Oscar Wilde

 Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish writer, poet, and prominent aesthete. His parents were successful Dublin intellectuals, and from an early age he was tutored at home, where he showed his intelligence, becoming fluent in French and German. He attended boarding school for six years, then matriculated to university at seventeen years old. Reading Greats, Wilde proved himself to be an outstanding classicist, first at Dublin, then at Oxford. After university, Wilde moved around trying his hand at various literary activities: he published a book of poems and toured America lecturing extensively on aestheticism. He then returned to London, where he worked prolifically as a journalist for four years. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress, and glittering conversation, Wilde was one of the most well-known personalities of his day. He next produced a series of dialogues and essays that developed his ideas about the supremacy of art. However, it was his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray – still widely read – that brought him more lasting recognition. He became one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era in London with a series of social satires which continue to be performed, especially his masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest.

At the height of his fame and success, Wilde suffered a dramatic downfall in a sensational series of trials. He sued his lover's father for libel, though the case was dropped at trial. After two subsequent trials, Wilde was imprisoned for two years' hard labour, having been convicted of "gross indecency" with other men. In prison he wrote De Profundis, a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. Upon his release he left immediately for France, never to return to Ireland or Britain. There he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, a long, terse poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life. He died destitute in Paris at the age of forty-six.

Links: http://www.celtic-weddingrings.com/blog/index.php/2012/01/08/oscar-wilde-irish-author/
http://www.online-literature.com/wilde/
http://www.cmgww.com/historic/wilde/bio1.htm

Olympic Diving

Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport thet is part of the Olympic Games.

Olympic history

Diving was included in the Olympic Games for the first time at the 1904 Games in St Louis. The springboard and platform events have been included since the 1908 Olympic Games in London. Since the Stockholm Games in 1912, women have taken part in the diving events.

The first Olympic competitions differed from those which exist nowadays, notably with respect to the height of the platforms and springboards. The diving programme has been relatively stable since the 1928 Games in Amsterdam: men and women take part in 10-metre high-dive and 3-metre springboard events. In 2000, the Sydney Games witnessed the entrance of synchronised diving on both the springboard and the platform.

This discipline was firstly dominated by the USA. This domination started to waiver with the participation of China at the end of the 1980s. When the American Greg Louganis, who is considered as the greatest diver ever, was still in competition, the Chinese managed to achieve some victories. Since Louganis retired, China has dominated the men’s events. Lately, China’s women divers have proved themselves unbeatable. .

One of four disciplines

Diving, along with swimming, synchronised swimming and water polo, is one of the four disciplines governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA).

Links: http://www.olympic.org/diving-equipment-and-history?tab=History 

http://www.london2012.com/diving

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving

Olympic Swimming.

Olympic Swimming, past and present

At the first few modern Olympic Games, Swimming events were held in open water. At Paris in 1900, for instance, they took place in the River Seine. However, the rules were formalised in 1908, when the London Games staged the first Olympic Swimming competition to be held in a pool.
Other than the Marathon Swimming 10km event, held in the Serpentine within Hyde Park, the Swimming competition will take place in the dazzling Aquatics Centre, built in the Olympic Park especially for London 2012.

The basics

There are four strokes used in Olympic competition: Freestyle (essentially, front crawl), Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly. All four strokes feature in the Individual Medley and Medley Relay events.
Olympic races are conducted over a variety of distances, from 50m (one length of the pool) all the way up to 1500m. All the pool events begin with heats, with the best swimmers from the qualifying rounds eventually racing for gold in the final.

Medal Winners Swimming:  http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/4672010/

• Olympic sports
  • Archery
  • Athletics
  • Badminton
  • Basketball
  • Beach Volleyball
  • Boxing
  • Canoe Slalom
  • Canoe Sprint
  • Cycling – BMX
  • Cycling – Mountain Bike
  • Cycling – Road
  • Cycling – Track
  • Diving
  • Equestrian – Dressage
  • Equestrian – Eventing
  • Equestrian – Jumping
  • Fencing
  • Football
  • Gymnastics – Artistic
  • Gymnastics – Rhythmic
  • Gymnastics – Trampoline
  • Handball
  • Hockey
  • Judo
  • Modern Pentathlon
  • Rowing
  • Sailing
  • Shooting
  • Swimming
  • Synchronised Swimming
  • Table Tennis
  • Taekwondo
  • Tennis
  • Triathlon
  • Volleyball
  • Water Polo
  • Weightlifting
  • Wrestling
  
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Olympic and Paralympic Values

It takes more than being an exceptional sportsman or woman to become part of the Olympics or Paralympics. This is why both games come with a set of core values which encompass what these competitions are all about proving that sport even at this level, is not just about your ability.

The Olympic Values are

• respect – fair play; knowing one’s own limits; and taking care of one’s health and the environment
• excellence – how to give the best of oneself, on the field of play or in life; taking part; and progressing according to one’s own objectives
• friendship – how, through sport, to understand each other despite any differences

The Paralympics

The Paralympic games began life as a sports competition involving World War II veterans, with serious back injuries, in Stoke Mandeville, England. Following this initial competition, international attention grew as competitors from overseas, beginning with athletes from The Netherlands, added strength to the idea until the first official Olympic style games for athletes with a disability were organised in Rome in 1960. It was not until Toronto 1976, however, that other disability groups were added along with a broader spectrum of disciplines. It was here that the picture that is the modern Paralympic games began to emerge alongside the first Paralympic Winter Games which took place in Sweden on the same year.

The Paralympic Values are based on the history of the Paralympic Games and the tradition of fair play and honourable sports competition. Some say that in this particular competition the values are even more important than in any other.

The Paralympic Values are:

• Determination – the drive and motivation to overcome both physical and mental barriers in order to achieve your goals.
• Courage – having the self-belief and confidence to overcome adversity and face difficulty.
• Equality – showing respect and humility towards all those around you in the spirit of fair play.
• Inspiration – to be motivated by the achievements and actions of others and to be a positive example to others.

The Olympic Games.

The Olympic Games are one of the most spectacular reminders of the debt we owe to the Greeks.
The original Olympic Games were held every four years in honour of Zeus, the supreme god of Greek religion. The first record of the games dates from 776 B.C., but it is certain that they existed prior to that. They were held continuously for over 1.000 years until they were abolished in the reign of King Theodosius about 392 A.D. The Olympic festival was a great unifying bond between the Independent city-states of Greece.
The important sports in the original Olympic Games were running, jumping, wrestling, throwing the discus and throwing the javelin. Only men competed and they wore no clothes in order to have greater freedom of movement. Each competitor had to take the Olympic Oath - a promise to behave in a sportsman-like fashion.
The modern Olympic era began in 1894 when Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin decided to revive the ancient Greek tradition of celebrating health, youth and peace with a sports festival. Baron de Coubertin created the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the first modem Olympiad took place in Athens in 1896. Since then the Olympic Games have been held every four years with only two exceptions because of the two world wars.
Even though the modern Olympic Games embrace the whole world, the connection with Greece is still very strong. A lighted torch is brought all the way from Greece, carried by a relay of runners, in order to light the Olympic Flame which bums all through the Games. As in ancient Greek times, the competitors still take the Olympic Oath. The long-distance race is still called the Marathon. Marathon was a village about 26 miles from Athens. In the year 490 BC the Greeks defeated a powerful Persian army at that spot. After the fierce day's fighting a soldier volunteered to bring news of the victory to the anxious citizens of Athens. He ran all the way and after gasping out the message. "Rejoice, we conquer!" he collapsed and died.
One important rule of the Olympic Games is that the competitors must be amateurs. This rule has been under a lot of pressure in recent years because modem sport is so professional and competitive. Athletes train for years to take part in the Olympics and some countries spend much more than others on equipment and facilities. But despite these pressures, the amateur rule remains.
In modern times the Olympic movement has become an enormous and expensive organisation, It's controlled by the International Olympic Committee, which consists of members from all the participating countries. The IOC is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It chooses the locations of both summer and winter games (both take place once very four years, with winter games half a year before summer Olympiads). It also controls the rules of the competitions and selects new Olympic sports. The famous flag of the IOC shows five rings of different colours linked together. The rings represent the five continents. 
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Newspapers of Wales

Welsh Citizen

The newspaper is published once a week on Tuesday.
Circulation^ 1,000 copies
Convering local news, sports, business, jobs, and community events.

South Wales

The newspaper is published once a week on Thursday.

Circulation: 2 ,500 copies

News of crime business, education, environment, politics, transport, weather.

Cambrian news

The Cambrian News is an award-winning weekly newspaper, with a huge circulation area in mid, west and north Wales.The Cambrian News is a tabloid newspaper and is unique in that three of its editions – Aberystwyth, South and Machynlleth & Llanidloes - go to press on a Tuesday, while the two Gwynedd editions – Meirionnydd and Arfon/Dwyfor – go to press on a Wednesday.

Circulation: 10000 copies

As well as its hefty news, sport and advertising sections, the Cambrian News has a popular, pull-out lifestyle section, called CQ, which features personalities, entertainment, fashion, food and drink, travel, puzzles, reviews, youth matters and lots more.