DailyDirt: Olympic Trivia

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Wed, Aug 1st 2012 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Just in case you haven't gotten enough information on the Olympics, there are a ton of stories digging up random trivia about the games. (Or maybe you think everyone should be more interested in a robot on Mars.) But if you're looking for some bits of Olympic trivia, here are just a few examples.

The oldest athlete at the 2012 Olympics is Hiroshi Hoketsu at age 71. He competes as an equestrian rider, but isn't the oldest Olympian ever. Oscar Swahn from Sweden won a medal in shooting at the 1920 games at the age of 72. [url]
The shuttlecocks in Badminton can reach speeds of over 300 miles per hour. Strangely, the best shuttlecocks are made from goose feathers -- plucked only from the left wing of the bird, for no particular good reason. [url]
Guor Marial competes in the Olympics ... as an independent (representing no country). Wouldn't it be interesting if all the athletes were given the option to compete without representing a nation? Marial's unique status comes from being a South Sudan native, but not wanting to represent the nation that killed his family. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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Filed Under: badminton, guor marial, hiroshi hoketsu, olympics, oscar swahn, shuttlecocks, trivia

11 Comments

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gnudist, 1 Aug 2012 @ 5:01pm

All that effort and Hiroshi still can't keep those damn kids off his lawn.
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mudlock (profile), 1 Aug 2012 @ 5:11pm

Sinister Shuttlecocks
I'd imagine that you'd only want the feathers from one side so that they all curve the same way, making the shuttlecock spin smoothly.

Left is probably just a convention, like which side of the road to drive on.
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Wally (profile), 1 Aug 2012 @ 5:49pm

"The shuttlecocks in Badminton can reach speeds of over 300 miles per hour. Strangely, the best shuttlecocks are made from goose feathers -- plucked only from the left wing of the bird, for no particular good reason."

Well, I think that the reason I can logically think of using the feathers of the left wing only is so that the shuttlecock spins in one direction so it can be aimed straight like a riffle bullet or spun like an American Football ball.
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Jay (profile), 1 Aug 2012 @ 5:51pm

Re: Sinister Shuttlecocks
It might be interesting to see if there are any studies where using shuttlecocks with feathers from the right wing throw off someone used to using ones from the left wing. Like, they spin differently enough to throw your aim off slightly.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Aug 2012 @ 6:03pm

Re: Sinister Shuttlecocks
How can you use the feathers that aren't left?

If there aren't any feathers left, you don't get any...

Am I right?
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Aug 2012 @ 7:09pm

Olympics?
I just spent over 30 minutes reading about the Mars super-rover (Curiosity), more about the Higgs Boson, and more. What do I need the Olympics for?
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Aug 2012 @ 7:10pm

Re: Olympics?
You missed the cardboard bicycle :)

http://player.vimeo.com/video/37584656
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Wally (profile), 1 Aug 2012 @ 8:08pm

Re: Re: Sinister Shuttlecocks
Perhaps it depends on which henisphere you're on. I know that the water in your toilet drains opposite in the northern than it does from the southern due to the Earth's rotation.
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Pixelation, 1 Aug 2012 @ 10:15pm

"the best shuttlecocks are made from goose feathers -- plucked only from the left wing of the bird"

It's obvious that right wingers don't make good shuttlecocks...
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ethorad (profile), 2 Aug 2012 @ 5:32am

Clarifications:
Badminton shuttlecocks can reach up to 300mph

Granted they can, but not if you play for China, South Korea or Indonesia who play a much more leisurely game ... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badminton_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics#Women.27s_doubles_disqualificati ons)

Guor Marial's unique position as an independent

He's not that unique - there are four at the 2012 olympics, three from the Dutch Antilles which has been dissolved and thus has no Olympic Committee, and one (Guor) from South Sudan who has yet to form an Olympic Committee. This has happened in the past with East Timor in 2000 and Yugoslavia in 1992 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Olympic_Athletes_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics)
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Aug 2012 @ 2:30pm

You said shuttlecocks. Huh-huh-huh!
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