Follow the latest news on the 2024 Paris Olympics
Almost three decades after becoming the first swimming champion of the modern Olympics, Alfred Hajos arrived at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris ready to compete again.
The Hungarian athlete had won two gold medals at the 1896 inaugural event in Athens. A sporting legend in his time, Hajos had proved his mettle not just as a swimmer, but as a sprinter and footballer. Nevertheless, it may have seemed strange that he was returning to the Olympics in 1924. He was 46 and well beyond his prime sporting years.
However, this time Hajos was not competing as a swimmer, but as an architect.
The arts were once part of the Olympics Games. Competitions took place across categories including architecture, literature, music, painting and sculpture. The competing works addressed sport-related themes and were rooted in the spirit of the Games.
As in any Olympic event, winners ascended the podium and were granted medals. However, perhaps due to the subjectivity involved, judges sometimes could not agree on who to award medals to. For instance, when Hajos competed, presenting a design for a stadium alongside fellow Hungarian sportsman and architect Dezso Lauber, he was awarded the silver medal. Monaco architect Julien Medecin won the bronze for another stadium design. However, no gold medals were awarded in the category that year.
Today, it may seem strange that the arts was a competitive realm in the Olympics, but it was not always so.
When Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee in 1894, the French educator sought to revive the event according to its original tenets. The ancient Olympic Games brought together athletes, artists, philosophers and all kinds of performers. It was conceived as a spectacle where human achievements across many forms were presented to the Greek gods, specifically Zeus. The arts were a pillar of that presentation.
Nevertheless, arts competitions were not part of the Olympics when the modern iteration was established at the turn of the 20th century, but De Coubertin was determined to include them. He felt the Olympics were incomplete without that component.
“The time has come to take the next step, and to restore the Olympiad to its original beauty,” he wrote in 1904. “In the high times of Olympia, the fine arts were combined harmoniously with the Olympic Games to create their glory. This is to become reality once again.”
De Coubertin argued in favour of including arts competitions at the Olympic Congress of 1906. But there was not enough time to incorporate them in the 1908 event in London.
Although Stockholm was chosen as the host city for the 1912 Olympics, there were concerns about how the arts would be evaluated in this new Olympic context. Nevertheless, De Coubertin’s idea was adopted. Those Olympics were the first time arts competitions were held in the reimagining of the ancient event. The rules stipulated that competing works would mark their debut at the Olympics and that they would be dedicated, in some form, to sports.
More than 30 people participated in the competition. De Coubertin himself took part in the literature category. His poem Ode to Sport was awarded the gold medal. Reading his poem, it becomes somewhat clear why De Coubertin insisted on including the arts in the Olympics, as a way to express the importance of sports to the human race.
“O Sport, you are Justice!” he wrote. “The perfect equity for which men strive in vain in their social institutions is your constant companion.”
Arts would become a mainstay in the Olympic Games until 1948.
Besides Hajos, there was also one other person who won medals for in both sports and the arts. US marksman Walter Winans won gold in the 1908 Olympics and again in the 1912 games as a sculptor.
Luxembourg painter Jean Jacoby was the most successful artist to take part. The artist won the gold medal twice, once for his 1924 painting Etude de Sport, and another for his 1928 drawing Rugby. Danish author Josef Petersen was another top contender, winning the silver medal three times.
However, in its short history, only one woman has won an Olympic medal for arts. Finnish poet Aale Tynni took home the gold in the literature category during the 1948 Summer Olympics in London – the last time the games hosted the competition. Tynni won for her poem Laurel of Hellas.
As far as countries are concerned, Germany was the top achiever in the competitions. It won a total of 24 medals, half from the 1936 Games in Berlin. Italy was the second country to win the most medals in arts, with 14. While records of the arts competitions and their winners survive today, many of the participating works have been lost.
In 1948, the IOC decided to jettison the arts competitions from the Games. Throughout most of the 20th century, only amateur athletes were allowed to participate, and as the participating creatives were professionals, the committee reasoned that it went against the central tenets of the Olympics. There was an attempt to reintroduce the event in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, but the idea never came to fruition.
While the arts no longer have a competitive space in the Olympics, its legacy of creativity endures. The Cultural Olympiad was incorporated in the event as a non-competitive feature in 1956. Much like the games, it addresses that intersection between sports and arts. It includes exhibitions, performances and other artistic events. This year, the programme is running in Paris until September 8, well after the Olympic Games conclude on August 11.
“Sport and culture are sometimes pitted against each other,” French canoeist Tony Estanguet says on the 2024 Olympics website. “But I think they have a lot in common: performance, emotions, the quest for beauty of movement, but also, and above all, their ability to offer a diversity of disciplines that are all unique channels of expression for building oneself up, emancipating oneself, finding one's path, feeling good.”
While artists may not be in the running for Olympics medals today, the arts are still very present in the Games, through graphic design, music performances and, of course, the Cultural Olympiad.
In that sense, while de Coubertin may have rejected the IOC’s decision to remove arts competitions from the Olympics if he were alive (he died in 1937), the French baron may have been contented by knowing his aim of incorporating creativity into the Games has lived on through materialising in other forms.
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
Dunki
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Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
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How to improve Arabic reading in early years
One 45-minute class per week in Standard Arabic is not sufficient
The goal should be for grade 1 and 2 students to become fluent readers
Subjects like technology, social studies, science can be taught in later grades
Grade 1 curricula should include oral instruction in Standard Arabic
First graders must regularly practice individual letters and combinations
Time should be slotted in class to read longer passages in early grades
Improve the appearance of textbooks
Revision of curriculum should be undertaken as per research findings
Conjugations of most common verb forms should be taught
Systematic learning of Standard Arabic grammar
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RESULT
Norway 1 Spain 1
Norway: King (90 4')
Spain: Niguez (47')
The years Ramadan fell in May
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
The Cairo Statement
1: Commit to countering all types of terrorism and extremism in all their manifestations
2: Denounce violence and the rhetoric of hatred
3: Adhere to the full compliance with the Riyadh accord of 2014 and the subsequent meeting and executive procedures approved in 2014 by the GCC
4: Comply with all recommendations of the Summit between the US and Muslim countries held in May 2017 in Saudi Arabia.
5: Refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of countries and of supporting rogue entities.
6: Carry out the responsibility of all the countries with the international community to counter all manifestations of extremism and terrorism that threaten international peace and security
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The five pillars of Islam
Breast cancer in men: the facts
1) Breast cancer is men is rare but can develop rapidly. It usually occurs in those over the ages of 60, but can occasionally affect younger men.
2) Symptoms can include a lump, discharge, swollen glands or a rash.
3) People with a history of cancer in the family can be more susceptible.
4) Treatments include surgery and chemotherapy but early diagnosis is the key.
5) Anyone concerned is urged to contact their doctor
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The UAE squad for the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games
The jiu-jitsu men’s team: Faisal Al Ketbi, Zayed Al Kaabi, Yahia Al Hammadi, Taleb Al Kirbi, Obaid Al Nuaimi, Omar Al Fadhli, Zayed Al Mansoori, Saeed Al Mazroui, Ibrahim Al Hosani, Mohammed Al Qubaisi, Salem Al Suwaidi, Khalfan Belhol, Saood Al Hammadi.
Women’s team: Mouza Al Shamsi, Wadeema Al Yafei, Reem Al Hashmi, Mahra Al Hanaei, Bashayer Al Matrooshi, Hessa Thani, Salwa Al Ali.
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