Have you heard about these alternate Olympic Games? | #215
+ a hundred QoTDs 🥳
Hello friends
If you stayed up late to watch athletes from all around the world on boats sail across the Seine last night, you truly have Olympics fever. This year India is fielding a strong 110+member squad. One of its members - Neeraj Chopra will walk as no Indian has walked before - as a defending Olympic and World Champion in his sport. Writing that line has given us goosebumps.
In the past, there have been other alternate Olympics - some to shine a spotlight on a cause and some making light of situations. This week, we take a look at ‘other’ Olympics and interesting stories from it.
Things we learnt this week 🤓
One of the sponsors of the 2012 London Olympics was Dow Chemicals - the parent company of Union Carbide. As you probably know, Union Carbide was responsible for the Bhopal Gas Tragedy in 1984. To shine a spotlight on this, there was a ‘Special Olympics’ organized in Arif Nagar stadium in Bhopal featuring children who had birth defects that could be attributed to their parents exposure to the gas. The games began with a parade of children with cerebral palsy and partial paralysis in wheelchairs around a rundown stadium near the pesticide plant. Events included a crab race, wheelchair races, and a 25-meter assisted walking sprint. Dow on their part claims that they have no connection to the Gas Leak as when the leak happened Union Carbide was a separate entity. Maybe they hadn’t heard of this commandment - Dow shalt not acquire criminal companies!
Remember when few years ago a ship named the Ever Given had blocked the Suez Canal and the world lost their collective minds? The canal was blocked for a mere six days which is pales in comparison to the fate of 14 ships in the Suez in 1967. Essentially, Israel captured the Sinai peninsula. Egypt responded by trying to cripple the Israeli economy by blocking the Suez Canal. They did it with sunken ships and mines. Fourteen unlucky ships were trapped there for 8 years! The 14 ships got together and set aside geographical differences to form a ‘Yellow Fleet’. During the 1968 Tokyo Olympics, they hosted the “Bitter Lake Mini-Olympics,” with competitions in weightlifting, water polo, air rifle shooting, high jumping, and, of course, swimming. (Poland won the gold.). The Suez was the canal of duty.
Question: What are the 3 largest sporting events in the world by number of competitors? The third will surprise you!
Answer: The Olympics, FIFA World Cup and the Maccabiah Games.
Wait wut?
Yup! The Maccabiah Games sometimes referred to as the Jewish Olympics was first held in 1932, and is an international Jewish and Israeli multi-sport event held in Israel. Here’s a great story about the 2015 European edition.
In 1936 Berlin hosted the Olympic Games under Hitler’s rule. Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals including in the 4x100 relay, in which he was originally not supposed to compete. Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller were originally named in the American relay team but were replaced by Owens and Ralph Metcalfe prior to the start of the race (possibly) because Glickman and Stoller were Jewish. In 2015 when Berlin hosted the European Maccabiah Games, the organizers invited Nancy Glickman, the daughter of Marty Glickman to light the flame during the opening ceremony. She also wore her father's 1936 vest as she ignited the cauldron.
From IWTK, with love 💌
Our 100th Question of The Day series. Which song was first seen in a Telugu film, then a Hindi film before being used in a Netflix show?
Which real life “battle” inspired this scene from Panchayat?
Only In India 🇮🇳
The new Into the Spider-Verse storyline is kinda strange.
<3 IWTK