Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2012 August 10

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August 10

Why is the Olympic flag not their national flag next to some athletes?

Resolved

What does the olympic flag next to an athlete's name denote?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1980_Summer_Olympics_–_Men's_800_metres — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.28.107.113 (talk) 08:22, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

This was the games which was boycotted by some Western nations in protest at the USSR's occupation of Afghanistan. The athletes of those nations who participated did so under the Olympic flag, and not as representatives of their nation. This was famously exemplified by Daley Thompson, who whistled "God Save the Queen" while the interminable Olympic anthem was being played as he got his gold Decathlon medal. --TammyMoet (talk) 08:58, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

(edit conflict)

Those guys are British. The British team at the 1980 Olympics used the Olympic flag instead of the Union Jack.

To understand why, a bit of history: The 1980 games were held in Moscow. Only a few months earlier the USSR had invaded Afghanistan, heightening tensions at one of the 'hottest' stages of the Cold War. There were a number of nations, principally the US and West Germany, who felt that the Olympics should not be seen to endorse the Soviets' aggression and that the games should be moved to another country (in fact, I believe that the possibility of holding them in London was seriously considered). When it became clear that the games would go ahead in Moscow, the Americans pulled out, along with a number of other nations. In Britain the government, and Margaret Thatcher in particular, supported the American stance. They did not want a British team to be represented at the Olympics. However, the British Olympic Association felt their athletes should be able to compete. The matter was debated at length in The House and the issue rumbled on for a long time. The public, whilst sympathising with the Americans, generally supported the athletes, and the support became stronger as time went on. Also, no matter what the government wanted, the BOA was an independent body. Unlike in some other countries, and, in fact, unlike in Britain today, the BOA received little or no government funding during the 70s and 80s. If the government forbade the BOA from sending a team, there was little they could do to stop them disobeying the order. They tried various tactics, such as Margaret Thatcher resigning from the BOA fundraising campaign (which did actually have quite a large effect on the money raised) but it became clear that the BOA would have the strength of finance and public support to take a team whatever the government thought. The government therefore decided to come to a compromise, whereby they supported the BOA in sending a team of athletes to Moscow, but the athletes would compete under banner of the Olympic flag rather than the British flag, in order to diminish the support Britain was seen to be offering the Soviets.

This rather small footnote in Cold War history had some remarkable causes and effects, and at the time was a massive talking point. There was a fascinating program on the subject on Radio 4 recently, which I recommend you try to listen to. I can't remember the title but I'll see if I can find it for you. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 09:02, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Thank you so much TammyMoet and Cucumber MikeNot. :) Well done. It baffled me for an hour because there are no footnotes on this on any of the olympic medal pages. Can someone now mark this resolved and add this as a link to the respective medal pages like the one I gave and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Olympic_medalists_in_athletics_(men) etc?

No problem. I can, and have, marked this resolved for you. Unfortunately, though, my own ramblings on the subject aren't sufficient to be added as a reference for the article - what we need is some scholarly work or newspaper article that we can cite. I'll add it to my 'list of things to get round to' - although you're welcome to do it too!

By the way, I think I only gave half an answer - I hadn't realised how many other countries competed under the Olympic flag: the list at 1980 Summer Olympics shows 14 nations, mostly European, using the Olympic rings. Each of these would have had their own reasons for doing so, although I suspect the main motivations were similar to the British.

Turns out I was wrong about the radio program - it was actually a podcast from BBC History Magazine. Have a listen to the 26th July episode. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 10:26, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Note that four athletes are competing under the Olympic Flag in the 2012 Games, for various political reasons.[1] Alansplodge (talk) 12:21, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

See also Independent Olympians at the Olympic Games. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:45, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Black tape(?) on beach volleyball players

What's the point of the black tape, if that's what it is, on the legs and back of these beach volleyball players? The link should get you to image 10 of the slideshow. The tape is in a couple of other shots as well. Dismas|^(talk) 09:58, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Kinesio tape. See Why are athletes wearing coloured tape? (BBC News). There was a refdesk question about this within the last week or so, but I can't find it right now. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 10:07, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! I hadn't seen it asked. And since I usually keep an eye on the desks, I didn't think to search. Dismas|^(talk) 10:37, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

I probably made it up. A search on kinesio tape gives nothing, and I'm sure I remember that was the term that was used. Maybe I just remember the BBC article. Or I'm going senile. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 10:56, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

You didn't dream it. Look straight up, under August 5. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 11:07, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Mmmph, whaddya know? So I'm not senile, just blind. Thanks! - Cucumber Mike (talk) 11:33, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Podium Sweeps at the Olympics

I know it has happened many times that a single country takes all three medals in an olympic event. Jamaica just did it yesterday in the men's 200m race, and Italy swept a fencing podium earlier in these games, as did China in table tennis. I remember South Korea doing so in archery at a previous game, and the USA in various track and field events. Is there a list of all of these instances somewhere ? My googling hasn't turned up anything useful. --Xuxl (talk) 11:05, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

I don't know a list. Italy swept Fencing at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's foil. China took all four golds in Table tennis at the 2012 Summer Olympics but each country was only allowed two players in singles and one team in doubles (see Table tennis at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Qualification). China's second allowed player in singles took silver for both men and women so China got the best possible result but it doesn't sound like the type of sweep you are asking for. <start rant>By the way, there is a sport where a country can get the best possible result but only half the golds. Taekwondo at the Summer Olympics only allows a country to enter an athlete in four of the eight weight classes. In Taekwondo at the 2008 Summer Olympics, South Korea got four golds in their four allowed weight classes. I think there have been Olympic taekwondo events where the presumed best athlete in the world (at least the reigning World Champion) couldn't compete because it was a South Korean. That doesn't sound like the idea of the Olympic Games to me. Imagine Jamaica had to choose between entering one athlete in either 100m or 200m.</end rant> PrimeHunter (talk) 12:56, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Gymnastics has a (stupid) rule to prevent this. Just ask Jordyn Wieber Hot Stop 12:58, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

At the other end of the spectrum, 1904 Summer Olympics says: "The IOC later declared that 94 of these events were Olympic. ... However, only 42 events (less than half) actually included athletes who were not from the United States." PrimeHunter (talk) 13:25, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

I couldn't find a list on Wikipedia but I did find another method to avoid it. Apparently the Asian Games would just give the bronze to the highest finishing competitor from a different country than the gold and silver winners. (See Speed_skating_at_the_1986_Asian_Winter_Games). That would be really rough on the third place (but not bronze) finisher. Rmhermen (talk) 14:04, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

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