Olympics trivia

[KAR120C]

The other day it occured to me that I knew of a piece of equipment that is used, unchanged, in both the summer and winter olympic games. As far as I can tell this item is the only thing that qualifies for this distinction. The item is intrinsic to the competition, i.e. it is impossible to compete without it. Also the item has been used since the first Summer games of the modern era, and has remained virtually unchanged. And it is.....

















Yes, the lowly .22 rimfire cartridge.

I thought it might be possible that they manufacture a "cold weather" version of the round, but that seems very unlikely to me.

How about it guys... can anyone come up with any other equipment that is used in both summer and winter games, in the exact same form?

 

[CAS700850]

Only other thing I can think of is something used for even longer than the .22lr cartridge, but it's not used as much now as it once was...

Water. Been consumed at every olympics, summer and winter, since there were first games. Gatorade and such have supplemented it in many places, but watching the biathalon, I saw many competitors drinking plain water out of sealed bottles.

 

[1911_sfca]

How about it guys... can anyone come up with any other equipment that is used in both summer and winter games, in the exact same form?

Ummm... shoes?

 

[Camp David]

can anyone come up with any other equipment that is used in both summer and winter games, in the exact same form?

The torch...

 

[KAR120C]

Yes shoes, gloves, helmets, etc... are all common to both olympics. But they aren't identical between the seasons,i.e. a bicycle helmet isn't the same as a luge helmet. Also they aren't intrinsic to the sport. Shoes make life easier, but you can compete without them. At least one gold medal has been won barefoot. The rimfire cartridge, on the other hand, is absolutely necessary for both smallbore summer competition, and biathlon winter competition.

Water is an interesting reply in the sense of a physical media on wich to compete (skiing on snow vs. sailing on water), but for one thing it isn't in the same form (liquid vs. solid). And for another it isn't equipment, in that it isn't man made. And if we allow water then we have to allow air, which is the absurd case, and so not interesting.

And of course the torch isn't used as part of a competition.

 

[CAS700850]

I was thinking more in terms of water for hydration of the athletes, not a surface on which to compete.

 

[Justin]

Speaking of which, here's the Wikipedia entry for this year's Olympic Biathalon.

Very cool sport.

 

[odysseus]

I actually record and watch the biathalon events on my DVR. I have always watched it. It's great that the shooting sports are in there.

Funny thing too, on the first mens event over the weekend, one of the commentators mentioned that the biathalon is the #1 winter olympic sport watched all over europe. It's popularlity is apparently huge there.

Odd to me that it isn't here in the US. I have people at work who know me asking about why they see rifles in the olympics.

 

[Justin]

Odysseus, the only answer I can come up with is that while Europe's shooting culture is smaller than the US, it's much more competitively intense in some respects.

For example, I'm told that both Running Target and Rapid Fire Pistol are big events in Europe. Meanwhile, the US has an incredibly difficult time finding enough competitors to be able to even show up at the Rapid Fire Pistol events in the Summer Olympics.

Kinda sad, really.

 

[Old NFO]

The human body

 

[Logan5]

The torches are actually different between every olympics. In watching the opening ceremonies, I recall complaining this year because the torches were these wierd blue things that looked like Martian toilet brushes.