Hot Air over Hot Water

In the 1500s, fishermen who lived in South America began to wonder about a current of unusually warm water that came to their shore every few years near Christmastime. Since the fishermen believed in the birth of the Christ child at Christmas, and since they spoke Spanish, they named the hot water El Niño, which means "the infant" in Spanish.


Where do scientists look for El Niño? The hot water usually comes first to the coasts of Peru and Ecuador in South America.

But if we've known about El Niño for four hundred years, why is everyone talking so much about the hot water this year?
The 1997-1998 El Niño may or may not be stronger than ever before. Scientists are still deciding. One thing that is definitely different about this El Niño is the technology that scientists are using to study it.



Scientists and governments from around the world—United States, France, Japan, Korea and Taiwan—are sharing knowledge and funding for The Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) Array.

But why all the fuss anyway about some hot water in the tropical Pacific Ocean? Well, it's not just the hot water. It's also the hot air.
Try this: take two cups that are the same. They can be ceramic, plastic, styrofoam, whatever, as long as they're the same. Fill one with cool water. Fill the other with hot water. (Not boiling, just good and hot.) Place them on a table. Hold each of your hands over one cup and feel the difference in the air above the water. (Don't actually touch the water. Just feel the air.) The hot water warms the air above it. The cool water doesn't.

Now, imagine you fill your bathtub with hot water. Think about how warm and steamy the air in the bathroom gets. Now, imagine millions and millions of bathtubs-ful of hot water. All of that moist, hot air has to go somewhere. Scientists know that hot air rises and carries the moisture with it. Once the moisture gets into the air and starts to cool, rainclouds start to form.

Now try this: hold a small mirror over the cup of hot water for a few minutes. The moisture in the air should collect on the mirror, and, as it cools, form tiny droplets. Imagine the bathroom mirror after you fill the bathtub with hot water. The "water" on the mirror is caused by the water vapor in the air gathering and cooling. Now imagine the air over the hot water of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Huge rainclouds start to form and flooding results in South American countries along the coast.

So What is an El Niño, Anyway?

An El Niño is a temporary change in the climate of the Pacific ocean, in the region around the equator. You can see its effects in both the ocean and atmosphere, generally in Northern Hemisphere winter. Typically, the ocean surface warms up by a few degrees celsius. At the same time, the place where hefty thunderstorms occur on the equator moves eastward. Although those might seem like small differences, it nevertheless can have big effects on the world's climate.

What causes it?
What makes it stop growing?
What effects does it have?
How long does it last?
How often do we get them?
How well can we predict El Niño?
A more technical explanation

What causes it?
Usually, the wind blows strongly from east to west along the equator in the Pacific. This actually piles up water (about half a meter's worth) in the western part of the Pacific. In the eastern part, deeper water (which is colder than the sun-warmed surface water) gets pulled up from below to replace the water pushed west. So, the normal situation is warm water (about 30 C) in the west, cold (about 22 C) in the east.

In an El Niño, the winds pushing that water around get weaker. As a result, some of the warm water piled up in the west slumps back down to the east, and not as much cold water gets pulled up from below. Both these tend to make the water in the eastern Pacific warmer, which is one of the hallmarks of an El Niño.

But it doesn't stop there. The warmer ocean then affects the winds--it makes the winds weaker! So if the winds get weaker, then the ocean gets warmer, which makes the winds get weaker, which makes the ocean get warmer ... this is called a positive feedback, and is what makes an El Niño grow.

So what makes it stop growing?
The ocean is full of waves, but you might not know how many kinds of waves there are. There's one called a Rossby wave that is quite unlike the waves you see when you visit the beach. It's more like a distant cousin to a tidal wave. The difference is that a tidal wave goes very quickly, with all the water moving pretty much in the same direction. In a Rossby wave, the upper part of the ocean, say the top 100 meters or so, will be lesirely sliding one way, while the lower part, starting at 100 meters and going on down, will be slowly moving the other way. After a while they switch directions. Everything happens very slowly and inside the ocean, and you can't even see them on the surface. These things are so slow, they can take months or years to cross the oceans. If you had the patience to sit there while one was going by, you'd hardly notice it; the water would be moving 100 times slower than walking speed. But they are large, hundreds or thousands of kilometers in length (not height! Remember, you can hardly see them on the surface), so they can have an effect on things. Another wave you rarely hear about is called a Kelvin wave, and it has some characteristics in common with Rossby waves, but is somewhat faster and can only exist close to the equator (say, within about 5 degrees of latitude around the equator).

El Ninos often start with a Kelvin wave propagating from the western Pacific over towards South America. Perhaps you saw, on the TV news, the movie (produced by JPL) for the El Nino of 1997/98? It showed a whitish blob (indicating a sea level some centimeters higher than usual) moving along the equator from Australia to South America. That's one of the hallmarks of a Kelvin wave, the early part of the El Nino process.

When an El Niño gets going in the middle or eastern part of the Pacific, it creates Rossby waves that drift slowly towards southeast Asia. After several months of travelling, they finally get near the coast and reflect back. The changes in interior ocean temperature that these waves carry with it "cancel out" the original temperature changes that made the El Niño in the first place. I'm being deliberately vague here becuase it's complicated; look at the "For Further Reading" link or the "More Technical Explanation" link for more information. The main point is that it shuts off when the these funny interior-ocean waves travel all the way over to the coast of Asia, get reflected, and travel back, a process that can take many months.

What effects does it have?
A strong El Niño is often associated with wet winters over the southeastern US, as well as drought in Indonesia and Australia. Keep in mind that you aren't guaranteed these effects even though there is an El Niño going on; but the El Niño does make these effects more likely to happen.

How long does it last?
A strong El Niño can last a year or more before conditions return to normal. If you read the bit above about Rossby and Kelvin waves (you did, didn't you?) then you know that it lasts more or less as long as it takes the interior-ocean waves to travel all the way over to the coast of Asia, get reflected, and travel back. You can also look at the Historical El Niño section, which has a plot showing the last 30 years of El Niños, and judge for yourself.

How often do we get them?
El Niños happen irregularly, but if you want to impress people at cocktail parties, you might mention that we usually get one every three to seven years. Note the word "usually": sometimes they turn up more frequently, sometimes less. You can also look at the Historical El Niño section, which has a plot showing the last 30 years of El Niños, and judge for yourself (deja vu).

How well can we predict El Niño?
On average, complex computer models designed to predict El Niño can successfully do so 12 to 18 months in advance. However, it seems to vary by episode; sometimes El Niños are predicted quite well, with plenty of advance notice from the models, while other times they are predicted poorly, with the models not picking them up until the El Niño has already started. Trying to fix up the models is one of our research topics here at Scripps.

The Origin of Navajo Sandpainting

Navajo legends tell us of the people before man. The Holy People are First Man, Changing Woman, Spider Woman, Monster Slayer, Born of/for Water, the Snake People, the Corn People, etc. These Holy People maintained permanent paintings of sacred designs on spider webs, sheets of sky, clouds, and some fabrics, including buckskin. When the First People, the Dineh, created by Changing Woman, were guided by First Man into the present world, they were given the right to reproduce these sacred paintings to summon the assistance of the Holy People. But ownership of them could lead to evil because, as the Holy People told them, “Men are not as good as we; they might quarrel over the picture and tear it and that would bring misfortune; rain would not fall; corn would not grow.” Therefore, it was decreed that they must accomplish the paintings with sand and upon the earth. Furthermore, it must be destroyed at night.
Most ethnologists and other researchers believed that the Navajo learned the art of sacred painting from the Pueblo Indians. These people’s ancestors were the prehistoric Anasazi, Mogollon, and Mimbres. Studies of prehistoric paintings on cave and kiva walls show that many were painted or plastered over and then reused with different art. It is well known that early sandpainting used a variety of materials — colored sands, crushed rock, charcoal, crushed flowers, gypsum, ochre, pollen, and cornmeal. These sands or “dry” paintings were used in the Pueblo’s rituals in prehistoric times. Also, both the early Pueblo Indians and the Navajo used depictions of men impersonating the gods. Several common motifs and early identifiable deities appear in both. They include the Humpback or “Camel” God with his back full of seeds, the two children of Changing Woman (Monster Slayer and Born of Water), Red Cloud, Talking God, and others.
The Great Pueblo Revolt occurred in 1680, when the Spanish and all of their religious entourage were expelled from all the Southwestern pueblos. Several years later, the Spanish regrouped in El Paso (El Paso del Norte) and returned to the pueblos to reestablish their political and religious hegemony. Many Pueblo Indians feared reprisals and left to live as nomads with the Navajo. There was much intermarriage and likely an incorporation of the Pueblo’s dry painting into the Navajo rituals. We know the weaving techniques — so wonderfully perfected by the Navajos — had Pueblo origins. So, too, might some of the religious practices.
Regardless of the sandpainting’s origin, one fact is clear: It is transitory, a specific rendering of a religious art form that is destroyed upon completion. Therefore, there is no pictorial evidence of what sandpaintings looked like one hundred years ago and earlier. Our only clues lie within the records of kiva walls, cave walls, and mural fragments from several hundred years ago. We also have the words of earlier scholars and researchers who wrote about what they learned from talking to medicine men of their time. Fortunately, a few drawings and reproductions do exist of the religious work in the late 1800s and very early 1900s. The legendary Medicine Man and weaver Hosteen Klah (1867–1937) was, among many other things, instrumental in capturing, for history, a significant period of this legendary art. He and his family wove the designs into Navajo rugs. These rugs and his drawings are centerpieces of the Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They are our best links to the early religious designs that later became such an inspired art form.
The Role of the Sandpainting
Navajo religion holds that everything consists of powerful forces, which are capable of good or evil. The balance between them is quite fine; if upset, even accidentally, some misfortune or even disaster will occur. Nature is balanced. It is in harmony, and only man can upset the balance. Of the many, many Navajo deities, only one, Changing Woman is constantly striving to enhance the good forces for the people. It was she who gave birth to the twins, Monster Slayer and Born of Water. These two heroes or war gods left evidence of their exploits that exist even today. The great lava flow near Grants, New Mexico, is the dried blood of a slain monster. Likewise, the formation southwest of Shiprock is the remains of a giant man-eating eagle. They and their mother succeeded in ridding Dinetah, the Navajo world, of all evil except old age, poverty, sickness, and death.
There is no supreme being in the Navajo religion. Among the most powerful are Changing Woman, the Twin War Gods (heroes), Sun (the husband of Changing Woman), Holy Man, Holy Woman, Holy Boy, Holy Girl. Also powerful, and appearing in sandpaintings, are the Earth, Moon, Thunder, Wind, and others. Yeis (generally lesser deities), both male and female respectively, along with animals, plants, and various forces in nature, are very important in the Navajo religion. They appear in many sandpaintings.
All of these deities are constantly in flux, causing good and evil. The goal is for these forces to be in balance, or hozho, a perfect state. This term can represent an amalgam or the concepts of blessed, holy, beautiful, balanced, without pain, etc.
Hozho is the desired balance but it is difficult to maintain because everything (person, plant, animal, stone, star, cloud, strike of lightning) has its Holy People. Anyone who angers any of these forces — an easy thing to do — creates disharmony and risks any one of several physical or mortal ills. In addition, many witches seek to harm individuals through their own ceremonies, which also use sandpaintings.
The everyday existence of the Navajo is filled with pitfalls that could easily anger a Holy Person and result in a loss of hozho. For example, killing a bear can cause arthritis, laughing at one can cause it to “get after you,” mountain sheep can cause ear and eye problems, killing a sand spider can cause baldness, watching a dog “go to the bathroom” can cause you to go crazy, killing snakes or lizards can cause your heart to dry up and your back to get crooked, yelling at a pregnant woman can cause the baby to be deaf, and so on; there are thousands of taboos and cures.
To cure the attendant illness caused by the imbaance, you first need a diagnosis by a hand trembler, a ndilniihii. Through prayer, concentration, and the use of sacred pollen, the practitioner’s hand will tremble and an analysis of these movements will pinpoint the cause of illness. This also identifies the “sing,” “chant,” or “way” needed to effect a cure. There are many ways to combat ills; Navajo religious beliefs provide for about 500 different sandpaintings derived from some 50 different Chants or Ways. There are, for example, nearly 100 sandpaintings within the Shooting Way or Shooting Chant alone.
Each chant or way is associated with one or more elements of the creation story. And each ill or imbalance is likewise associated with one of these chants. For example, the Bead Chant cures skin disease caused by thunder, lightning, or snakes, and the Night Chant cures nervous disorders among other ills. These ceremonies are presided over and orchestrated by a full Medicine Man. A ceremony can last 2 days or be as long as 9 days. Involved are chants, songs, prayers, long lectures, dances, the use of sweat baths, herbs, emetics, prayer sticks, assorted fetishes, and, of course, sandpaintings. These ceremonies are expensive. The Medicine Man must be paid well, and the host must provide food and accommodations for friends and family who attend. Those who attend share in the blessing that accompanies the ceremony and assist in the chant, dances, and construction of the sandpainting. A 9-day Night Chant has been known to bankrupt a family. When all the preliminary activities such as lectures, purifications, chants, etc., have been accomplished, the Medicine Man begins the sandpainting ritual, usually in the family hogan. All the pigments of color have been carefully gathered and prepared. The principal colors — white, blue, yellow, and black — are linked to the four sacred mountains as well as the directions. Red, often considered a sacred color, represents sunlight. As a note of interest, the four sacred mountains are Arizona’s San Francisco Peaks (west), Navajo Mountain in Utah (north), Mt. Blanco in Colorado (east) and Mt. Taylor in New Mexico (south). The Navajo name for sandpainting, iikaah, translates to “place where gods come and go.” This name is appropriate because, if all activities are performed correctly and the patient believes in the cure, the sandpainting prepares the way for the forces or Holy People to intercede and restore hozho. The sandpainting is the final act to summon those forces. The patient sits in its center and faces the open door of the hogan, which always faces east. The Holy People being summoned will arrive and infuse the painting with their healing power, dispelling evil and restoring balance. The ceremony also shields against further threats of a similar nature that may be directed toward the patient, such as witchcraft. The sandpainting can be quite small or as large as 20 feet, which means that several men and women would be needed to finish it in the allotted day. Most sandpaintings are between 6 and 8 feet. The Medicine Man or Singer is the director responsible for accuracy of color and design. For practical reasons, work begins in the center and works outward in a “sun-wise” pattern for religious reasons (east to south to west to north and back to east). Most sandpaintings have a protective garland around three sides to prevent evil from infusing the work from the north, west, or south. This is often a rainbow. The painting must face east for the Holy People’s entrance. In order to prevent evil from entering before the work is complete, spiritual guardians may be positioned to the east. There are many such guardians, including the beaver and otter, which gave their hides to Monster Slayer and Born of Water to prevent them from freezing on one of their journeys. With the patient seated in the center of the sandpainting, the Singer takes items from his medicine bag and touches them to body parts of the Holy People in the sandpainting. He then touches corresponding parts of his body and then the patient’s body. Thus, the powers of the Holy People, properly orchestrated through the intermediary, are transmitted to the patient, restoring the hozho needed for the cure. When the ritual is completed, the patient leaves the sandpainting and all the sands are swept away in a reverse order. The sand is then either buried outside or scattered to the four directions. Failure to destroy a sandpainting or attempting to reverse any part may bring blindness or death to the transgressor. Not all sandpaintings are used to cure the ill. In fact, the heart of the Navajo Religion is the Blessing Way, which hozho to many things — a newborn child or a new home, planting, job, marriage, etc. Usually the sandpainting is small, and the ceremony covers a single day. These ceremonies do not always require the floor of a hogan; they be done on buckskin or cloth.

Sandpainting as Art
Hosteen Klah is credited with being the first Navajo to present a sandpainting picture in a permanent art form. He wove a “Whirling Logs” design from the Night Way Chant into a textile (rug). He and his two nieces wove approximately 70 pieces over an 18-year span. From this came many sketches, drawings, paintings, and later, books. Another Medicine Man, Miguelito (1865–1936), contributed greatly to books. Rest assured, these weavings and the drawings by famous and respected medicine men were altered to some degree to preclude any disrespect to the Holy People. (One blanket purchased in 1929 had 34 identifiable errors according to a noted anthropologist.)
The most often-seen sandpainting today is a reproduction on a piece of plywood or particle board. This evolved from the 1930s and was first seen in Gallup, New Mexico. Today the board is smoothed and covered with a thin but precise layer of glue. Colored sand or crushed rock is then placed on this layer. More glue is painted on and more sand is deposited. If the glue is too thick, the line or area will be lumpy; if too fine or thin, not enough sand will adhere and the painting will appear weak. To keep the glue from drying too fast, the artist works on only small areas at a time.
Although most artists use common household glue (thinned) as the base, many add one or more secret ingredients to satisfy their own requirements. Also, some artists use different rocks or pigments to achieve various colors. Some use commercially colored sands. Part of the skill involved in creating a high-quality sandpainting is the technique of dispensing the sand onto the glue base. Most artists take a small amount of sand in the palm of their hand, below the second finger. They trickle the sand off the index finger, guiding and regulating it using the thumb. The flow must be uniform or the line on the sandpainting will be uneven. Some sandpainters sketch first, and then work in pencil; others work only by eye.
As demand for an item increases beyond production capability, new production techniques are developed. Some sandpainters now use a series of copper templates to speed their work. Certain symbols, lines, and patters are cut out of copper. These templates are placed on the board and used to quickly apply glue in the proper location. Often, they are also to apply sand. Templates are used often in the more “commercial” grade of sandpaintings.
Another item, the air brush, has become popular with sand painters. It allows for the rapid creation of a multi-hued background. This technique does not lessen amount of work required for the background; it simply adds an artistic dimension. And, what is sandpainting, after all, but an art?
The Evolution and Influence of Sandpainting Art
Sandpainting as an art was first seen in tapestries and later in paintings and drawings. These forms still exist. As weavings, very few Navajos will attempt a sandpainting; they are extremely difficult to do well and require a long time to finish the final tapestry. Those who undertake this task can — and do — command a high premium.
The Navajo Yei rug, first woven with great controversy near the turn of the century, quickly became popular because of its resale success. It is still popular, a “must” for any weaving collector. It is not uncommon to see Yei weavings blended with other regional rug patterns.
Artists frequently employ one or more figures from a sandpainting in their contemporary work. Noted Navajo artist Harrison Begay frequently used one or more guardians in his paintings as early as the late 1930s. Justin Tso, Jack Lee, Benson Halwood, and many others do also.
Sandpainting figures also appear in many Pueblo pottery designs. Hopi Kachinas are used most often, but the use of Navajo Yei figures has also increased.
Sandpainting has undergone some great changes. At first, paintings incorporated the more common Yei figures and occasionally a corn plant. Then they evolved to render simplified Chants or Ways — the Whirling Logs, Big Thunder from the Shooting Chant, Coyote Stealing Fire, etc. Now we see renderings or realist and impressionist movements, as well as pictures of Shiprock, fetish bears, and pottery depictions, among others. Generally the work is not complex, but it is pleasing and represents a strong art movement.
Over a period of several years, various competitions began to recognize sandpainting as an art form. As more and more museum shows, fairs, ceremonials, etc. began to award prizes based on quality and innovation, these works increased in quality, quantity, and innovation. Today, we see in exquisite detail, pure traditional sandpainting designs. Also, several artists blend two or more sandpainting designs, or elements, together. Among the best of these groups are Rosabelle Ben and Fred Geary. Other master artists such as Eugene Baatsoslanii Joe, Bobbie Johnson (d.), J.M. Cambridge, Keith Silversmith, H.R. (War Eagle) Begay, and Gracie Dick use a blend of tradition, impression, and realism to achieve one-of-a-kind expressions that rival, in expression and in quality, any great art.
As a last note, sandpainting designs now appear in sterling and gold-cast jewelry, which is popular and selling well. It is easy to see that the core of Navajo life — the religion and its expression in the sandpaintings — has influenced all forms of Navajo art. Its influence is expected to continue.

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games (often referred to simply as The Olympics or The Games ) is an international multi-sport event subdivided into summer and winter sporting events. The summer and winter games are each held every four years (an ). Until 1992, they were both held in the same year. Since then, they have been separated two years apart.
The original Olympic Games (Greek: Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες; Olympiakoi Agones) began in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece, and was celebrated until AD 393. Interest in reviving the Olympic Games proper was first shown by the Greek poet and newspaper editor Panagiotis Soutsos in his poem "Dialogue of the Dead" in 1833. Evangelos Zappas sponsored the first modern international Olympic Games in 1859. He paid for the refurbishment of the Panathinaiko Stadium for Games held there in 1870 and 1875. This was noted in newspapers and publications around the world including the London Review, which stated that "the Olympian Games, discontinued for centuries, have recently been revived! Here is strange news indeed ... the classical games of antiquity were revived near Athens".
The International Olympic Committee was founded in 1894 with the initiative of a French nobleman, Pierre Frédy, Baron de Coubertin. The first of the IOC's Olympic Games were the 1896 Summer Olympics, held in Athens, Greece. Participation in the Olympic Games has increased to include athletes from nearly all nations worldwide. With the improvement of satellite communications and global telecasts of the events, the Olympics are consistently gaining supporters. The most recent Summer Olympics were the 2004 Games in Athens and the most recent Winter Olympics were the 2006 Games in Turin. The upcoming games in Beijing are planned to comprise 302 events in 28 sports. As of 2006, the Winter Olympics were competed in 84 events in 7 sports.
Ancient Olympics



Athletes trained in this Olympia facility in its ancient heyday.
Main article: Ancient Olympic Games
There are many myths and legends surrounding the origin of the ancient Olympic Games. The most popular legend describes that Heracles was the creator of the Olympic Games, and built the Olympic stadium and surrounding buildings as an honor to his father Zeus, after completing his 12 labours. According to that legend he walked in a straight line for 400 strides and called this distance a "stadion" (Greek: "Στάδιον")- (Roman: "stadium") (Modern English: "Stage") that later also became a distance calculation unit. This is also why a modern stadium is 400 meters in circumference length (1 stadium = 400 m). Another myth associates the first Games with the ancient Greek concept of ἐκεχειρία (ekecheiria) or Olympic Truce. The date of the Games' inception based on the count of years in Olympiads is reconstructed as 776 BC, although scholars' opinions diverge between dates as early as 884 BC and as late as 704 BC.
From then on, the Games quickly became much more important throughout ancient Greece, reaching their zenith in the sixth and fifth centuries BC. The Olympics were of fundamental religious importance, contests alternating with sacrifices and ceremonies honouring both Zeus (whose colossal statue stood at Olympia), and Pelops, divine hero and mythical king of Olympia famous for his legendary chariot race, in whose honour the games were held. The number of events increased to twenty, and the celebration was spread over several days. Winners of the events were greatly admired and were immortalised in poems and statues. The Games were held every four years, and the period between two celebrations became known as an 'Olympiad'. The Greeks used Olympiads as one of their methods to count years. The most famous Olympic athlete lived in these times: the sixth century BC wrestler Milo of Croton is the only athlete in history to win a victory in six Olympics.
The Games gradually declined in importance as the Romans gained power in Greece. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the Olympic Games were seen as a pagan festival and in discord with Christian ethics, and in 393 AD the emperor Theodosius I outlawed the Olympics, ending a thousand-year tradition.
During the ancient times normally only young men could participate. Competitors were usually naked, not only as the weather was appropriate but also as the festival was meant to be, in part, a celebration of the achievements of the human body. Upon winning the games, the victor would have not only the prestige of being in first place but would also be presented with a crown of olive leaves. The olive branch is a sign of hope and peace.
Even though the bearing of a torch formed an integral aspect of Greek ceremonies, the ancient Olympic Games did not include it, nor was there a symbol formed by interconnecting rings. These Olympic symbols were introduced as part of the modern Olympic Games.

[edit] Revival
In the early seventeenth century, an "Olympick Games" sports festival was run for several years at Chipping Campden in the English Cotswolds, and the present day local Cotswold Games trace their origin to this festival. They were a local sports event with extraordinary sports, such as shin-kicking.
In 1850, an "Olympian Class" was begun at Much Wenlock in Shropshire, England. This was renamed "Wenlock Olympian Games" in 1859 and continues to this day as the Wenlock Olympian Society Annual Games. A national Olympic Games was organised by their founder, Dr William Penny Brookes, at Crystal Palace in London, in 1866.
Meanwhile, a wealthy Greek philanthropist called Evangelos Zappas sponsored the revival of the first modern international Olympic Games. The first was held in an Athens city square in 1859. Zappas paid for the refurbishment of the ancient Panathenian stadium that was first used for an Olympic Games in 1870 and then again in 1875. That same stadium was refurbished a second time and used for the Athens 1896 Games. The revival sponsored by Zappas was a dedicated athletics Olympic Games with athletes that participated from two countries: Greece and the Ottoman Empire.
The interest in reviving the Olympics as an international event grew further when the ruins of ancient Olympia were uncovered by German archaeologists in the mid-nineteenth century. At the same time, Pierre de Coubertin was searching for a reason for the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871). He thought the reason was that the French had not received proper physical education, and sought to improve this. Coubertin also sought a way to bring nations closer together, to have the youth of the world compete in sports, rather than fight in war. In 1890 he attended a festival of the Wenlock Olympian Society, and decided that the recovery of the Olympic Games would achieve both of his goals.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin stood on the ideas of both Dr Brookes and the foundations of Evangelis Zappas to found the International Olympic Committee. In a congress at the Sorbonne University, in Paris, France, held from June 16 to June 23, 1894 he presented his ideas to an international audience. On the last day of the congress, it was decided that the first IOC Olympic Games would take place in 1896 in Athens, in the country of their birth. To organise the Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was established, with the Greek Demetrius Vikelas as its first president. The Panathenian stadium that was used for Olympic Games in 1870, and 1875 was refurbished and reused for the Olympic Games held in Athens in 1896.
The total number of athletes at the the first IOC Olympic Games, less than 250, seems small by modern standards, but the games were the largest international sports event ever held until that time. The Greek officials and public were also very enthusiastic, and they even proposed to have the monopoly of organizing the Olympics. The IOC decided differently, however, and the second Olympic Games took place in Paris, France. Paris was also the first Olympic Games where women were allowed to compete.

[edit] Modern Olympics
Main articles: Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games
After the initial success, the Olympics struggled. The celebrations in Paris (1900) and St. Louis (1904) were overshadowed by the World's Fair exhibitions in which they were included. The so-called Intercalated Games (because of their off-year status, as 1906 is not divisible by four) were held in 1906 in Athens, as the first of an alternating series of Athens-held Olympics. Although originally the IOC recognised and supported these games, they are currently not recognised by the IOC as Olympic Games, which has given rise to the explanation that they were intended to mark the 10th anniversary of the modern Olympics. The 1906 Games again attracted a broad international field of participants—in 1904, 80% had been American—--and great public interest, thereby marking the beginning of a rise in popularity and size of the Games.
From the 241 participants from 14 nations in 1896, the Games grew to nearly 11,100 competitors from 202 countries at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The number of competitors at the Winter Olympics is much smaller than at the Summer Games; at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin Italy, 2,633 athletes from 80 countries competed in 84 events.
The Olympics are one of the largest media events. In Sydney in 2000 there were over 16,000 broadcasters and journalists, and an estimated 3.8 billion viewers watched the games on television. The growth of the Olympics is one of the largest problems the Olympics face today. Although allowing professional athletes and attracting sponsorships from major international companies solved financial problems in the 1980s, the large number of athletes, media and spectators makes it difficult and expensive for host cities to organize the Olympics.
203 countries currently participate in the Olympics. This is a noticeably higher number than the number of countries recognised by the United Nations, which is only 193. The International Olympic Committee allows nations to compete which do not meet the strict requirements for political sovereignty that many other international organizations demand. As a result, many colonies and dependencies are permitted to host their own Olympic teams and athletes even if such competitors hold the same citizenship as another member nation. Examples of this include territories such as Puerto Rico, Bermuda, and Hong Kong, all of which compete as separate nations despite being legally a part of another country. Also, since 1980, Taiwan has competed under the name "Chinese Taipei", and under a flag specially prepared by the IOC. Prior to that year the People's Republic of China refused to participate in the Games because Taiwan had been competing under the name "Republic of China". The Republic of the Marshall Islands was recognised as a nation by the IOC on February 9, 2006, and should compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

[edit] Olympic problems

[edit] Boycotts
The 1956 Melbourne Olympics were boycotted by the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland, because of the repression of the Hungarian Uprising by the Soviet Union; additionally, Cambodia, Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon, boycotted the games due to the Suez Crisis.
In 1972 and 1976, a large number of African countries threatened the IOC with a boycott, to force them to ban South Africa, Rhodesia, and New Zealand. The IOC conceded in the first 2 cases, but refused in 1976 because the boycott was prompted by a New Zealand rugby union tour to South Africa, and rugby was not an Olympic sport. The countries withdrew their teams after the games had started; some African athletes had already competed. A lot of sympathy was felt for the athletes forced by their governments to leave the Olympic Village; there was little sympathy outside Africa for the governments' attitude. Twenty-two countries (Guyana was the only non-African nation) boycotted the Montreal Olympics because New Zealand was not banned.
Also in 1976, due to pressure from the People's Republic of China (PRC), Canada told the team from the Republic of China (Taiwan) that it could not compete at the Montreal Summer Olympics under the name "Republic of China" despite a compromise that would have allowed Taiwan to use the ROC flag and anthem. The Republic of China refused and as a result did not participate again until 1984, when it returned under the name "Chinese Taipei" and used a special flag.

In 1980 and 1984, the Cold War opponents boycotted each other's games. The United States led and 64 other Western nations followed in refusing to compete at the Moscow Olympics in 1980 because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but 16 other Western nations did compete at the Moscow Olympics. The boycott reduced the number of nations participating to only 80, the lowest number of nations to compete since 1956. The Soviet Union and 14 of its Eastern Bloc partners (except Romania) countered by skipping the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, arguing the safety of their athletes could not be guaranteed there and "chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria are being whipped up in the United States".
The 1984 boycotters staged their own Friendship Games in July-August.

[edit] Doping
One of the main problems facing the Olympics (and international sports in general) is doping, or performance enhancing drugs. In the early 20th century, many Olympic athletes began using drugs to enhance their performance. For example, the winner of the marathon at the 1904 Games, Thomas J. Hicks, was given strychnine and brandy by his coach, even during the race. As these methods became more extreme, gradually the awareness grew that this was no longer a matter of health through sports. In the mid-1960s, sports federations put a ban on doping, and the IOC followed suit in 1967.
The first and so far only Olympic death caused by doping occurred in 1960. At the cycling road race in Rome the Danish Knud Enemark Jensen fell from his bicycle and later died. A coroner's inquiry found that he was under the influence of amphetamines.
The first Olympic athlete to test positive for doping use was Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall, a Swedish pentathlete at the 1968 Summer Olympics, who lost his bronze medal for alcohol use. Seventy-three athletes followed him over the next 38 years, several medal winners among them. The most publicised doping-related disqualification was that of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, who won the 100m at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, but tested positive for stanozolol.
Despite the testing, many athletes continued to use doping without getting caught. In 1990, documents were revealed that showed many East German female athletes had been unknowingly administered anabolic steroids and other drugs by their coaches and trainers as a government policy.
In the late 1990s, the IOC took initiative in a more organised battle against doping, leading to the formation of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 1999. The recent 2000 Summer Olympics and 2002 Winter Olympics have shown that this battle is not nearly over, as several medalists in weightlifting and cross-country skiing were disqualified due to doping offences. One innocent victim of the anti-doping movement at the Olympics was the Romanian gymnast Andreea Răducan who was stripped of her gold medal-winning performance in the All-Around Competition of the Sydney 2000 games. Test results indicated the presence of the banned-stimulant pseudophedrine which had been prescribed to her by an Olympic doctor. Raducan had been unaware of the presence of the illegal substance in the medicine that had been prescribed to her for a cold she had during the games.
During the 2006 Winter Olympics, only one athlete failed a drug test and had a medal revoked. The only other case involved 12 members with high levels of haemoglobin and their punishment was a five day suspension for health reasons.
In October 2007, American sprinter Marion Jones admitted to having taken steroids before the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. As a result of these admissions, Jones accepted a two-year suspension and forfeiture of all medals, results, points and prizes earned afer September 1, 2000.
The International Olympic Committee introduced blood testing for the first time during these games.

[edit] Politics
Main article: Politics in the Olympics
Politics interfered with the Olympics on several occasions, the most well-known of which was the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, where the games were used as propaganda by the German Nazis. At this Olympics, a true Olympic spirit was shown by Luz Long, who helped Jesse Owens (a black athlete) to win the long jump, at the expense of his own silver medal.
The Soviet Union did not participate in the Olympic Games until the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. Instead, the Soviets organized an international sports event called Spartakiads, from 1928 onward. Many athletes from Communist organizations or close to them chose not to participate or were even barred from participating in Olympic Games, and instead participated in Spartakiads.
A political incident on a smaller scale occurred at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Two American track-and-field athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, performed the Black Power salute on the victory stand of the 200-meter track and field race. In response, the IOC's autocratic president Avery Brundage told the USOC to either send the two athletes home, or withdraw the complete track and field team. The USOC opted for the former.
In a political policy move that flouts the spirit of the Olympic movement, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran specifically orders its athletes not to compete in any olympic heat, semi-final, or finals that includes athletes from Israel. At the 2004 Olympics, an Iranian judo wrestler refused to compete in a heat against an Israeli judo wrestler, but did so in a way that 'covered' the possibility of Iran being removed from the games for political intrigue (the athlete deliberately overweighted himself out of his class). This athlete returned home to a hero's welcome.

[edit] Violence
Despite what Coubertin had hoped for, the Olympics did not bring total peace to the world. In fact, three Olympiads had to pass without Olympics because of war: due to World War I the 1916 Games were canceled, and the summer and winter games of 1940 and 1944 were canceled because of World War II.
Terrorism has also become a recent threat to the Olympic Games. In 1972, when the Summer Games were held in Munich, West Germany, eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by Palestinian terrorist group Black September in what is known as the Munich massacre. A bungled liberation attempt led to the deaths of the nine abducted athletes who had not been killed prior to the rescue as well as that of a policeman, with five of the terrorists also being killed.
During the Summer Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta, a bombing at the Centennial Olympic Park killed two and injured 111 others. The bomb was set by Eric Robert Rudolph, an American domestic terrorist, who is currently serving a life sentence at Supermax in Florence, Colorado.
The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City were the first Olympic Games since the September 11, 2001 attacks. Olympic Games since then have required an extremely high degree of security due to the fear of possible terrorist activities.

[edit] Olympic Movement
A number of organizations are involved in organizing the Olympic Games. Together they form the Olympic Movement. The rules and guidelines by which these organizations operate are outlined in the Olympic Charter.
At the heart of the Olympic Movement is the International Olympic Committee (IOC), currently headed by Jacques Rogge. It can be seen as the government of the Olympics, as it takes care of the daily problems and makes all important decisions, such as choosing the host city of the Games, and the programme of the Olympics.
Three groups of organisations operate on a more specialised level:
International Federations (IFs), the governing bodies of a sport (e.g. FIFA, the IF for football (soccer), and the FIVB, the international governing body for volleyball.)
National Olympic Committees (NOCs), which regulate the Olympic Movement within each country (eg. USOC, the NOC of the United States)
Organising Committees for the Olympic Games (OCOGs), which take care of the organisation of a specific celebration of the Olympics.
At present, 202 NOCs and 35 IFs are part of the Olympic Movement. OCOGs are dissolved after the celebration of each Games, once all subsequent paperwork has been completed.
More broadly speaking, the term Olympic Movement is sometimes also meant to include everybody and everything involved in the Olympics, such as national sport governing bodies, athletes, media, and sponsors of the Olympic Games.

[edit] Criticism
Most Olympic Games have been held in European and North American cities; only a few games have been held in other places, and all bids by countries in South America and Africa have failed. Many non-westerners believe the games should expand to include locations in poorer regions. Economists point out that the massive infrastructure investments could springboard cities into earning higher GDP after the games.[citation needed]
In the past, the IOC has often been criticised for being a monolithic organisation, with several members remaining a member at old age, or even until their deaths. The leadership of IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch especially has been strongly criticised. Under his presidency, the Olympic Movement made great progress, but has been seen as autocratic and corrupt. Samaranch's ties with the former fascist government in Spain, and his long term as a president (21 years)—until he was 81 years old—have also been points of critique.
In 1998, it became known that several IOC members had taken bribes from the organising committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, in exchange for a vote on the city at the election of the host city. The IOC started an investigation, which led to four members resigning and six being expelled. The scandal set off further reforms, changing the way in which host cities are elected to avoid further bribes. Also, more active and former athletes were allowed in the IOC, and the membership terms have been limited.
The same year (1998), four European groups organized the International Network Against Olympic Games and Commercial Sports to oppose their cities' bids for future Olympic Games. Also, an Anti-Olympic Alliance had formed in Sydney to protest the hosting of the 2000 Games. Later, a similar movement in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia organized to protest the hosting of the 2010 Winter Games. These movements were particularly concerned about adverse local economic impact and dislocation of people to accommodate the hosting of the Olympics.
A BBC documentary aired in August 2004, entitled Panorama: "Buying the Games", investigated the taking of bribes in the bidding process for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The documentary claimed it is possible to bribe IOC members into voting for a particular candidate city. In an airborne television interview on the way home, the Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë, specifically accused the British Prime Minister (Tony Blair) and the London Bid Committee (headed by former Olympic athlete Lord (Sebastien) Coe of breaking the bid rules with flagrant financial and sexual bribes. He cited French President Jacques Chirac as a witness but President Chirac gave rather more guarded interviews. In particular, Bulgaria's member Ivan Slavkov, and Muttaleb Ahmad from the Olympic Council of Asia, were implicated. They have denied the allegations. And Mayor Delanoë never mentioned the matter again. (Indeed two days later when London was attacked by suicide bombers on buses and trains, 52 Londoners were killed and over 700 Londoners were injured, it was both Mayor Delanoë and President Chirac -in an Olympian spirit of which Pierre de Coubertin would have been proud- who were among the first to express their solidarity with London and to send practical help in the form of rescue teams etc.) Others have alleged that the 2006 Winter Olympics were held in Turin because officials bribed the IOC and so Turin got the games and Sion, Switzerland (which was the favorite) did not.
The Olympic Movement has been accused of being overprotective of its symbolism (in particular, it claims an exclusive and monopolistic copyright over any arrangement of five rings and the term "olympics"), and have taken action against things unrelated to sport, such as the role-playing game Legend of the Five Rings. It was accused of homophobia in 1982 when it successfully sued the Gay Olympics, an event now know as the Gay Games, to bar it from using the term "olympics" in its name.

[edit] Olympic symbols
Main article: Olympic symbols
The Olympic movement uses many symbols, most of them representing Coubertin's ideas and ideals. The best known symbol is probably that of the Olympic Rings. These five intertwined rings represent the unity of five inhabited continents (with America regarded as one single continent). They appear in five colors on a white field on the Olympic Flag. These colors, white (for the field), red, blue, green, yellow, and black were chosen such that each nation had at least one of these colors in its national flag. The flag was adopted in 1914, but the first Games at which it was flown were Antwerp, 1920. It is hoisted at each celebration of the Games.
The official Olympic Motto is "Citius, Altius, Fortius", a Latin phrase meaning "Swifter, Higher, Stronger". Coubertin's ideals are probably best illustrated by the Olympic Creed:
"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."
The Olympic Flame is lit in Olympia and brought to the host city by runners carrying the torch in relay. There it plays an important role in the opening ceremonies. Though the torch fire has been around since 1928, the relay was introduced in 1936.
The Olympic mascot, an animal or human figure representing the cultural heritage of the host country, was introduced in 1968. It has played an important part of the games since 1980 with the debut of misha, a Russian bear.
French and English are the two official languages of the Olympic movement.

[edit] Olympic ceremonies
Apart from the traditional elements, the host nation ordinarily presents artistic displays of dance and theatre representative of that country.
Various traditional elements frame the opening ceremonies of a celebration of the Olympic Games. The ceremonies typically start with the hoisting of the host country's flag and the performing of its national anthem.[citation needed] The traditional part of the ceremonies starts with a "parade of nations" (or of athletes), during which most participating athletes march into the stadium, country by country. One honoured athlete, typically a top competitor, from each country carries the flag of his or her nation, leading the entourage of other athletes from that country.[citation needed]
Traditionally (starting at the 1928 Summer Olympics) Greece marches first, because of its historical status as the origin of the Olympics, while the host nation marches last. (Exceptionally, in 2004, when the Games were held in Athens, Greece marched last as host nation rather than first, although the flag of Greece was carried in first.) Between these two nations, all other participating nations march in alphabetical order of the dominant language of the host country, or in French or English alphabetical order if the host country does not write its dominant language in an alphabet which has a set order. In the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, both Spanish and Catalan were official languages of the games, but due to politics surrounding the use of Catalan, the nations entered in French alphabetical order. The XVIII Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan saw nations entering in English alphabetical order since the Japanese language grouped both China and Chinese Taipei together in the Parade of Nations.
After all nations have entered, the president of the host country's Olympic Organising Committee makes a speech, followed by the IOC president who, at the end of his speech introduces the person who is going to declare the Games open. Despite the Games having been awarded to a particular city and not to the country in general, the Opener is usually – but not always – the host country's Head of State. So it is this Opener, in turn, who formally opens the Olympics, by reciting the formula:
«I declare open the Games of (name of city) celebrating the (adjectival numeral) Olympiad of the modern era/Olympic Winter Games.»
Since Adolf Hitler at both the Garmisch Partenkirchen Winter Olympics and at the Berlin Summer Olympics – both in 1936 – the Openers have unswervingly stuck to this formula. Before 1936, however, the Opener often used to make a short Speech of Welcome before declaring the Games open. There have been very many cases where the country's Head of State did not open the Olympics at all. The first example was at the Games of the II Olympiad in Paris in 1900 when there wasn't even an Opening Ceremony.
There are five examples of this from the United States alone, beginning with the Games of the III Olympiad in St Louis, Missouri where – on 1 July 1904 – Mr David Francis, President of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, performed the ceremony, nobody having even thought of inviting US President Theodore Roosevelt. Then, on 4 February 1932 the then Governor of the State of New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt, opened the III Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York and later that year, on 30 July 1932, the Vice-President of the United States, Charles Curtis opened the Games of the X Olympiad in Los Angeles, California, stating, however, that he was doing so on behalf of the President, Herbert Hoover. In 1960, the Vice-President of the United States Richard Nixon was sent by President Dwight Eisenhower to open the VIII Olympic Winter Games in Squaw Valley, California, and finally, in 1980, Vice President Walter Mondale, stood in for President Jimmy Carter to open the XIII Olympic Winter Games, also in Lake Placid.
The most recent example was at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad in Sydney, Australia, where, at the insistence of the Australian Government, it was the Governor-General of Australia Sir William Deane who opened the Games and not Queen Elizabeth (who as Queen of Australia is the Australian Head of State). Throughout the 20th century there were numerous other such instances.
Next, the Olympic Flag is carried horizontally (since the 1960 Summer Olympics) into the stadium and hoisted as the Olympic Anthem is played. The flag bearers of all countries circle a rostrum, where one athlete (since the 1920 Summer Olympics) and one judge (since the 1972 Summer Olympics) speak the Olympic Oath, declaring they will compete and judge according to the rules. Finally, the Torch is brought into the stadium, passed from athlete to athlete, until it reaches the last carrier of the Torch, often a well-known athlete from the host nation, who lights the fire in the stadium's cauldron. The Olympic Flame has been lit since the 1928 Summer Olympics, but the torch relay did not start until the 1936 Summer Olympics. Beginning at the post-World War I 1920 Summer Olympics, the lighting of the Olympic Flame was for 68 years followed by the release of doves, symbolizing peace. This gesture was discontinued after several doves were burned alive in the Olympic Flame during the opening ceremony of the 1988 Summer Olympics. However, some Opening Ceremonies have continued to include doves in other forms; for example, the 2002 Winter Olympics featured skaters holding kite-like cloth dove puppets.
Opening ceremonies have been held outdoors, usually on the main athletics stadium, but those for the 2010 Winter Olympics will be the first to be held indoors, at the BC Place Stadium.

[edit] Closing
Various traditional elements also frame the closing ceremonies of an Olympic Games, which take place after all of the events have concluded. Flag bearers from each participating delegation enter the stadium in single file, but behind them march all of the athletes without any distinction or grouping of nationality.[citation needed] This tradition began at the 1956 Summer Olympics at the suggestion of Melbourne schoolboy John Ian Wing, who thought it would be a way of bringing the athletes of the world together as "one nation". (In 2006, the athletes marched in with their countrymen, then dispersed and mingled as the ceremonies went on).
Three national flags are each hoisted onto flagpoles one at a time while their respective national anthems are played: The flag of Greece on the righthand pole (again honoring the birthplace of the Olympic Games), the flag of the host country on the middle pole, and finally the flag of the host country of the next Summer or Winter Olympic Games, on the lefthand pole. (Exceptionally, in 2004, when the Games were held in Athens, only one flag of Greece was raised.)
In what is known as the "Antwerp Ceremony" (because the tradition started during the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp), the mayor of the city that organized the Games transfers a special Olympic Flag to the president of the IOC, who then passes it on to the mayor of the next city to host the Olympic Games. The receiving mayor then waves the flag eight times. There are three such flags, differing from all other copies in that they have a six-coloured fringe around the flag, and are tied with six coloured ribbons to a flagstaff:
The Antwerp flag: Was presented to the IOC at the 1920 Summer Olympics by the city of Antwerp, Belgium, and was passed on to the next organising city of the Summer Olympics until the Games of Seoul 1988.
The Oslo flag: Was presented to the IOC at the 1952 Winter Olympics by the city of Oslo, Norway, and is passed on to the next organising city of the Winter Olympics.
The Seoul flag: Was presented to the IOC at the 1988 Summer Olympics by the city of Seoul, South Korea, and is passed on to the next organising city of the Summer Olympics, which was Barcelona, Spain, at that time.
After these traditional elements, the next host nation introduces itself with artistic displays of dance and theatre representative of that country. This tradition began with the 1976 Games.
The president of the host country's Olympic Organising Committee makes a speech, followed by the IOC president, who at the end of his speech formally closes the Olympics, by saying:
«I declare the Games of the ... Olympiad/... Olympic Winter Games closed and, in accordance with tradition, I call upon the youth of the world to assemble four years from now in ... to celebrate the Games of the ... Olympiad/... Olympic Winter Games.»
The Olympic Flame is extinguished, and while the Olympic anthem is being played, the Olympic Flag that was hoisted during the opening ceremonies is lowered from the flagpole and horizontally carried out of the stadium.
[edit] Olympic sports
Main article: Olympic sports
Currently, the Olympic program consists of 35 different sports, 53 disciplines and more than 400 events. The Summer Olympics includes 28 sports with 38 disciplines and the Winter Olympics includes 7 sports with 15 disciplines. Nine sports were on the original Olympic programme in 1896: athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, weightlifting, shooting, swimming, tennis, and wrestling. If the 1896 rowing events had not been cancelled due to bad weather, they would have been included in this list as well.
At the most recent Winter Olympics, seven sports were conducted, or 15 if each sport such as skiing and skating is counted. Of these, cross country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and speed skating have been featured on the programme at all Winter Olympics. In addition, figure skating and ice hockey also have been contested as part of the Summer Games before the introduction of separate Winter Olympics.
In recent years, the IOC has added several new sports to the programme to attract attention from young spectators. Examples of such sports include snowboarding and beach volleyball. The growth of the Olympics also means that some less popular (modern pentathlon) or expensive (white water canoeing) sports may lose their place on the Olympic programme. The IOC decided to discontinue baseball and softball beginning in 2012.
Rule 48.1 of the Olympic Charter requires that there be a minimum of 15 Olympic sports at each Summer Games. Following its 114th Session (Mexico 2002), the IOC also decided to limit the programme of the Summer Games to a maximum of 28 sports, 301 events, and 10,500 athletes. The Olympic sports are defined as those governed by the International Federations listed in Rule 46 of the Olympic Charter. A two-thirds vote of the IOC is required to amend the Charter to promote a Recognised Federation to Olympic status and therefore make the sports it governs eligible for inclusion on the Olympic programme. Rule 47 of the Charter requires that only Olympic sports may be included in the programme.
The IOC reviews the Olympic programme at the first Session following each Olympiad. A simple majority is required for an Olympic sport to be included in the Olympic programme. Under the current rules, an Olympic sport not selected for inclusion in a particular Games remains an Olympic sport and may be included again later with a simple majority. At the 117th IOC Session, 26 sports were included in the programme for London 2012.
Until 1992, the Olympics also often featured demonstration sports. The objective was for these sports to reach a larger audience; the winners of these events are not official Olympic champions. These sports were sometimes sports popular only in the host nation, but internationally known sports have also been demonstrated. Some demonstration sports eventually were included as full-medal events.

[edit] Amateurism and professionalism
Further information: Amateurism
The English public schools of the second half of the 19th century had a major influence on many sports. The schools contributed to the rules and influenced the governing bodies of those sports out of all proportion to their size. They subscribed to the Ancient Greek and Roman belief that sport formed an important part of education, an attitude summed up in the saying: mens sana in corpore sano – a sound mind in a healthy body. In this ethos, taking part has more importance than winning, because society expected gentlemen to become all-rounders and not the best at everything. Class prejudice against "trade" reinforced this attitude. The house of the parents of a typical public schoolboy would have a tradesman's entrance, because tradesmen did not rank as the social equals of gentlemen. Apart from class considerations there was the typically English concept of "fairness," in which practicing or training was considered as tantamount to cheating; it meant that you considered it more important to win than to take part. Those who practiced a sport professionally were considered to have an unfair advantage over those who practiced it merely as a "hobby."
The public schools had a deep involvement in the development of many team sports including all British codes of football as well as cricket and hockey. The ethos of English public schools greatly influenced Pierre de Coubertin. The International Olympic Committee invited a representative of the Headmasters' Conference (the association of headmasters of the English public schools) to attend their early meetings. The Headmasters' Conference chose the Reverend Robert Laffan, the headmaster of Cheltenham College, as their representative to the IOC meetings. He was made a member of the IOC in 1897 and, following the first visit of the IOC to London in 1904, he was central to the founding of the British Olympic Association a year later.
In Coubertin's vision, athletes should be gentlemen. Initially, only amateurs were considered such; professional athletes were not allowed to compete in the Olympic Games. A short-lived exception was made for professional fencing instructors. This exclusion of professionals has caused several controversies throughout the history of the modern Olympics.
1912 Olympic pentathlon and decathlon champion, Jim Thorpe, was disqualified when it was discovered that he played semi-professional baseball prior to winning his medals. He was restored as champion on compassionate grounds by the IOC in 1983. Swiss and Austrian skiers boycotted the 1936 Winter Olympics in support of their skiing teachers, who were not allowed to compete because they earned money with their sport and were considered professionals.
It gradually became clear to many that the amateurism rules had become outdated, not least because the self-financed amateurs of Western countries often were no match for the state-sponsored "full-time amateurs" of Eastern bloc countries. Nevertheless, the IOC held to the traditional rules regarding amateurism. In the 1970s, amateurism requirements were dropped from the Olympic Charter, leaving decisions on professional participation to the international federation for each sport. This switch was perhaps best exemplified by the American Dream Team, composed of well-paid NBA stars, which won the Olympic gold medal in basketball in 1992. As of 2004, the only sport in which no professionals compete is boxing (though even this requires a loose definition of amateurism, as some boxers receive cash prizes from their NOCs); in men's football (soccer), the number of players over 23 years of age is limited to three per team.
Advertisement regulations are still very strict, at least on the actual playing field, although "Official Olympic Sponsors" are common. Athletes are only allowed to have the names of clothing and equipment manufacturers on their outfits. The sizes of these markings are limited.

Olympic champions and medalists



Ray Ewry is the only competitor with ten modern Olympic titles, but two of them are from the 1906 Intercalated Games, which are presently not included in the official records, where he is surpassed by a number of people, including four with nine gold medals each.

The athletes (or teams) who place first, second, or third in each event receive medals. The winners receive "gold medals". (Though they were solid gold until 1912, they are now made of gilded silver.) The runners-up receive silver medals, and the third-place athletes bronze medals. In some events contested by a single-elimination tournament (most notably boxing), third place might not be determined, in which case both semi-final losers receive bronze medals. The practice of awarding medals to the top three competitors was introduced in 1904; at the 1896 Olympics only the first two received a medal, silver and bronze, while various prizes were awarded in 1900. However, the 1904 Olympics also awarded silver trophies for first place, which makes Athens 1906 the first games that awarded the three medals only. In addition, from 1948 onward athletes placing fourth, fifth and sixth have received certificates which became officially known as "victory diplomas;" since 1976 the medal winners have received these also, and in 1984 victory diplomas for seventh- and eighth-place finishers were added, presumably to ensure that all losing quarter-finalists in events using single-elimination formats would receive diplomas, thus obviating the need for consolation (or officially, "classification") matches to determine fifth through eighth places (though interestingly these latter are still contested in many elimination events anyway). Certificates were awarded also at the 1896 Olympics, but there they were awarded in addition to the medals to first and second place. Commemorative medals and diplomas — which differ in design from those referred to above — are also made available to participants finishing lower than third and eighth respectively. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, the first three were given wreaths as well as their medals.
Because the Olympics are held only once every four years, the public and athletes often consider them as more important and valuable than world championships and other international tournaments, which are often held annually. Many athletes have become celebrities or heroes in their own country, or even world-wide, after becoming Olympic champions.
The diversity of the sports, and the great differences between the Olympic Games in 1896 and today make it difficult to decide which athlete is the most successful Olympic athlete of all time. This is further complicated since the IOC no longer recognises the Intercalated Games which it originally organised. When measuring by the number of titles won at the Modern Olympic Games, the following athletes may be considered the most successful.

Captain James Cook's early life

Few people have ever seen the places the past explorer, James Cook, has ventured. Cook sailed around to far reaches of the world reaching all seven continents during his lifetime. He traveled on three very lengthy journeys with two different sailing ships, encountering hardship and triumph along the way. Not many people ever get off their own continent today, little less back in the 1700's, but as the world would discover, Cook was ahead of his time.
James Cook was born in the village of Marton, Yorkshire on October 27, 1728; he was one of seven children born to a day laborer. Cook received basic schooling at the village school and was then sent to work for William Sanders in the nearby fishing village of Staithes. Here Cook developed a love and fascination for the sea, but he was not especially happy with his job amongst the hard working people of the land. In July 1746, at the age of 17, Cook gave into his temptations for the sea and became an apprentice to the Walker Family, ship owners, at the port of Whitby. Whitby was a bustling place, always full with many varieties of ships. Cook's job as an apprentice required him to become very familiar with the coal ships of the area and he soon learned the ins and outs of the colliers type ships. He worked hard and soon had his first voyage aboard the Whitby collier 'Freelove.' The coal ships or colliers were of sturdy construction, strong sailing abilities, and could handle a great deal of cargo and weight. Cook's expertise in this type of ship would bring him to use this type of ship for all three of his major voyages of world exploration.
While Cook was at Whitby, he educated himself a great deal in navigation and mathematics. By 1755, after nine years, and much service as ship's master, Cook left his ship and enlisted in the Royal Navy as an ordinary sailor. He boarded the Eagle, a 60-gun ship, and was sent to the North American Coast.
James Cook worked his way up through the ranks quickly in the navy, eventually rising high enough to command his own survey vessel. This was unusual for an enlisted man, but his experience at Whitby helped him have an upper hand over the other seamen. Cook's first mission was to map the estuary of the St. Lawrence River before Wolfe's naval assault on Quebec. Later he surveyed the coast of Newfoundland. Many sailors noted Cook's stellar work with mapping and surveying and how extremely accurate his drawings were. It was those surveys that gave Cook a name, along with information he carefully obtained from the observing and recording of the eclipse of the sun in 1766. Cook was rewarded for his work in Quebec in 1761; he received a bonus of 50 pounds, for "indefatigable industry in making himself the 'master of the pilotage.'" The surveys were so accurate and complete that they were in use until the beginning of the Twentieth Century.
Cook returned to England in 1762 and soon married Elizabeth Batts of Shadwell, the only daughter of a provincial family. In Elizabeth's seventeen years of marriage to Cook she saw him only every few years and even then only for a few months at a time. All of her six children and Cook seemed to have predeceased her. Comments on Cook's family and Elizabeths' death we hear from Cook himself not a word.
Cook's surveys and scientific observations, along with his own scientific ability and the patronage from his former commander, Sir Hugh Palliser, led to his new position as Captain of the "The Endeavour Bark" in 1768.

Navajo Sand Painting

Ages 5 to 12
Explore a traditional Navajo art form
What you need

Sand
Powdered tempera paints in various colors or food coloring
Construction paper, pencil, craft glue
Clean, empty containers such as styrofoam bowls or glass jars
Plastic spoons and Popsicle sticks
Plastic or styrofoam tray


What to do

The Navajo refer to themselves as Dine (Dee-Nay), which means "the people." They are the largest tribe in the United States. Their land, which is called Dinetah, encompasses parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah.
In Navajo mythology, each of the four cardinal directions is represented by a different color: white for the east, blue for the south, yellow for the west, and black for the north. Navajo artists use these four colors in the creation of sand paintings, which were traditionally made by shamans as a part of healing ceremonies. When the ceremony was finished, the painting was destroyed.
For Navaho artists, the technique of making sand paintings involves trickling powdered minerals such as ocher and gypsum into symmetrical patterns on clean sand. For this home activity, tempera paints or food coloring will provide all the color you need.
Mix up several batches of colored sand. To do this, pour about a handful of sand in each of your containers. Then add a different color tempera to each container. For a richer color, add more tempera. (Note: if you are using food coloring instead of tempera, you will need to spread the sand out to dry before you begin your painting.)
Draw a simple picture on construction paper. Landscapes or seascapes work especially well.
When you have finished, use a Popsicle stick to spread a thin layer of watered-down glue over your drawing. Then decide where you want to put each different color.
Working on one part of your drawing at a time, use a spoon to sprinkle the colored sand on the paper. After each color has been added, lift the paper up and gently shake the excess sand onto a plastic or styrofoam tray to use again. Keep doing this until the picture is complete.
After your sand painting has dried, you can seal it by spraying it with a mixture of glue (80%) and water (20%).

What else you can do

Create a Japanese Zen garden. These gardens are traditionally intended for contemplation or meditation. To create them, artists use stones and sands. The stones represent mountains; the sand is raked into a pattern of flowing water. Children can make their own Zen garden using a large, shallow pan with stones for mountains and sand for water.

What you need

Large, shallow baking pan or cookie sheet
Moist sand
Stones of various sizes
Cardboard rectangle about the size of a comb
Scissors
Spray water bottle (optional)

What to do

Fill pan or cookie sheet with sand. Moisten sand using the spray water bottle.
Pat the sand into the pan. Place several stones in the sand to symbolize mountains surrounded by water.
Cut spaces in the edge of the cardboard so it resembles a comb with widely spaced teeth.
Comb the sand to give the effect of flowing or rippling water.
Experiment by rearranging the stones or combing the sand in a different way to create a new design.
Place your Japanese-style Zen garden on a table or window ledge and enjoy contemplating its beauty.

Louis Braille inventor of Braille in 1824

Louis Braille was accidentally blinded in one eye at the age of three. Within two years, a disease in his other eye left him completely blind. When he was fifteen, he developed an ingenious system of reading and writing by means of raised dots. Today, in virtually every language throughout the world, Braille is the standard form of writing and reading used by visually impaired persons. THE STORY
Milestones:
1809 Louis Braille is born in Coupvray, near Paris France on January 4th
1812 Louis becomes blind, the result of an accident while playing in his fathers shop.
1819 Louis sent to Paris to live and study at the National Institute for Blind Children.
1824 Louis developed a system, employing a 6-dot cell and based upon normal spelling
1827 Louis published the first book printed using braille to describe and teach his system
1828 Louis becomes a full time teacher at the school where he was once a student
1840 Louis and his friend Pierre Foucault developed a machine to speed up the printing process
1852 When Louis died at age 43, not one newspaper in all of Paris wrote of his death.
1868 Braille, his 6-dot method is accepted as a world wide standard
1952 On the 100th anniversary of his death, the French government honors Braille's accomplishment
CAPS: Braille, Louis Braille, Valentin Hauy, Charles Barbier, Night Writing, William Bell Wait, Simon-René Braille, Pierre Foucault, Dr. Thomas Armitage, Royal Institute for Blind Youth, ARYs: braille, writing, communications, SIPS, history, biography, inventor, inventor of, history of, who invented, invention of, fascinating facts.
STORY:
Less than 200 years ago, it was said that the blind would never be able to read. People thought that it was only eyesight that could help humans see and read words. A young French boy Louis Braille, who was blind, was determined to find the key to access new methods for himself and all other blind persons of the world.

Louis Braille was born on 4th January, 1809, at Coupvray, near Paris, France..His father, Simon-René Braille, was a harness and saddle maker. At the age of three, Braille injured his left eye with a stitching awl from his father's workshop. This destroyed his left eye, and sympathetic ophthalmia led to loss of vision in his right eye. Braille was completely blind by the age of four. Despite his disability, Braille continued to attend school, with the support of his parents, until he was required to read and write.

Louis Braille was unhappy in school, because his blindness prevented him from reading books. At age 10, he was sent to Paris to live and study at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth, the world's first of its kind. At the school, the children were taught basic craftsman's skills and simple trades. They were also taught how to read by feeling raised letters (a system devised by the school's founder, Valentin Haüy). He thought there had to be a better, easier, and faster way for the blind to read. He was determined to invent it.

From age 12 to 15, he experimented with codes, using a knitting needle to punch holes in paper to represent letters. He shared his progress with officials at the institute but wasn't taken seriously. Braille, a bright and creative student, became a talented cellist and organist in his time at the school, playing the organ for churches all over France.

When Louis was fifteen, he developed an ingenious system of reading and writing by means of raised dots. Two years later he adapted his method to musical notation. He used a pattern of 6 raised dots to represent letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and mathematical symbols. Louis showed his Braille method to his classmates who liked it and began using it, in spite of the fact that it was banned from the institute. At age 17, Louis graduated, became assistant teacher at the institute, and secretly taught his method. Mr. Braille accepted a full-time teaching position at the Institute when he was nineteen.

Braille later extended his system to include notation for mathematics and music. The first book in Braille was published in 1827 under the title Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plain Songs by Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Arranged for Them. .After some slight modification it reached its present form in 1834, and is the system which has since borne his name.

In 1839 Braille published details of a method he had developed for communication with sighted people, using patterns of dots to approximate the shape of printed symbols. Braille and his friend Pierre Foucault went on to develop a machine to speed up the somewhat cumbersome system.

He had always been plagued by ill health, and he died in Paris of tuberculosis in 1852 at the age of 43; Not one newspaper in all of Paris wrote of his death. Although he was admired and respected by his pupils, his Braille system was never taught at the Institute during his lifetime.

Six months later, the institute officially adopted his 6-dot method. By 1868,his raised 6-dot system became a world wide standard, helping the blind read books, clocks, wristwatches, thermometers, sheet music and even elevator buttons.

In 1952, on the 100th anniversary of his death, newspapers everywhere printed his story. His portrait appeared on postage stamps, and his home is now a museum. In his honor, the French government moved his remains to the Pantheon in Paris. There Louis Braille was laid to rest with other great French heroes.

He was a kind, compassionate teacher and an accomplished musician. He gave his life in selfless service to his pupils, to his friends, and to the perfection of his raised dot method. Today, Braille has been adapted to almost every major national language and is the primary system of written communication for visually impaired persons around the world. The name of Braille will always remain associated with one of the greatest and most beneficent devices ever invented.

Louis Braille Biography

Nationality French
Gender Male
Occupation teacher
Braille designed a coding system, based on patterns of raised dots, which theblind could read by touch. Born on January 4, 1809, Coupvray, France, Braille was accidentally blinded in one eye at the age of three. Within two years,a disease in his other eye left him completely blind.
In 1819, Braille received a scholarship to the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles (National Institute of Blind Youth), founded by Valentin Haüy (1745-1822). The same year Braille entered the school, Captain Charles Barbierinvented sonography, or nightwriting, a system of embossed symbols used by soldiers to communicate silently at night on the battlefield. Inspired by a lecture Barbier gave at the Institute a few years later, the fifteen-year-old Braille adapted Barbier's system to replace Haüy's awkward embossed type,which he and his classmates had been obliged to learn.
In his initial study, Braille had experimented with geometric shapes cut fromleather as well as with nails and tacks hammered into boards. He finally settled on a fingertip-sized six-dot code, based on the twenty-five letters of the alphabet, which could be recognized with a single contact of one digit. Byvarying the number and placement of dots, he coded letters, punctuation, numbers, diphthongs, familiar words, scientific symbols, mathematical and musical notation, and capitalization. With the right hand, the reader touched individual dots and, with the left, moved on toward the next line, comprehending as smoothly and rapidly as sighted readers. Using the Braille system, studentswere also able to take notes and write themes by punching dots into paper with a pointed stylus which was aligned with a metal guide.
At the age of twenty, Braille published a monograph describing the use of hiscoded system. In 1837, he issued a second publication featuring an expandedsystem of coding text. Despite the students' favorable response to the Braille code, sighted instructors and school board members, fearing for their jobsshould the number of well-educated blind individuals increase, opposed his system.
Braille grew seriously ill with incurable tuberculosis in 1835 and was forcedto resign his teaching post. He died in Paris on January 6, 1852. The Braille writing system--though demonstrated at the Paris Exposition of Industry in1834 and praised by King Louis-Philippe--was not fully accepted until 1854, two years after the inventor's death. The system underwent periodic alteration; the standardized system employed today was first used in the United Statesin 1860 at the Missouri School for the Blind.

Louis Braille (1809-1852)

Six dots. Six bumps. Six bumps in different patterns, like constellations, spreading out over the page. What are they? Numbers, letters, words. Who made this code? None other than Louis Braille, a French 12-year-old, who was also blind. And his work changed the world of reading and writing, forever.
Louis was from a small town called Coupvray, near Paris—he was born on January 4 in 1809. Louis became blind by accident, when he was 3 years old. Deep in his Dad's harness workshop, Louis tried to be like his Dad, but it went very wrong; he grabbed an awl, a sharp tool for making holes, and the tool slid and hurt his eye. The wound got infected, and the infection spread, and soon, Louis was blind in both eyes.
All of a sudden, Louis needed a new way to learn. He stayed at his old school for two more years, but he couldn't learn everything just by listening. Things were looking up when Louis got a scholarship to the Royal Institution for Blind Youth in Paris, when he was 10. But even there, most of the teachers just talked at the students. The library had 14 huge books with raised letters that were very hard to read. Louis was impatient.
Then in 1821, a former soldier named Charles Barbier visited the school. Barbier shared his invention called "night writing," a code of 12 raised dots that let soldiers share top-secret information on the battlefield without even having to speak. Unfortunately, the code was too hard for the soldiers, but not for 12-year-old Louis!
Louis trimmed Barbier's 12 dots into 6, ironed out the system by the time he was 15, then published the first-ever braille book in 1829. But did he stop there? No way! In 1837, he added symbols for math and music. But since the public was skeptical, blind students had to study braille on their own. Even at the Royal Institution, where Louis taught after he graduated, braille wasn't taught until after his death. Braille began to spread worldwide in 1868, when a group of British men, now known as the Royal National Institute for the Blind, took up the cause.
Now practically every country in the world uses braille. Braille books have double-sided pages, which saves a lot of space. Braille signs help blind people get around in public spaces. And, most important, blind people can communicate independently, without needing print.
Louis proved that if you have the motivation, you can do incredible things

Louis Braille (4)

Braille's tomb in the crypt of the Panthéon.
The same year Louis began inventing his raised-dot system with his father's stitching awl, finishing at age 15, in 1824. His system used only six dots and corresponded to letters, whereas Barbier's used 12 dots corresponding to sounds. The six-dot system allowed the recognition of letters with a single fingertip apprehending all the dots at once, requiring no movement or repositioning which slowed recognition in systems requiring more dots. These dots consisted of patterns in order to keep the system easy to learn. The Braille system also offered numerous benefits over Haüy's raised letter method, the most notable being the ability to both read and write an alphabet. Another very notable benefit is that because they were dots just slightly raised, there was a significant difference in make up.
Braille later extended his system to include notation for mathematics and music. The first book in braille was published in 1827 under the title Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plain Songs by Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Arranged for Them. In 1839 Braille published details of a method he had developed for communication with sighted people, using patterns of dots to approximate the shape of printed symbols. Braille and his friend Pierre Foucault went on to develop a machine to speed up the somewhat cumbersome system.
Braille became a well-respected teacher at the Institute. Although he was admired and respected by his pupils, his braille system was not taught at the Institute during his lifetime. The air at the institute was foul and he died in Paris of tuberculosis in 1852 at the age of 43; his body was disinterred in 1952 (the centenary of his death) and honored with re-interment in the Panthéon in Paris.
Legacy
The significance of the braille system was not identified until 1868, sixteen years after Louis Braille died, when Dr Thomas Rhodes Armitage and a group of four blind men and one woman established the British and Foreign Society for Improving the Embossed Literature of the Blind (later the Royal National Institute of the Blind), which published books in Braille's system.
Braille has been adapted to almost every major national language and is the primary system of written communication for visually impaired persons around the world.
The asteroid 9969 Braille was named in honor of him.

Louis Braille (3)

Louis Braille is famous because he invented the special alphabet by which blind people can read. He became blind in an accident when he was four years of age, but overcame his disability to become one of the most famous people who ever lived in France.
The Braille Alphabet.
Louis was born near Paris in 1809. Louis Braille's father was a shoemaker and Louis often watched him at work. One day, he crept into his father's shop when his father was not looking.
Louis picked up a sharp, pointed tool called an awl. It was used to make holes in leather, so that shoes could be sewn with a needle and thread. Louis thought it would be good fun to try to make some shoes. As he bent over the leather and set to work, the awl slipped. It jabbed into his eye and destroyed it. The injury to his eye became infected . His good eye was infected too, and he lost sight in both eyes. Louis was only 4 years old.
Luois went to school with his friends, but it soon became obvious that he could not learn much at school because he could not read and write. This was a problem as in those days he would have had to become a beggar like all people who were disabled or who had no jobs. He was lucky though, since he was sent to one of the first schools in the world for the blind in Paris.
The conditions at Louis' school were very hard. The school was cold and damp. Students were beaten and given very little to eat. However, Louis was taught skills such as weaving cane for baskets and chairs. Each week the teacher would take the boys out for a walk, tied to each other on a long piece of rope so that they would not get lost. Louis was taught to read by feeling regular letters of the alphabet which were raised on the paper. He was not taught how to write.
One day something happened that changed the boys' lives forever. In 1821 a soldier named Charles Barbier came to visit the school. He bought with him a system which he had invented called 'night writing'. 'Night writing' had originally been designed so that soldiers could pass instructions along trenches at night without having to talk and give their positions away. It consisted of twelve raised dots which could be combined to represent different sounds. Unfortunately it proved to be too difficult for soldiers to learn, so the army rejected it .
The young Louis Braille quickly realised how useful this system of raised dots could be, providing he could make it more simple to learn. Over the next few months he experimented with different systems until he found an ideal one using six dots. He continued to work on the scheme for several years after, developing separate codes for maths and music.
In 1827 the first book in braille was published. Even so the new system did not catch on immediately. Sighted people did not understand how useful braille could be and one head teacher at the school even banned the children from learning it.
Fortunately this seemed to have the effect of encouraging the children even more and they took to learning it in secret. Eventually even sighted people began to realise the benefits of the new system. Not only could people with impaired vision read braille but they could also write it for themselves using a simple stylus to make the dots. For the first time they began to be truly independent and to take control of their own lives.
Louis Braille eventually became a teacher in the school where he had been a student. He was admired and respected by his pupils but, unfortunately, he did not live to see his system widely adopted. He had always been plagued by ill health and in 1852, at the age of 43, he died from tuberculosis.
For a while it seemed as if people would forgetr his system. Fortunately a few key people had realised the importance of his invention. In 1868 a group of four blind men, led by Dr Thomas Armitage , founded an association which grew to become the Royal National Institute for the Blind, the largest publisher of braille in Europe and Britain's largest organisation for people with impaired vision.
By 1990 braille was being used in almost every country in the world and had been adapted to almost every known language, from Albanian to Zulu. In France itself, Louis Braille's achievement was finally recognised by the state. In 1952 his body was moved to Paris where it was buried in the Pantheon, the home of France's national heroes.

Legends in Sand (2)

Legends in Sand: The Evolution of the Modern Navajo Sandpainting
An article by Lee Anderson
This brief article examines the Navajo sandpainting as both a religious item and an art item. We’ll present a brief history and discuss the sandpaintings as art forms that are used and made today. Lastly, we’ll at how this art form has evolved. Note that this brief article only touches the surface; for more information, consult the references listed at the end.
Introduction
There are two forms of Navajo sandpaintings. The first is used in the traditional healing or blessing ceremony conducted by a Singer or Medicine Man, a hataalii. This is referred to by the Navajo as an iikaah, “a place where the gods come and go.” The sandpainting is the crucial element in this 2- to-9-day ceremony, which is designed to restore balance (hozho), thus restoring lost health or insuring “good things.” The Singer uses crushed stone, crushed flowers, gypsum, pollen, etc. The sandpainting is completed in one day and destroyed later that night. This type of sandpainting is rarely viewed in an actual healing ceremony by non-Navajos. However, several noted Singers have demonstrated their skills at state fairs and powwows, although they leave the paintings incomplete, unlike the pure and sacred ones used in actual ceremonies. The demonstration is designed only to “show how it’s done.”
The second form is sandpainting as an art, created on a piece of particle board or plywood. In this form, elements of the sacred ceremonies, some very nearly complete, are presented as a unique and permanent art form. Finely crushed stone — some natural, some permanently dyed — is applied to the glue base. The overall design is intended to be an art presentation that uses the sacred Navajo symbols in the manner that would not be considered disrespectful. Artists hope that the beauty of this work, coupled with the traditional Navajo beliefs, will please the public and will provide a meaningful income. James C. Joe learned sandpainting from his father (Eugene Baatsoslanii) and later became a noted Medicine Man; he is the first to have practiced both professions. The Navajo accept this art form as quite legitimate.
The Origin of Navajo Sandpainting
Navajo legends tell us of the people before man. The Holy People are First Man, Changing Woman, Spider Woman, Monster Slayer, Born of/for Water, the Snake People, the Corn People, etc. These Holy People maintained permanent paintings of sacred designs on spider webs, sheets of sky, clouds, and some fabrics, including buckskin. When the First People, the Dineh, created by Changing Woman, were guided by First Man into the present world, they were given the right to reproduce these sacred paintings to summon the assistance of the Holy People. But ownership of them could lead to evil because, as the Holy People told them, “Men are not as good as we; they might quarrel over the picture and tear it and that would bring misfortune; rain would not fall; corn would not grow.” Therefore, it was decreed that they must accomplish the paintings with sand and upon the earth. Furthermore, it must be destroyed at night.
Most ethnologists and other researchers believed that the Navajo learned the art of sacred painting from the Pueblo Indians. These people’s ancestors were the prehistoric Anasazi, Mogollon, and Mimbres. Studies of prehistoric paintings on cave and kiva walls show that many were painted or plastered over and then reused with different art. It is well known that early sandpainting used a variety of materials — colored sands, crushed rock, charcoal, crushed flowers, gypsum, ochre, pollen, and cornmeal. These sands or “dry” paintings were used in the Pueblo’s rituals in prehistoric times. Also, both the early Pueblo Indians and the Navajo used depictions of men impersonating the gods. Several common motifs and early identifiable deities appear in both. They include the Humpback or “Camel” God with his back full of seeds, the two children of Changing Woman (Monster Slayer and Born of Water), Red Cloud, Talking God, and others.
The Great Pueblo Revolt occurred in 1680, when the Spanish and all of their religious entourage were expelled from all the Southwestern pueblos. Several years later, the Spanish regrouped in El Paso (El Paso del Norte) and returned to the pueblos to reestablish their political and religious hegemony. Many Pueblo Indians feared reprisals and left to live as nomads with the Navajo. There was much intermarriage and likely an incorporation of the Pueblo’s dry painting into the Navajo rituals. We know the weaving techniques — so wonderfully perfected by the Navajos — had Pueblo origins. So, too, might some of the religious practices.
Regardless of the sandpainting’s origin, one fact is clear: It is transitory, a specific rendering of a religious art form that is destroyed upon completion. Therefore, there is no pictorial evidence of what sandpaintings looked like one hundred years ago and earlier. Our only clues lie within the records of kiva walls, cave walls, and mural fragments from several hundred years ago. We also have the words of earlier scholars and researchers who wrote about what they learned from talking to medicine men of their time. Fortunately, a few drawings and reproductions do exist of the religious work in the late 1800s and very early 1900s. The legendary Medicine Man and weaver Hosteen Klah (1867–1937) was, among many other things, instrumental in capturing, for history, a significant period of this legendary art. He and his family wove the designs into Navajo rugs. These rugs and his drawings are centerpieces of the Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They are our best links to the early religious designs that later became such an inspired art form.
The Role of the Sandpainting
Navajo religion holds that everything consists of powerful forces, which are capable of good or evil. The balance between them is quite fine; if upset, even accidentally, some misfortune or even disaster will occur. Nature is balanced. It is in harmony, and only man can upset the balance. Of the many, many Navajo deities, only one, Changing Woman is constantly striving to enhance the good forces for the people. It was she who gave birth to the twins, Monster Slayer and Born of Water. These two heroes or war gods left evidence of their exploits that exist even today. The great lava flow near Grants, New Mexico, is the dried blood of a slain monster. Likewise, the formation southwest of Shiprock is the remains of a giant man-eating eagle. They and their mother succeeded in ridding Dinetah, the Navajo world, of all evil except old age, poverty, sickness, and death.
There is no supreme being in the Navajo religion. Among the most powerful are Changing Woman, the Twin War Gods (heroes), Sun (the husband of Changing Woman), Holy Man, Holy Woman, Holy Boy, Holy Girl. Also powerful, and appearing in sandpaintings, are the Earth, Moon, Thunder, Wind, and others. Yeis (generally lesser deities), both male and female respectively, along with animals, plants, and various forces in nature, are very important in the Navajo religion. They appear in many sandpaintings.
All of these deities are constantly in flux, causing good and evil. The goal is for these forces to be in balance, or hozho, a perfect state. This term can represent an amalgam or the concepts of blessed, holy, beautiful, balanced, without pain, etc.
Hozho is the desired balance but it is difficult to maintain because everything (person, plant, animal, stone, star, cloud, strike of lightning) has its Holy People. Anyone who angers any of these forces — an easy thing to do — creates disharmony and risks any one of several physical or mortal ills. In addition, many witches seek to harm individuals through their own ceremonies, which also use sandpaintings.
The everyday existence of the Navajo is filled with pitfalls that could easily anger a Holy Person and result in a loss of hozho. For example, killing a bear can cause arthritis, laughing at one can cause it to “get after you,” mountain sheep can cause ear and eye problems, killing a sand spider can cause baldness, watching a dog “go to the bathroom” can cause you to go crazy, killing snakes or lizards can cause your heart to dry up and your back to get crooked, yelling at a pregnant woman can cause the baby to be deaf, and so on; there are thousands of taboos and cures.
To cure the attendant illness caused by the imbaance, you first need a diagnosis by a hand trembler, a ndilniihii. Through prayer, concentration, and the use of sacred pollen, the practitioner’s hand will tremble and an analysis of these movements will pinpoint the cause of illness. This also identifies the “sing,” “chant,” or “way” needed to effect a cure. There are many ways to combat ills; Navajo religious beliefs provide for about 500 different sandpaintings derived from some 50 different Chants or Ways. There are, for example, nearly 100 sandpaintings within the Shooting Way or Shooting Chant alone.
Each chant or way is associated with one or more elements of the creation story. And each ill or imbalance is likewise associated with one of these chants. For example, the Bead Chant cures skin disease caused by thunder, lightning, or snakes, and the Night Chant cures nervous disorders among other ills.
These ceremonies are presided over and orchestrated by a full Medicine Man. A ceremony can last 2 days or be as long as 9 days. Involved are chants, songs, prayers, long lectures, dances, the use of sweat baths, herbs, emetics, prayer sticks, assorted fetishes, and, of course, sandpaintings. These ceremonies are expensive. The Medicine Man must be paid well, and the host must provide food and accommodations for friends and family who attend. Those who attend share in the blessing that accompanies the ceremony and assist in the chant, dances, and construction of the sandpainting. A 9-day Night Chant has been known to bankrupt a family.
When all the preliminary activities such as lectures, purifications, chants, etc., have been accomplished, the Medicine Man begins the sandpainting ritual, usually in the family hogan. All the pigments of color have been carefully gathered and prepared. The principal colors — white, blue, yellow, and black — are linked to the four sacred mountains as well as the directions. Red, often considered a sacred color, represents sunlight. As a note of interest, the four sacred mountains are Arizona’s San Francisco Peaks (west), Navajo Mountain in Utah (north), Mt. Blanco in Colorado (east) and Mt. Taylor in New Mexico (south).
The Navajo name for sandpainting, iikaah, translates to “place where gods come and go.” This name is appropriate because, if all activities are performed correctly and the patient believes in the cure, the sandpainting prepares the way for the forces or Holy People to intercede and restore hozho. The sandpainting is the final act to summon those forces. The patient sits in its center and faces the open door of the hogan, which always faces east. The Holy People being summoned will arrive and infuse the painting with their healing power, dispelling evil and restoring balance. The ceremony also shields against further threats of a similar nature that may be directed toward the patient, such as witchcraft.
The sandpainting can be quite small or as large as 20 feet, which means that several men and women would be needed to finish it in the allotted day. Most sandpaintings are between 6 and 8 feet. The Medicine Man or Singer is the director responsible for accuracy of color and design. For practical reasons, work begins in the center and works outward in a “sun-wise” pattern for religious reasons (east to south to west to north and back to east). Most sandpaintings have a protective garland around three sides to prevent evil from infusing the work from the north, west, or south. This is often a rainbow. The painting must face east for the Holy People’s entrance. In order to prevent evil from entering before the work is complete, spiritual guardians may be positioned to the east. There are many such guardians, including the beaver and otter, which gave their hides to Monster Slayer and Born of Water to prevent them from freezing on one of their journeys.
With the patient seated in the center of the sandpainting, the Singer takes items from his medicine bag and touches them to body parts of the Holy People in the sandpainting. He then touches corresponding parts of his body and then the patient’s body. Thus, the powers of the Holy People, properly orchestrated through the intermediary, are transmitted to the patient, restoring the hozho needed for the cure.
When the ritual is completed, the patient leaves the sandpainting and all the sands are swept away in a reverse order. The sand is then either buried outside or scattered to the four directions. Failure to destroy a sandpainting or attempting to reverse any part may bring blindness or death to the transgressor.
Not all sandpaintings are used to cure the ill. In fact, the heart of the Navajo Religion is the Blessing Way, which hozho to many things — a newborn child or a new home, planting, job, marriage, etc. Usually the sandpainting is small, and the ceremony covers a single day. These ceremonies do not always require the floor of a hogan; they be done on buckskin or cloth.
Sandpainting as Art
Hosteen Klah is credited with being the first Navajo to present a sandpainting picture in a permanent art form. He wove a “Whirling Logs” design from the Night Way Chant into a textile (rug). He and his two nieces wove approximately 70 pieces over an 18-year span. From this came many sketches, drawings, paintings, and later, books. Another Medicine Man, Miguelito (1865–1936), contributed greatly to books. Rest assured, these weavings and the drawings by famous and respected medicine men were altered to some degree to preclude any disrespect to the Holy People. (One blanket purchased in 1929 had 34 identifiable errors according to a noted anthropologist.)
The most often-seen sandpainting today is a reproduction on a piece of plywood or particle board. This evolved from the 1930s and was first seen in Gallup, New Mexico. Today the board is smoothed and covered with a thin but precise layer of glue. Colored sand or crushed rock is then placed on this layer. More glue is painted on and more sand is deposited. If the glue is too thick, the line or area will be lumpy; if too fine or thin, not enough sand will adhere and the painting will appear weak. To keep the glue from drying too fast, the artist works on only small areas at a time.
Although most artists use common household glue (thinned) as the base, many add one or more secret ingredients to satisfy their own requirements. Also, some artists use different rocks or pigments to achieve various colors. Some use commercially colored sands. Part of the skill involved in creating a high-quality sandpainting is the technique of dispensing the sand onto the glue base. Most artists take a small amount of sand in the palm of their hand, below the second finger. They trickle the sand off the index finger, guiding and regulating it using the thumb. The flow must be uniform or the line on the sandpainting will be uneven. Some sandpainters sketch first, and then work in pencil; others work only by eye.
As demand for an item increases beyond production capability, new production techniques are developed. Some sandpainters now use a series of copper templates to speed their work. Certain symbols, lines, and patters are cut out of copper. These templates are placed on the board and used to quickly apply glue in the proper location. Often, they are also to apply sand. Templates are used often in the more “commercial” grade of sandpaintings.
Another item, the air brush, has become popular with sand painters. It allows for the rapid creation of a multi-hued background. This technique does not lessen amount of work required for the background; it simply adds an artistic dimension. And, what is sandpainting, after all, but an art?
The Evolution and Influence of Sandpainting Art
Sandpainting as an art was first seen in tapestries and later in paintings and drawings. These forms still exist. As weavings, very few Navajos will attempt a sandpainting; they are extremely difficult to do well and require a long time to finish the final tapestry. Those who undertake this task can — and do — command a high premium.
The Navajo Yei rug, first woven with great controversy near the turn of the century, quickly became popular because of its resale success. It is still popular, a “must” for any weaving collector. It is not uncommon to see Yei weavings blended with other regional rug patterns.
Artists frequently employ one or more figures from a sandpainting in their contemporary work. Noted Navajo artist Harrison Begay frequently used one or more guardians in his paintings as early as the late 1930s. Justin Tso, Jack Lee, Benson Halwood, and many others do also.
Sandpainting figures also appear in many Pueblo pottery designs. Hopi Kachinas are used most often, but the use of Navajo Yei figures has also increased.
Sandpainting has undergone some great changes. At first, paintings incorporated the more common Yei figures and occasionally a corn plant. Then they evolved to render simplified Chants or Ways — the Whirling Logs, Big Thunder from the Shooting Chant, Coyote Stealing Fire, etc. Now we see renderings or realist and impressionist movements, as well as pictures of Shiprock, fetish bears, and pottery depictions, among others. Generally the work is not complex, but it is pleasing and represents a strong art movement.
Over a period of several years, various competitions began to recognize sandpainting as an art form. As more and more museum shows, fairs, ceremonials, etc. began to award prizes based on quality and innovation, these works increased in quality, quantity, and innovation. Today, we see in exquisite detail, pure traditional sandpainting designs. Also, several artists blend two or more sandpainting designs, or elements, together. Among the best of these groups are Rosabelle Ben and Fred Geary. Other master artists such as Eugene Baatsoslanii Joe, Bobbie Johnson (d.), J.M. Cambridge, Keith Silversmith, H.R. (War Eagle) Begay, and Gracie Dick use a blend of tradition, impression, and realism to achieve one-of-a-kind expressions that rival, in expression and in quality, any great art.
As a last note, sandpainting designs now appear in sterling and gold-cast jewelry, which is popular and selling well. It is easy to see that the core of Navajo life — the religion and its expression in the sandpaintings — has influenced all forms of Navajo art. Its influence is expected to continue.