I ♥ Gabby

Right now I am so proud I am bursting at my seams.

Representing the United rates, Gabby Douglas is the first African-American (and first woman of color) in Olympic history to become the individual all-around champion, and the first American gymnast to win gold in both the individual all-around and team competitions at the same Olympics. 

As a member of the U.S. Women's Gymnastics team at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Douglas won gold medals in both the individual and team all-around competitions.

Up until now I had thought that shooting and archery would be my sports of choice, but I just might have to reconsider that now.

Go Gabby, go!

I be jammin'

While watching Cupcake Wars the other night with Momma, I asked her to explain what roller derby was.

Momma actually blanched and hesitated before answering me.

I don't know why; it seems like my kind of sport.

The growing popularity of roller skating in the United States led to the formation of organized multi-day endurance races for cash prizes, as early as the mid-1880s. Speed and endurance races continued to be held on both flat and banked tracks in the 20th century's first three decades and spectators enjoyed the spills and falls of the skaters. The term derby was used to refer to such races by 1922.

While the sport has its origins in the banked-track roller skating marathons of the 1930s, Leo Seltzer and Damon Runyon are credited with the basic evolution of the sport to its initial competitive form. Professional roller derby quickly became popular; in 1940 more than 5 million spectators watched in about 50 U.S. cities.

Roller derby is a now a contact sport played by two teams of five members roller skating in the same direction around a track. Game play consists of a series of short matchups ("jams") in which both teams designate a scoring player (the "jammer") who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team. The teams attempt to assist their own jammer while hindering the opposing jammer — in effect, playing both offense and defense simultaneously.

Roller derby is played by more than 1,200 amateur leagues on every inhabited continent, and is under consideration for the 2020 Olympics.

Most modern leagues share a strong "do it yourself" ethic which combines athleticism and (steam)punk, camp, and feminist elements.

Yup, my kind of sport! I'll have to add it to my Steampunk Olympics.

The Steampunk Olympics

If I was to start The Steampunk Olympics, what events do you think should be included?

Even more important, which events should I compete in?

The Ancient Games featured running events, a pentathlon (consisting of a jumping event, discus and javelin throws, a foot race and wrestling), boxing, wrestling, pankration (a blend of boxing and wrestling), and equestrian events.

At the first Olympic Games, nine sports were contested. Since then, the number of sports contested at the Summer Olympic Games has gradually risen to 28 on the program for 2000-2008.

However, at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London the number of sports will fall back to 26 following 2005 decision to remove baseball and softball from the Olympic program. (They retain their status as Olympic sports with the possibility of a return to the Olympic program in future games.)

So far I'm thinking the Steampunk Olympics should include:

• Aether pistol
• Ballooning
• Orienteering

Just remember the Olympic motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger."

The 74th Hunger Games

I can't help but wonder if the Olympic games would permit Katniss Everdeen to compete in archery?

The second Olympic games, Paris 1900, saw the first appearance of archery. Women's team archery at the Summer Olympics was first contested in St. Louis 1904 and has been regularly contested since 1988.

The Hunger Games is a young adult novel written by American television writer and novelist Suzanne Collins.

It is written from the point of view of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world in the country of Panem where the countries of North America once existed.

The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, holds control over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games are an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12 to 18 from each of the 12 districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle in which only one person can survive.

Let the Games begin

I think it's time for me to time travel and shake things up a bit.

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympics have become the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate.

Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Because Ancient Greece was the birthplace of the Olympic Games, Athens was perceived to be an appropriate choice to stage the inaugural modern Games.

The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was a multi-sport event celebrated in Athens, Greece from April 6-15, 1896. It was the first international Olympic Games held in the Modern era.

Women were not allowed to compete at the 1896 Summer Olympics. Women participated for the first time at the 1900 Paris Games with the inclusion of women's events in lawn tennis and golf, although there were three French women competing in croquet and there was at least one woman sailor as part of mixed crews. Women's athletics and gymnastics debuted at the 1928 Olympics.

After the success of the 1896 Games, the Olympics entered a period of stagnation that threatened their survival. The Olympic Games held at the Paris Exposition in 1900 and the World's Fair at St. Louis in 1904 were side-shows. The Games at Paris did not have a stadium; however, this was the first time women took part in the games. The St. Louis Games hosted 650 athletes, but 580 were from the United States.

The Games are currently held every two years, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating, although they occur every four years within their respective seasonal games.

Hmm, where shall I start....

Meet me in St. Louis

I'm off to St. Louis for the III Games of the Olympiad and hope to meet my friends Sam, Ruth and Josefina Ester at the 1904 World's Fair while I'm there.

The 1904 St. Louis World's Fair opened April 30, 1904 and closed Dec. 1, 1904. While organizers tried to hold an Olympic event (such as tug of war) every day from July 1 to Nov. 23, the bulk of the recognized Olympic sports were held from Monday, Aug. 29 through Sept. 3. 

The first U.S. Olympics had originally been awarded to Chicago but St. Louis threatened to hold a rival international competition. The Olympians totaled 651 athletes: 645 men and six women representing 12 countries. (Those six women represented the U.S. archery team!)

The International Olympic Committee later declared that 94 of the events were Olympic, but only 42 events included athletes who were not from the United States since many European athletes did not come due to the expense. (The United States placed "first" with 239 medals and Germany came in second with 13.) 

The marathon included the first two black Africans to compete in the Olympics: Len Taunyane and Jan Mashiani, who participated in the Olympics even though they were supposed to be in the Fair's Boer War Exhibit. Taunyane placed ninth (dogs chased him a mile off course) and Mashiani came in 12th.

St. Louis organizers repeated the mistakes made at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris by reducing competitions to a side-show that were overshadowed by the Fair. The Games were so poorly run that the modern Olympic movement almost came to an end.

The 1904 Fair's 1,200 acre site was the largest to date with more than 1,500 buildings, connected by 75 miles of roads and walkways. Exhibits were staged by 62 foreign nations, the United States government, and 43 of the then-45 U.S. states. It was said to be impossible to give even glance at everything in less than a week. The Palace of Agriculture alone covered about 20 acres and 19,694,855 individuals attended the fair!

A number of foods are claimed to have been invented at the Fair including the waffle-style ice cream cone, the hamburger, hot dog, peanut butter, iced tea, and cotton candy. It is more likely, however, that these food items were first introduced to mass audiences and popularized by the fair.

I'm sure Sam, Ruth, Josefina Ester, and I shall be reporting on the foods later this week!

The 1904 St. Louis World's Fair
Daily Calendar

Aug. 29 - Sept. 3, 1904

• Third Olympic Games of the modern era, Track & Field events begin (U.S. won 23 of 25 gold medals)