The Olympic Flag, which consists of five interlocking coloured rings, was created by Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic games, and unveiled in 1914.

Coubertin said that the five rings represent the five parts of the world embracing "Olympism" and competing against each other: Africa, The Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. The interlacing of the rings represents the unity and coming together of athletes from all parts of the world. Coubertin did not associate individual rings with individual continents.

The six colours of blue, dark yellow, black, green, red and white—the field on which the rings are set—"reproduce the colours of every country", and at least one is found on every national flag (I believe that’s still true).

I was thinking of including a sketch of each of the Olympic sports, but depending on how you count them, there are 32 sports and over 300 events.

You can learn more than you ever wanted to know about the history of the Olympic Flag in The Story of the Rings by Karl Lennartz (pdf). 

The Olympic flag and various other Olympic Properties (like the rings, torch and motto) are © IOC.

Great Britain, the British Isles, the United Kingdom - eh?

The Olympic Flag

Parachutes, paragliders, hangliders, kitesurfs, parasails or parakites, all fun ways to get around. Here I wanted to show the main differences between each.

I probably should have added wingsuiting.

Know your flying fabrics

What’s the difference? OK, this is not rocket science, but I remember growing up it took me a while to not be calling them interchangeably. There are so many neat hybrid ways to get on the water now that nothing is cut and dry, but if they look like what’s in the picture then you can be pretty confident you’ll be getting it right.

Kayak vs Canoe

One of the best virtuous circles. One of my more surprising recent reads has been Novak Djokovic’s Serve to Win about diet, discipline, going gluten-free and physical and mental excellence. The guy certainly knows about excellence and it was neat to learn his philosophy on eating — the book contains recipes — and taking care of yourself including some serious respect for sleep. This sketchplanation is just one of the reason’s why. Since reading it I’ve put an alarm on every night to remind me to respect sleep. Night!

The virtuous cycle of exercise and sleep

Swim a mile in water 5C or less. The ice mile is hardcore. Respect for crazy, amazing people like Lewis Pugh. Or if you’re in London, check out The Swimmer.

The ice mile

In his post on Zanshin, a state of relaxed alertness, James Clear writes:

Great archery masters often teach that “everything is aiming.” Where you place your feet, how you hold the bow, the way you breathe during the release of the arrow—it all determines the end result.

I like the idea of zanshin, but I like more the insight that everything is aiming. How every piece of your attitude, preparation, body and state go towards influencing how you perform. No detail too small. Tennis coaches, for example, reinforce being in the ready position before a ball even comes your way. Experience teaches you it does matter.

The concept reminds me of one of my favourite quotes which I think pretty much sums up a great approach to life as a whole and also how I view luck:

I will study and get ready, and perhaps my chance will come.
—Abraham Lincoln

Everything is aiming

Somewhat improbable name for a simple training technique alternating fast and slower sections. Great if you’re short on time.

Fartlek

I am not advocating it. It just seems to always be the case.

Rule 1 of indoor games: Play until something gets broken

Unfortunately, a site I really respect, Swim Smooth, recommends avoiding glide, though I do think that a good 80% of the swimmers I see could do with extending the reach of and calming down their front crawl stroke at least some. Bottom line — not too much glide and avoid dead spots.

Swimming is awesome. It seems so simple, but there’s always so much to learn.  (disclosure: I’m surely an overglider)

Also see, rotate your elbow, not your hand.

Improve your front crawl

In other news, I think the offside rule should be changed in football so that the goalkeeper doesn’t count when evaluating offside. Always seems stupid to me when the standard definition involves ‘the last defender’ but the technical definition is the 'second-to-last defender’ because the goalkeeper is usually one of those. Let’s just not count the goalkeeper and make the thing simpler.

Also, Happy Christmas! Thanks so much for reading. Especially on Christmas day.

The offside rule

Pulling along the bottom forces the flukes on the anchor to dig in. I think anchors are quite clever really.

Set an anchor

A mnemonic that has helped me many times.

Repair injured joints

By moving the rubbing from sock-to-foot, to sock-to-sock.

Two socks helps prevent blisters

If you stay close it’s just too tempting to cut it short. Give yourself no choice while you still feel good.

Run further by running far away

Couple of tips for front-crawl drills: twist your torso on each stroke, raise your elbow high and tight to the body, brush your ear with your hand as it passes.

Rotate your elbow, not your hand

Adopted from Brain Training for Runners. 

Be fanatical about refuelling after exercise

Cycle with hats not hoods

The best stuff I’ve learned from the chapter ‘Pursuing the perfect stride’ in Brain Training for Runners by Matt Fitzgerald and by reading Born to Run.

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Category: sports