmagnus2 (talk • contribs) 10:53, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

Neroli Fairhall was the first paraplegic to compete at the Olympic games, coming 35th in archery in 1984. She won a commonwealth gold in 1982, and competed in both athletics and archery in the paralympics. Perhaps it would be worth creating a category for those who have compteted at regular and paralympics. Gwinva (talk) 03:28, 5 March 2010 (UTC)