Games and Rings
  • A Blog for Olympic Sports Fans

On This Date, December 12: The First Table Tennis Organization

12/12/2014

 
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It's easy to think of table tennis as an 'Asian' sport - today's Chinese and East Asian dominance, combined with a lasting image of Nixon's ping-pong diplomacy have perhaps cemented that notion in collective heads.

But the sport has a decidedly aristocratic English heritage.  Developed as a table version of, well, tennis, it gained popularity amongst the upper crust in the 1880's as an after-dinner leisure. It was so popular that three different names were patented for game set sales - Gossima, Whiff-Whaff, and Ping Pong by the turn of the century.

But the first step toward real competition and organization came on this date in 1901, with The Table Tennis Association forming in England. This is also the year that the celluloid ball was first used, as well as the game first being introduced into China through western settlements there. And, a competing 'Ping Pong Association' was formed. 'The Table Tennis Association' survived a merger with PPA, name changes, and waning popularity to resettle in the early 1920's as the English Table Tennis Association, leading to the International Table Tennis Federation launching in 1926 along with the first world championships, appropriately in London.

Today, the game counts as many as 30 million players, and is relatively played the same way as back in 1901, save some advancements in paddles. And, it's been played in the Olympics since 1988. (What took them so long??) What would those early game developers think today?

Athlete Spotlight: Alia Atkinson

12/8/2014

 
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She sure has been around for a while - having competed at the Olympics in 2004, 2008, and 2012, but she just now may be receiving some hard-earned respect after Alia Atkinson won the breaststroke 100meter short course world championship over the weekend.

With this win, she became the first black woman to win a world or Olympic title in swimming. And that means something. As she says herself, "hopefully, my face will come out, there will be more popularity, especially in Jamaica and the Caribbean, and we'll see more of a rise, and hopefully in the future we will see a push."

And, oh, by the way, that's the first gold in swimming for Jamaica ever - for men or women - in Worlds' history. So, the era is ripe for a lot of kids to be inspired to look at swimming with renewed interest. I'm always a fan of winners from unexpected places, and getting under-represented regions more involved and integrated in sport. Atkinson has some staying power through at least 2016. Having finished just out of the medals in fourth at the same event in London 2012, she is on the right trend. And, at only 25 years, she should should have lots more opportunities to showcase herself and the sport. Here's hoping.

The Global Sport of Squash

12/7/2014

 
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Congrats to the English ladies of squash, winning the world team championship this weekend. From all reports, sounds like a fun and competitive tournament over the last few days.

But from the sidelines in front of my laptop, I'm again struck by the global nature of the sport - how widespread it is played, and how popular it is in different corners. These past worlds, for example, featured not only England but women's teams from a diverse group of nations as Malaysia, Egypt, Guatemala, and Colombia - in addition to cross-sport competitive stalwarts as the U.S., Australia, and Germany. Beyond that, the current top-ranked women's player is from Malaysia, and the top 20 features players from India, Guyana, Hong Kong, and Ireland. The men's side is equally diverse with Egypt, France, Spain, Switzerland, and Colombia represented.

Why is this sport not in the Olympics yet? With such a diverse range of nations participating, and a long history of official competition, this sure feels like a fit. Sure, the World Squash Federation has bid for inclusion consistently, and will again, but it's an indictment on the Olympic Committee that it hasn't pulled the trigger yet. With Thomas Bach's recent hints at possibly accepting more sports in future Games, there should be hope. What fun it would be to see smaller countries - like Egypt and Malaysia - have some real competitive exposure on that stage. I, for one, am rooting for them.

On This Date, December 04: The Stella Walsh 'Question' Solved

12/4/2014

 
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On this date in 1980, Olympic champion sprinter Stella Walsh was shot and killed during a robbery, while shopping at a local Cleveland store. The resulting autopsy turned what had been a post-competitive quiet life into a posthumous public examination of past whispers and gender definitions.

Walsh, born Stanislawa Walasiewicz in 1911 Poland, moved to the States as an infant and grew up in Cleveland. As a teen, she became an active athlete, and - not eligible for U.S. citizenship, represented Poland at the 1930 Women's World Games. She continued her Polish representation at the 1932 and 1936 Olympics, winning 100 meters gold and silver, respectively (while also competing in the discus in 1932) and becoming a national hero. She eventually settled back in Cleveland, and finally earned U.S. citizenship, and continued racing into the 50's, winning a national title in 1951 at age 40. For her efforts, she had also been recognized as an American sports hero, being inducted into the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1975. Eventually, she had set over 100 national or world records during her career.

But throughout her career, she was often criticized as being 'manly'. So, when a routine autopsy after her death revealed that she actually did have male genitalia, the sporting world pounced. Walsh had been raised - and ostensibly always had lived as - female, but had a condition of underdeveloped genitalia of both sexes.

There have been calls for her name to be stricken from the books, but she carried a birth certificate indicating female, and there were no sex-identification tests when she competed. So, her career stands. But the larger issues her examination raised are still there today - how to 'test' female athletes for masculinity, and how to do that sensitively, if at all. Some female athletes may have unusual but completely natural-causing male characteristics. As the recent cases of Caster Semenya and Dutee Chand prove, sport hasn't quite solved the problem yet, let alone tactfully. Somewhat luckily for Walsh, the harsh spotlight of modern medicine wasn't available to officials when she competed, and her records hold. Perhaps one day in a more enlightened future, she will be more remembered as a positive forbearer, for taking advantage of her natural physical attributes. That will be a lasting legacy to hold.

On This Date, December 03: Japan's Judo Streak Ends

12/3/2014

 
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​Judo was created as a modern martial art in Japan in 1882, and Japan dominated the progression and success of the sport through the initial World Judo Championships in 1956. At the third Worlds, the competition not only was held outside Japan but  - on this date in 1961 - the sport had its first non-Japanese world champion in the Netherlands' Anton Geesink.

He not only repeated his win at the 1965 Worlds, but also was the lone non-Japanese judo gold medalist at the 1964 Olympics - which must have been a bitter result for the Tokyo home crowd.

Geesink quit competition in 1967, after a career in which he earned seven European titles (and two third-places), in addition to the two World titles and the Olympic gold. In 1987, he became a member of the International Olympic Committee, and in 1997 earned an honorary doctorate from Kokushikan University, renown for its success and reverence for judo.

To date, Japan's still the top nation in the sport, with 287 total medals at the Worlds (France is far behind in second with 145). But Geesink's legacy reverberates still - the Netherlands has a respectable 7th all-time place in medals at Worlds (with 75), and the same at the Olympics (seven). An imposing man at 6'6", Geesink obviously still looms large in the sport.

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