Monday
13
United Kingdom
The First Official United States Flag: This 13-Star Flag became the Official United States Flag
on June14th, 1777 and is the result of the congressional action that took place on that date.
Much evidence exists pointing to Congressman Francis Hopkinson as the person responsible for
its design. The only President to serve under this flag was George Washington (1789-1797). This
Flag was to last for a period of 18 years. Each star and stripe represented a Colony of which
there were thirteen, united nearly one year earlier by the Declaration of Independence. The
thirteen Colonies are listed below with the date that each ratified the Constitution and became a
State.
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(1st) Delaware December 7th, 1787
(2nd) Pennsylvania December 12th,1787
(3rd) New Jersey December18th, 1787
(4th) Georgia January 2nd, 1788
(5th) Connecticut January 9th, 1788
(6th) Massachusetts February 6th, 1788
(7th) Maryland April 28th, 1788
(8th) South Carolina May 23rd, 1788
(9th) New Hampshire June 21st, 1788
(10th) Virginia June 25th, 1788
(11th) New York July 25th, 1788
(12th) North Carolina November 21st, 1789
(13th) Rhode Island May 29th, 1790
Olympic History: The 1908 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the IV Olympiad, were
celebrated in 1908 in London. These games were originally scheduled to be held in Rome. At the
time they were the fifth modern Olympic games. However, the Athens Games of 1906 have since
been downgraded by the International Olympic Committee and the 1908 Games are seen as the
start of the Fourth Olympiad, in keeping with the now-accepted four-year cycle.
Italian authorities were preparing to hold the games when Mount Vesuvius erupted on April 7,
1906, devastating Naples. Funds were diverted to the reconstruction of Naples, so a new venue
was required. London was selected, and the games were held in White City alongside the FrancoBritish Exhibition, at the time the more noteworthy event. Berlin and Milan were other
candidates.
The distance from the start of the Marathon to the finish at the stadium was established at this
games; 42.195km (26 miles 385 yards). The start line was moved to allow the Royal Family a
good view.
The games were surrounded by controversy. On opening day, following the practice introduced
at the Intercalated Games of 1906, teams paraded behind national flags. However, the
arrangement caused complications:
The Finnish team were expected to march under the Russian rather than Finnish flag, so
many chose to march without a flag at all.
The Swedish flag had not been displayed above the stadium, so the members of the
Swedish team decided not to take part in the ceremony.
The United States flag had also not been displayed above the stadium before the
opening so the United States' flag bearer refused to dip the flag to the royal box. Though the
flag was later dipped in the collective greeting of the royal family, Martin Sheridan, American
team captain, explained that "This flag dips to no earthly king." Despite international customs
that encourage dipping the flag in respect to heads of state, since 1908 US flag bearers have
not done so.
The 1908 Olympics also prompted establishment of standard rules for sports, and selection of
judges from different countries rather than just the host. One reason was the 400 metre run in
which the US winner was accused of interfering with the British runner. Part of the problem was
the different definition of interference under British and US rules. The race was re-run, but the
Americans refused to participate. The British runner, Wyndham Halswelle, won by running
around the track on his own because three of the four original runners had been American.
Tuesday
15
Sweden
The Star Spangled Banner: Guarding the entrance to Baltimore harbor via the Patapsco River
during the War of 1812, Fort McHenry faced almost certain attack by British forces. Major George
Armistead, the stronghold's commander, was ready to defend the fort, but he wanted a flag that
would identify his position, and one whose size would be visible to the enemy from a distance.
Determined to supply such a flag, a committee of high-ranking officers called on Mary Young
Pickersgill, a Baltimore widow who had had experience making ship flags, and explained that
they wanted a United States flag that measured 30 feet by 42 feet. She agreed to the job.
With the help of her 13-year-old daughter, Caroline, Mrs. Pickersgill spent several weeks
measuring, cutting, and sewing the 15 stars and stripes. When the time came to sew the
elements of the flag together, they realized that their house was not large enough. Mrs.
Pickersgill thus asked and received permission from the owner of nearby Claggett's brewery to
assemble the flag on the building's floor during evening hours. Once completed, the flag was
delivered to the committee, and Mrs. Pickersgill was paid $405.90. In August 1813, it was
presented to Major Armistead.
After capturing Washington, D.C., and burning some of its public buildings, the British headed for
Baltimore. On the morning of September 13, 1814, British bomb ships began hurling hightrajectory shells toward Fort McHenry from positions beyond the reach of the fort's guns.
Anxiously awaiting news of the battle's outcome was a Washington, D.C., lawyer named Francis
Scott Key. Key had visited the enemy's fleet to secure the release of a Maryland doctor, who had
been abducted by the British after they left Washington. During the night, there had been only
occasional sounds of the fort's guns returning fire. At dawn, the British bombardment tapered
off. Had the fort been captured? Placing a telescope to his eye, Key trained it on the fort's
flagpole. There he saw the large garrison flag catch the morning breeze. It had been raised as a
gesture of defiance, replacing the wet storm flag that had flown through the night.
Thrilled by the sight of the flag and the knowledge that the fort had not fallen, Key took a letter
from his pocket, and began to write some verses on the back of it. Later, after the British fleet
had withdrawn, Key checked into a Baltimore hotel, and completed his poem on the defense of
Fort McHenry. He then sent it to a printer for duplication on handbills, and within a few days the
poem was put to the music of an old English song. Both the new song and the flag became
known as "The Star-Spangled Banner."
Olympic History: The 1912 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the V
Olympiad, were celebrated in 1912 in Stockholm, Sweden. For the first time, competitors in the
Games came from all five continents symbolized in the Olympic rings. Also for the first time since
1896, all athletic events were held within a reasonably short time span of about one month, from
late June to late July (though the opening ceremony was still held much earlier). It was the last
time that solid gold medals were awarded; modern medals are usually gold plated silver. The
main arena was Stockholms Olympiastadion.
A winter sports week for the 1912 Games featuring figure skating was rejected by organizers
because they wanted to promote the Nordic Games, a quadrennial sporting event, instead.
Other noteworthy items:
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American Jim Thorpe won the pentathlon and the newly created decathlon. He was
disqualified because of violation of the principles of amateurism, but was reinstated in
1982.
Future World War II General George S. Patton took part in the first modern pentathlon
competition. Modern pentathlon was the idea of Pierre de Coubertin.
Swedish marksman Oscar Swahn became the oldest Olympic gold medalist (up to that
time), at the age of 64, in the deer-shooting event.
Women's events in swimming and diving were introduced.
In athletics, electronic timing devices were first used.
This was the last Olympics where "private entries" were allowed (ie not part of a
country's officially selected team). Arnold Jackson was one such, winning the 1500m by
0.1 second, ahead of an American trio, who were strong favourites, in what was
acclaimed at the time as "the greatest race ever run". Aged 21, he remains the youngest
ever winner of this event.
For the first time, Serbian athletes took part. They were the representatives of Kingdom
of Serbia and were sent by the Serbian Olympic Club: sprinter Dušan Milošević, who
ranked third in the 100 m qualification group and marathon runner Dragutin Tomašević,
who finished in 37th position.
Ewart Douglas Horsfall won his first two gold medals for Great Britain in rowing. He has
widely been considered Britain's greatest rower prior to Steve Redgrave.
1912 saw the first art competitions at the Olympic Games, a tradition that was to be kept
up until 1948. The American Walter Winans became the only person ever to win Olympic
medals both in an athletic competition (a silver medal in shooting) and in an art
competition (a gold medal in sculpture).
Wednesday
35
Germany
Act of April 4, 1818 - provided for 13 stripes and one star for each state, to be added to the flag
on the 4th of July following the admission of each new state, signed by President Monroe.
The 35-Star Flag: This Flag became the Official United States Flag on July 4th, 1863 (the last
day of the Battle of Gettysburg). A star was added for the admission of West Virginia (June 20th,
1863) and was to last for 2 years. The two Presidents to serve under this flag were Abraham
Lincoln (1861-1865) and Andrew Johnson (1865-1869).
Cavalry Guidon: This flag was carried into battle by Union Cavalry units and was the standard
Cavalry guidon of the late and post-Civil War era.
Olympic History: The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX
Olympiad, were celebrated in Munich, in what was then West Germany, from 26 August to 11
September 1972. Munich won its Olympic bid in April 1966 over the cities of Detroit, Madrid and
Montreal.
The 1972 Summer Olympics were the second Summer Olympics held in Germany, after the 1936
Summer Olympics in Berlin. The Munich Olympics were intended to present a new, democratic
and optimistic Germany to the world, as shown by its official motto, "the Happy Games". The
emblem of the Games was a blue solar logo (the "Bright Sun"). The Olympic mascot, the
dachshund "Waldi", was the first officially named Olympic mascot. The games also saw the
introduction of the now universal sports pictograms designed by Otl Aicher.
Other Notes:
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Archery was re-introduced to the Olympics for the first time since 1920.
Mark Spitz, a swimmer from the United States, set a world record when he won seven
gold medals (while on the way to setting a new world record for each of his seven gold
medals) in a single Olympics, bringing his lifetime total to nine (he had won two golds in
Mexico City's Games four years earlier). Being Jewish, Spitz was forced to leave Munich
before the closing ceremonies for his own protection, after fears arose that he would be
an additional target of those responsible for the Munich massacre.
Olga Korbut, a tiny Soviet gymnast, became a media star after winning a gold medal in
the team competition event, failing to win in the individual all-around after a fall (she was
beaten by Lyudmilla Turischeva), and finally winning two gold medals in the Balance
Beam and the floor exercise events.
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In the controversial gold medal basketball game, the United States' Olympic basketball
winning streak, which started in 1936, was ended by the Soviet team's victory in the gold
medal game, which USA Basketball calls "the most controversial game in international
basketball history". Doug Collins made two free throws with three seconds left to give
the USA a 50-49 lead, despite the horn going off in the middle of his second attempt.
The Soviets failed to score on the ensuing possession, but the clock was stopped at 0:01
after one official heard the earlier horn and the Soviets were frantically urging time-out.
The clock had to be reset to three seconds but it was showing 0:50 when play began
again. Again, the Soviets failed to score, time apparently expired, and the United States
began celebrating, with ABC displaying the 50-49 margin as "final". However, after the
vehement protests of FIBA secretary general R. William Jones of Great Britain, the
referees added three seconds back to the clock due to error in re-starting the clock.
Jones had no authority to intervene during a game, but his reputation was such that the
officials dared not disobey him. The extra three seconds allowed the Soviet Union to
have one more chance. The Soviets threw the ball downcourt, and Aleksandr Belov made
a lay-up as time expired for the final margin of 51-50. A U.S. protest, filed after the
match, was denied by FIBA, which voted 3-2 against the protest along Cold War lines
(Italy and Puerto Rico voted in favor; Hungary, Poland, and Cuba voted against) and
award the gold medal to the Soviets. The U.S. team voted unanimously to refuse the
silver medal, and to this day still have not accepted them. They remain in a vault in
Lausanne, Switzerland. USA team captain Kenny Davis even has written in his will that
his wife and children can never accept the silver medal. The end of the USA-USSR gold
medal game remains one of the most controversial events in Olympic history and has
been the subject of numerous film and television specials, including HBO's documentary
0:03 Seconds from Gold.
Thursday
48
Republic of Korea
The 48 Star Flag: On July 4,1912, the U.S. flag grew to 48 stars with the addition of New
Mexico (January 6th, 1912) and Arizona (February 14, 1912) Executive Order of President Taft
dated June 24, 1912 - established the proportions of the flag and provided for arrangement of
the stars in six horizontal rows of eight each, a single point of each star to be upward. This flag
was official for 47 years, longer than any other flag (save one), through two World Wars and the
emergence of the United States of America as the leading nation of the world. Eight Presidents
served under this flag; William H. Taft (1909-1913), Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921), Warren
Harding (1921-1923), Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929), Herbert Hoover (1929-1933), Franklin D.
Roosevelt (1933-1945), Harry S. Truman (1945-1953), Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961).
Olympic History: Four events were contested in archery at the 1988 Summer Olympics in
Seoul. These events included team competitions for the first time in modern Olympic archery.
Men's and women's individual competitions continued to be part of the schedule as well.
The format for the individual competition was altered for the first time since the 1972 Summer
Olympics. In Seoul, instead of all archers using the double FITA round to determine rankings, a
sort of elimination plan was introduced. Each archer shot a single FITA round to determine initial
rankings. Most archers were cut from the competition after this, with only 24 advancing. These
archers then shot one-fourth the number of arrows normal for a FITA round, with these scores
being used to drop more archers. This process was repeated until only 8 archers finished the
fourth segment of the second round.
The US Team won the Men’s Individual Gold, Men’s Team Silver and Women’s Team Bronze
medals.
Friday
50
Australia
50-Star Flag: Executive Order of President Eisenhower dated August 21, 1959 - provided for
the arrangement of the stars in nine rows of stars staggered horizon tally and eleven rows of
stars staggered vertically. This is the current flag of the United States. Hawaii was admitted as
the 50th state on August 21st, 1959. The 27th flag of the United States became the official flag
on July 4th, 1960. Nine presidents have served under this flag; Dwight D. Eisenhower (19531961), John F. Kennedy (1961-1963), Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969), Richard M. Nixon (19691974), Gerald R. Ford (1974-1977), Jimmy Carter (1977-1981), Ronald W. Reagan (1981-1989),
George Bush (1989-1993), William J. Clinton (1993-2001) and George W. Bush (2001-present).
This flag will have, as of July 4th this year, flown longer than any other U.S. Flag.
Olympic History: This was the first Olympics “down under” in Sydney. Archery at the 2000
Summer Olympics in Sydney consisted of four events.
All archery at the 2000 Olympics was done from a range of 70 meters. The target's total diameter
was 122 cm. An archer had 40 seconds to shoot each arrow. 64 archers in each gender took part
in the Olympics, with each National Olympic Committee being able to enter a maximum of three
archers. Each archer shot 12 ends, or groups, of 6 arrows per end in the ranking round. The
score from that round determined the match-ups in the elimination rounds, with high-ranking
archers facing low-ranking archers. There were three rounds of elimination that used six ends of
three arrows, narrowing the field of archers to 32, then to 16, then to 8. The three final rounds
(quarterfinals, semifinals, and medal matches) each used four ends of three arrows. The home
team emerged as a dominant force in archery for the first time, let by their coach Ki Sik Lee.
Coach Lee has a new challenge this summer as the Head Coach of the USA Archery Team going
into the Bejing Olympics. There is hope that his leadership will produce a return of the US Team
to the top of international archery.
The US Team won the Men’s Individual Silver and Men’s Team Bronze medals.