1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,400 Speaker 1: back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always 3 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 1: so much for tuning in. Who's that running towards the 4 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:38,199 Speaker 1: finish line? Why it's our super producer, Mr Max Williams. 5 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 1: He goes, he's like a blur, He's like a flash, 6 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: like a rocket, and I'm painting the whole thing. Is 7 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: that go? Real? Real gold medal material? Almost said cold 8 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:54,560 Speaker 1: war material, but that's a different episode. I'm dead your 9 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 1: knowl And today, ma'am, we're gonna talk about the Olympics 10 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:02,320 Speaker 1: with some help from our research associate Jeff, but not 11 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:05,320 Speaker 1: in a way that most people might think. Now you 12 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: might have seen the title of this episode Olympic Visual Arts, 13 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: and you might have pictured various Olympic mascots are branding, 14 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:16,720 Speaker 1: you know, the rings or what is his name? Is 15 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:20,000 Speaker 1: he a little guy for the Atlanta Olympics. Is now 16 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:22,680 Speaker 1: quite a collectible little fella. He kind of looks like 17 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:25,039 Speaker 1: a like a tear drop for something. It looks like 18 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: you should be a mascot for like a water company 19 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: or something. You know, yeah, I could go with water company. 20 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 1: Maybe also an electric company, because sometimes blue is electricity 21 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:37,640 Speaker 1: and mask in the land of mascots. You know, it's 22 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: it's funny because back, uh, not too long ago, we 23 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: did an episode about former Olympic sports, Olympic sports of yesteryear, 24 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: and it might surprise some of our fellow ridiculous historians 25 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: to know that art used to be in the Olympics. 26 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 1: That's right, folks, a rt art, not art. Garf uncle, 27 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: We're not gonna plot twist you that way. No, we're 28 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 1: not talking about Paul Simon either, nor are we talking 29 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:08,080 Speaker 1: about Olympic mascot art. We are talking about art as 30 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:13,160 Speaker 1: a sport sort of kind of per se. Yeah. Yeah. 31 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 1: This comes to us in large part thanks to the 32 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:19,360 Speaker 1: work of Richard Stanton, the author of a book called 33 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:24,079 Speaker 1: The Forgotten Olympic Art Competitions. Richard says, I first filmed 34 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 1: out about it reading a history book when I came 35 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:30,560 Speaker 1: across a little comment about Olympic art competitions, and I said, 36 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 1: what competitions. This sparked his curiosity, piqued his interest, and 37 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:38,960 Speaker 1: so he wrote the first and as far as we know, 38 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:45,079 Speaker 1: only English language book on the subject of Olympic art competitions. Right, 39 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:47,920 Speaker 1: some of the research we we dug through for this 40 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:53,080 Speaker 1: had Stanton digging doing some digging himself through boxes of 41 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: records in the International Olympic Committee archives in Switzerland. And 42 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 1: as everyone knows this with have very poor penmanship. It's 43 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:05,600 Speaker 1: the hallmark of of the country. Uh. Maybe that's not 44 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:08,000 Speaker 1: entirely true, but apparently some of these were kind of 45 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 1: hard to read and did require a little bit of 46 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:14,840 Speaker 1: detective work and sort of piecing together the forgotten history 47 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:19,640 Speaker 1: of Olympic art competitions. Yeah, and this all goes back 48 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:25,120 Speaker 1: to an aristocrat, Baron de Cobalting. Uh. This guy was 49 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,960 Speaker 1: the founder of the International Olympic Committee and the modern 50 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 1: Olympic Games as we know them today. And if he 51 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:35,520 Speaker 1: asked the Baron, he would say, look, one of the 52 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:40,280 Speaker 1: big important pieces of the Olympics, in my vision, is 53 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 1: an art competition. Because he was consumed with this idea, 54 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:49,320 Speaker 1: this vision of what defined a true Olympian, and to him, 55 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: a true Olympian is not just someone who could lift 56 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:55,920 Speaker 1: heavy weights or run very quickly or swim like a fish. No, 57 00:03:56,400 --> 00:04:01,080 Speaker 1: they also were skilled in the classics, in music and literature. 58 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:04,680 Speaker 1: He thought the Olympics would be incomplete if they did 59 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: not have some aspect of the arts. Yeah, because we 60 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: kind of forget sometimes that the Olympics, in their original 61 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:19,320 Speaker 1: incarnation were meant to be a celebration of of the muse, 62 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:22,000 Speaker 1: you know, of all things creative, you know, dating back 63 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 1: to ancient Greece, arts at sports were kind of considered 64 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:29,320 Speaker 1: another art form in and and of itself, celebrating the artistic 65 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:34,800 Speaker 1: expression of the human body itself. Yeah. Yeah, and I 66 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:37,599 Speaker 1: see a flex in there, Max. That's that's nice. Uh. 67 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:39,839 Speaker 1: I didn't know you were bringing guns to the show, 68 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 1: but never don't bring don't bring a knife to the 69 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:46,360 Speaker 1: gun show. You always got to bring guns, right or 70 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:50,840 Speaker 1: the fantastic restaurant here in Atlanta guns show. The chefs 71 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 1: have their own knives, so you don't need to bring them. Yeah. 72 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:01,040 Speaker 1: That was an awkward moment for me, but still a 73 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:05,920 Speaker 1: great night. So the guy the baron, right, he says, 74 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:08,760 Speaker 1: I'm not making this up out of whole cloth. I'm 75 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 1: not coming from a vacuum here. This is something that 76 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: calls back to the ancient days of the Olympics. As 77 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 1: you mentioned, nol and I want there to be this 78 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:24,720 Speaker 1: strong connection between the athletes, the artist, and the spectators. 79 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:30,520 Speaker 1: So let's have art be part of the competitions. Uh, 80 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:35,040 Speaker 1: he said, I mean he talks about regaining the glory 81 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:38,480 Speaker 1: of the Olympics, right becoming bringing it back to life, 82 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:42,600 Speaker 1: back to reality, and he sees the fine arts combining 83 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:47,600 Speaker 1: harmoniously with the Games. This came up at the Olympic 84 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 1: Congress in nineteen o six, but they said, you know, 85 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:55,680 Speaker 1: we don't have enough time this iteration. The Olympic Congress 86 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:59,000 Speaker 1: of nineteen o six was planning the eight Games in 87 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:02,679 Speaker 1: London and they said, look, Barren, we got your back, 88 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:04,919 Speaker 1: but we might have to kick the can down the 89 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,320 Speaker 1: road a bit here. And kicked the can they did 90 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:10,480 Speaker 1: down the road a handful of years to the nineteen 91 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: twelve Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden. And you know, as 92 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,679 Speaker 1: is the case, I think aren't X Games type sports 93 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:23,960 Speaker 1: now incorporated into the Olympics. There's I know that there are. 94 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: They're always shake ups that get proposed, and sometimes these 95 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:34,840 Speaker 1: sports or changes to existing sports are more welcome than others. 96 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:38,000 Speaker 1: Like I think we were talking about fair with Max 97 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 1: confirming that skateboarding is one but not all X Games. Right. Yeah, 98 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:45,320 Speaker 1: it's like some I can't remember off the top of 99 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:48,400 Speaker 1: my head, but I think they just added in park 100 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: but for a while they didn't have half pipe, even 101 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:53,400 Speaker 1: though they had half pipe snowboarding in the Winter Olympics. 102 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:57,279 Speaker 1: I mean, my personal favorite sport, baseball, just got added 103 00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:00,240 Speaker 1: back in with the most previous Olympics after being out 104 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:04,560 Speaker 1: for like two decades. Isn't constant flux what sports are in? 105 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:07,080 Speaker 1: What or not? Like obviously, like track and field is in. 106 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:11,280 Speaker 1: Like guys running fast and people swimming far, those are 107 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:14,120 Speaker 1: always in, but they change around a lot. Yeah, And 108 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: such was the case with figuring out how to introduce 109 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:21,080 Speaker 1: art into the Olympic Games. So they kind of whittled 110 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:25,840 Speaker 1: it down to five categories, which were architecture, music, painting, 111 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:30,080 Speaker 1: literature and sculpture. And then of course they were later 112 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:35,080 Speaker 1: subdivided even further into things like drama for literature and 113 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 1: um epic, which I guess would be like poetry, epic 114 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:42,440 Speaker 1: poetry or lyric literature. I imagine that a sort of song, yeah, 115 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 1: or spoken word there were I saw the there was 116 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:50,680 Speaker 1: an Olympic, an Olympic event held in Canada, and one 117 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,760 Speaker 1: of the opening ceremonies a few years ago was this 118 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:58,080 Speaker 1: just tremendously well done spoken word poem. And I know 119 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 1: spoken word gets a bad rap and folks. Yes, I'm 120 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 1: the first to say that eight of it might be 121 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:07,120 Speaker 1: Ah swinging a miss for a lot of people, but 122 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:12,000 Speaker 1: that other is life changing level good. And this, this 123 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:16,160 Speaker 1: is a remnant of that idea, that attachment to the arts. 124 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 1: They also started dividing music into orchestral and instrumental, solo 125 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:27,440 Speaker 1: and chorus singing or chorl And they also started looking 126 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:31,360 Speaker 1: into ways to separate visual arts paintings from graphic arts, 127 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: drawings from paintings. This one surprised me. For sculpture, they 128 00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:41,520 Speaker 1: didn't just say statues are different from reliefs. They also said, 129 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:45,720 Speaker 1: let's count medallion's why not? Maybe that's maybe you just 130 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:50,400 Speaker 1: made the best medallion. Conflict of interest though, right, perhaps 131 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 1: what happens when a competitor makes a gold medal as 132 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:57,400 Speaker 1: their submission. That's very meta and it's funny because, I 133 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:01,080 Speaker 1: mean you could probably start to see where this becomes 134 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:05,280 Speaker 1: difficult to judge, I mean, in competitions, you know, exclusively 135 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:09,720 Speaker 1: for the arts, singing, music, literature, etcetera. It's not really 136 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: a point system, you know, I mean, it's very subjective. 137 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:17,880 Speaker 1: So whereas sports, you know, are measured in measurable things 138 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:21,839 Speaker 1: like yards, ran or or time you know, achieved you 139 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:24,680 Speaker 1: know for a certain length, or points scored in a 140 00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: particular game that has like a standardized scoring system. That's 141 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:32,360 Speaker 1: not the case with painting, unless you're just doing speed painting. 142 00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:35,439 Speaker 1: It's like who finishes first or whatever. It is much 143 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:40,040 Speaker 1: more of a subjective taste based kind of judging. Yeah. Yeah, 144 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:45,480 Speaker 1: And that's why, in certain circumstances, competitors might not even 145 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:49,199 Speaker 1: get a medal. If the judges looked around and they 146 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:53,920 Speaker 1: were unable to come to a consensus on their subjective 147 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:57,640 Speaker 1: opinions about a work of art, they might only award 148 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:01,920 Speaker 1: a bronze medal. And that's you know, that's very distinct 149 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:05,200 Speaker 1: from the way the rest of the Olympic events would go. 150 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 1: As the kids say, they might be these were all 151 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:11,360 Speaker 1: pretty mid, so we'll just give out a bronze. Yeah, 152 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:15,079 Speaker 1: but good hustle everybody, and nice medallion. Also, your plaque 153 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:17,840 Speaker 1: is good. I just can't choose bronze medals for all. 154 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:28,720 Speaker 1: There were thirty three people who participated in the very 155 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:33,360 Speaker 1: first Olympic art competition for the Modern Olympics in nineteen twelve, 156 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:38,600 Speaker 1: and that during the nineteen twelve competition, there was a 157 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:42,959 Speaker 1: gold medal awarded in all of the five categories. We're 158 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:47,720 Speaker 1: getting this research directly from the Olympic Olympics dot com, 159 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:50,600 Speaker 1: so they do quite a good job of of, you know, 160 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:54,119 Speaker 1: laying out all of the history of this very unusual 161 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 1: period in the Olympic Games. Yeah, shout out to the 162 00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:01,640 Speaker 1: author that Indra shasta Kova. So if you look at 163 00:11:01,679 --> 00:11:05,959 Speaker 1: their history here, you'll see that there were some rules 164 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:10,240 Speaker 1: for submissions, and if you've ever been in a writing competition, 165 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:13,880 Speaker 1: or you've ever submitted to a journal or something like that, 166 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:16,880 Speaker 1: then you'll recognize some of this. You might also run 167 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:21,400 Speaker 1: into it. In some gallery competitions, judges could only score 168 00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 1: works that had never been exhibited anywhere else, and they 169 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 1: have also had to be dedicated to sports, so there's 170 00:11:29,679 --> 00:11:32,920 Speaker 1: a theme to it. The baron himself, by the way, 171 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 1: he participated in a literature competition under a pseudonym and 172 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:44,800 Speaker 1: his piece won a gold medal. Corruption. That's a little suspicious. 173 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:48,200 Speaker 1: Did you say the name of I love it It's 174 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:54,280 Speaker 1: to Sport, which, again, like I don't want to judge 175 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:56,480 Speaker 1: it just by the title. I haven't read it yet. 176 00:11:56,520 --> 00:12:01,280 Speaker 1: Maybe it's amazing, but ow to Sport sounds a little 177 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:03,840 Speaker 1: on the nose for the gold medal. I'd love to 178 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:08,320 Speaker 1: see who else entered the literature competition. Correct, So fun 179 00:12:08,400 --> 00:12:13,400 Speaker 1: fact from the nineteen twelve Games UM the United States entry, 180 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:19,240 Speaker 1: Walter Winnens won the win. Winnens won UH an Olympic 181 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:23,800 Speaker 1: gold medal in shooting four years prior. But then later 182 00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:26,319 Speaker 1: I guess you had like a little side hustle as 183 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:31,040 Speaker 1: a sculptor. He became the Olympic gold medalist in that 184 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:35,560 Speaker 1: category in sculpture UH in Sweden. He'd also won an 185 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:40,640 Speaker 1: Olympic medal in shooting that same Games. Yeah, and then 186 00:12:40,679 --> 00:12:44,439 Speaker 1: there is one other guy who won medals in art 187 00:12:44,559 --> 00:12:49,120 Speaker 1: and sports, and that is Alfred Hajos from Hungary two 188 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:52,440 Speaker 1: gold medals in Athens in eighteen six and a few 189 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:58,240 Speaker 1: years later won the silver medal in architecture. Look, we 190 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:02,240 Speaker 1: know that most people hearing this today do not associate 191 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:07,160 Speaker 1: the athletic feats of the Olympics with the aesthetic feats 192 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:11,120 Speaker 1: of the art world. And back in Antwerp in the 193 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:14,839 Speaker 1: nineteen twenties, the situation was kind of similar. The art 194 00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 1: competition didn't get a lot of press, didn't get a 195 00:13:17,640 --> 00:13:19,920 Speaker 1: lot of attention, It didn't draw a ton of crowds. 196 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:24,400 Speaker 1: But this changed just a few years later when the 197 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:28,640 Speaker 1: Olympics went to Paris in nineteen. Well, it's also I mean, 198 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:32,880 Speaker 1: it's not no, no, no shade on on art or whatever, 199 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:37,600 Speaker 1: but it's not exactly the most captivating thing to exhibits 200 00:13:37,679 --> 00:13:41,160 Speaker 1: in terms of a spectator. Um, you know, sport like 201 00:13:41,559 --> 00:13:44,679 Speaker 1: these are obviously things that are presented and then displayed 202 00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:46,960 Speaker 1: in some sort of gallery type situation, at least in 203 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:49,160 Speaker 1: terms of the visual arts. I don't know that we 204 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:52,320 Speaker 1: have any information about how we're the were the poems 205 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:56,800 Speaker 1: and the literature pieces read aloud by the writers like 206 00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:03,120 Speaker 1: wild fighting, Oh no, weld swordfighting okay? On top uh? 207 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:08,800 Speaker 1: Galloping steeds, yes, yes, uh? And and uh the pages 208 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:12,200 Speaker 1: they were reading would be lit on fire. Uh No, 209 00:14:12,559 --> 00:14:15,120 Speaker 1: we're just making up a really interesting competition. But this 210 00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 1: reminds me I want to shout out one of our uh, 211 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:21,800 Speaker 1: one of our friends on our Facebook page, ridiculous historians. 212 00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 1: Robin w hipped us to a real sport called chess boxing. 213 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:32,000 Speaker 1: You alternate rounds of rapid chess and rounds of boxing 214 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:37,000 Speaker 1: until someone wins in one of those categories. Oh that's 215 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:39,000 Speaker 1: so funny. I never knew that there's a Woo Tank 216 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:43,920 Speaker 1: Clan song called The Mystery of Chess Boxing, and um, 217 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:47,400 Speaker 1: I never knew what that was referring to until now. 218 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:49,800 Speaker 1: They don't actually say that in the in the in 219 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:52,000 Speaker 1: the lyrics at all, but that is the name of 220 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:55,200 Speaker 1: one of my favorite tracks off of the thirty six 221 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:59,360 Speaker 1: Chambers record. Nice. Yeah, And we don't know if they're 222 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:04,840 Speaker 1: talking about I think they're talking about applying a martial 223 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:09,680 Speaker 1: arts mentality to chess. I don't think they're talking about 224 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:12,480 Speaker 1: alternating rounds. But maybe they are connected, you know, maybe 225 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:16,440 Speaker 1: secretly some members of the Wu Tang clan our world 226 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:19,640 Speaker 1: class chess boxers. If so, we'd love to see a clip. 227 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:23,040 Speaker 1: Of course it's it's named after a kung fu film 228 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:27,560 Speaker 1: Hong Kong film from nineteen seventy nine directed by Joseph 229 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:30,560 Speaker 1: Koo called The Mystery of Chess Boxing. You know that 230 00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:33,840 Speaker 1: the Wu Tang clan loved some some kung fu pictures. 231 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:36,560 Speaker 1: Of course, who doesn't I love kung fu movies as well. 232 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:39,640 Speaker 1: You know, I'd say I love kung fu movies as 233 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:45,200 Speaker 1: much as uh. The attendance of the Olympics in Paris, 234 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:50,240 Speaker 1: loved the art competition almost two hundred people submitted works 235 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 1: of art, including three Soviet artists, and this was interesting 236 00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:59,840 Speaker 1: because at the time the Soviet Union was not participating 237 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:05,160 Speaker 1: in the Olympics. There was some geopolitical tension. The jury, right, 238 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:08,680 Speaker 1: the judges for the art competition in the Paris Games 239 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:12,680 Speaker 1: was also um pretty creme de la creme. They were 240 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:15,960 Speaker 1: pretty posh. The first woman to receive the Nobel Prize 241 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:19,960 Speaker 1: in literature was there that Sweden's Selma lager Loaf. And 242 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:25,280 Speaker 1: then a famous Russian composer, the one and only Igor Stravinsky. 243 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:29,080 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, is Rights of Spring. Uh an episode unto 244 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:31,840 Speaker 1: itself in terms of the premiere of that piece that 245 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:36,320 Speaker 1: I believe caused some manner of riots because the music 246 00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:39,840 Speaker 1: was just so stark and intense and in your face 247 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:42,120 Speaker 1: and you know, for lack of a better term, at 248 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:44,480 Speaker 1: the time modern, you know, it just wasn't the classical 249 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:47,480 Speaker 1: music was very formal and and meant to kind of 250 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:51,360 Speaker 1: stick to the hits and sort of the forms of 251 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:55,360 Speaker 1: of classical composers in history. And Stravinsky, with this kind 252 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:59,440 Speaker 1: of atonal, clashy, kind of very you know, storm and 253 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:03,080 Speaker 1: drawn kind of vibes, really turned that whole thing on 254 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:05,639 Speaker 1: his head, so very interesting to see. I'm not this 255 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:07,760 Speaker 1: must have been after he of course, this would have 256 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:10,080 Speaker 1: been after he was already established and kind of you know, 257 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:12,240 Speaker 1: got his bona fides and was no longer like this 258 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:16,720 Speaker 1: iconoclastic figure. Yeah, they weren't putting him as a member 259 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:19,479 Speaker 1: of a jury and then saying in a few years, 260 00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:22,919 Speaker 1: this guy, he's gonna be a big deal. No, he 261 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:26,320 Speaker 1: had his stripes. Yeah, this this wholeso we see the 262 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:31,080 Speaker 1: art competition continuing to be popular. In the nineteen Games, 263 00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:34,720 Speaker 1: which were in the beautiful city of Amsterdam. There were 264 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:38,760 Speaker 1: more than one thousand pieces of art exhibited in the 265 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:43,040 Speaker 1: Municipal Museum, something like eleven hundred and one of the 266 00:17:43,119 --> 00:17:49,240 Speaker 1: participants there was Francis Paul Landowski. He won the Olympic 267 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:53,840 Speaker 1: gold medal for a sculpture of a boxer. He would 268 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:57,959 Speaker 1: later go on to create the famous, the world famous 269 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:01,440 Speaker 1: Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, which I 270 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:04,640 Speaker 1: have not seen in person, but I definitely I want 271 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:07,240 Speaker 1: to see, you know, it's on my bucket list. And 272 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:10,080 Speaker 1: the good news is it's so big that it's pretty 273 00:18:10,119 --> 00:18:11,960 Speaker 1: easy to see. I can just kind of get to 274 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:16,280 Speaker 1: Rio and look up exactly. So here's the question, what 275 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:18,959 Speaker 1: happened to do this? You know, I mean it's not 276 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:23,200 Speaker 1: lost obviously because the Olympic Committee themselves are are writing 277 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:25,240 Speaker 1: about it. But this is certainly not of your average 278 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:29,840 Speaker 1: Olympic fan would know much about. So what happened? But 279 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:32,240 Speaker 1: where where did it go? Why did it fall out 280 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:38,760 Speaker 1: of favor? World War two? As yeah, so many great 281 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:41,080 Speaker 1: things of that time, you know, As you know, folks, 282 00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:47,280 Speaker 1: the Olympics were put on hold in because there was 283 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:50,720 Speaker 1: a world war. Nearly all of the countries that would 284 00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:55,280 Speaker 1: ordinarily participate in the Olympics were now participating in war. 285 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:59,240 Speaker 1: And when they came back after the close of the war, 286 00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:04,600 Speaker 1: the competitions had another problem new management. The new president 287 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:13,160 Speaker 1: of the International Olympic Committee, Avery Brundage, was obsessed with amateurism. 288 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:17,320 Speaker 1: He was a rigid supporter of amateur athletics and he 289 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:20,880 Speaker 1: wanted Olympics, the Olympics to be pure. He thought they 290 00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:24,760 Speaker 1: were swayed by the weight of money, which is, you know, 291 00:19:25,119 --> 00:19:30,280 Speaker 1: a valid claim, but here's why it's spelled trouble for 292 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:33,960 Speaker 1: the art competition. So he likes amateurs. He hates money 293 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:37,399 Speaker 1: and nepotism, even though being president of the IOC is 294 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:41,920 Speaker 1: kind of a nepotistic position. Uh, he says, Look, artists 295 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:45,560 Speaker 1: have to sell their work to make a living, and 296 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:51,480 Speaker 1: winning an Olympic medal could theoretically be a big advertisement 297 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:55,240 Speaker 1: for that artists work. So you know what it reminds 298 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:57,360 Speaker 1: me of. It's like when people win the Great British 299 00:19:57,359 --> 00:19:59,920 Speaker 1: Baking Show or the Great British Bake Off. There's not 300 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,920 Speaker 1: a cash prize, you know, they win like a bespoke 301 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:07,520 Speaker 1: crystal kind of cake platform. But honestly, the real prize 302 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,199 Speaker 1: is just the accolades that comes along with it, and 303 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:13,040 Speaker 1: most of the people that into the top three get 304 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:14,919 Speaker 1: some kind I maybe even the top ten, or just 305 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:17,480 Speaker 1: by participating in the show, they get a boost to 306 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:20,040 Speaker 1: their baking career and probably get enough cloud that they 307 00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:22,960 Speaker 1: can open a successful bakery or you know, put out 308 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:25,760 Speaker 1: a cookbook or something like that. Yeah. No, I want 309 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:28,560 Speaker 1: to finish with the Brennage point because he's got He's 310 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:31,000 Speaker 1: got a couple of a couple of pros and CODs here. 311 00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:34,919 Speaker 1: So he says, back in this post World War two 312 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:40,399 Speaker 1: environment that if someone wins a medal for artistic expression, 313 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:43,920 Speaker 1: then they're probably going to make bank off of it. 314 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:47,800 Speaker 1: Later down the line, he thinks it's an unwelcome commodification 315 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:52,560 Speaker 1: of the Olympics. But keep in mind that nowadays it's 316 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:58,400 Speaker 1: not uncommon for Olympic athletes to get huge merchandise steals, 317 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:02,000 Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So that also that that's 318 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:05,720 Speaker 1: the that's very similar to the problem he said he 319 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:10,159 Speaker 1: had with art competitions in the Olympics. Further, here's the 320 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:15,960 Speaker 1: big con about it. He was a former Olympic artist. 321 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:19,119 Speaker 1: He entered a piece of literature in the nineteen thirty 322 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:23,200 Speaker 1: two Games. He didn't get a medal, he got an 323 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:26,720 Speaker 1: honorable mention, and then later in the nineteen forty eight 324 00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:30,840 Speaker 1: Games he tried to shut down the whole art competition. Wow, 325 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:34,479 Speaker 1: a little bitter maybe, Yeah, it seems so honorable mention, 326 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:39,080 Speaker 1: that's that's that is enough to make someone have some 327 00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:42,280 Speaker 1: sour grapes. That's like worse than lebronze. It's like I've 328 00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:46,600 Speaker 1: always found that honorable mention this is such a borderline, 329 00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:50,160 Speaker 1: backhanded compliment of a category, you know, I think, So, 330 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:53,439 Speaker 1: I mean, it's better than dishonorable mention, which I actually 331 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:57,000 Speaker 1: not being mentioned at all. Perhaps I got a dishonorable 332 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:01,359 Speaker 1: mention in uh in an art an essay competition once 333 00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:04,119 Speaker 1: and I had no regrets because I disagreed with the 334 00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:08,879 Speaker 1: premise of the competition. Do you remember the Invent America program? 335 00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:12,120 Speaker 1: M hmm. It was a thing that was popular when 336 00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:13,760 Speaker 1: I was a kid. I think it was like one 337 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:17,680 Speaker 1: of those presidential you know, like the Presidential Fitness Challenge 338 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:19,880 Speaker 1: or whatever. It was some kind of program for schools 339 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:22,960 Speaker 1: and it was called Invent America, and you know, kids 340 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:26,480 Speaker 1: would would make inventions and um, you know, you'd go 341 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:28,560 Speaker 1: onto semifinals and all of that stuff, and I think 342 00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:30,600 Speaker 1: maybe ultimately you'd get some kind of patent. I can't 343 00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:33,040 Speaker 1: remember what the ultimate goal was, but I got an 344 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:36,200 Speaker 1: honorable mention one year in the Invent American competition. I 345 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:40,000 Speaker 1: quote unquote invented something I called the bright Night toilet light, 346 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:42,840 Speaker 1: and it was a little clicky switch that would go 347 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:44,439 Speaker 1: on the bottom of the toilet seat so when you 348 00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:46,720 Speaker 1: put it down, it would turn on a light so 349 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:49,280 Speaker 1: that you wouldn't fall into the toilet. Um, those are 350 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:51,920 Speaker 1: a thing though. Well, yeah, I guess that was ahead 351 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:53,919 Speaker 1: of my time. But uh, I only thought that was 352 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:57,080 Speaker 1: worthy of an honorable mention. So yeah, well, I mean, 353 00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:01,360 Speaker 1: I'm still very proud of my dishonorable mention because that 354 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:06,639 Speaker 1: is malicious compliance at peak. Uh so so uh no, 355 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:08,600 Speaker 1: bad blood of course. Yeah, I used to. I used 356 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:11,200 Speaker 1: to do those I missed those competitions. I used to 357 00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:15,240 Speaker 1: do those kind of things all the time. Yeah. Yeah, 358 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:19,680 Speaker 1: we all award ourselves prizes or are we gonna be like, yeah, 359 00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:21,959 Speaker 1: go ahead, because the three of us um and then 360 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:24,280 Speaker 1: I don't know, we get like, I don't know other 361 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:26,640 Speaker 1: people involved. I I feel like we can get a Vogue, 362 00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:30,679 Speaker 1: Obama and a wreath involved. Let's get everybody for ridiculous news, 363 00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:35,200 Speaker 1: ridiculous crime, ridiculous romance. Let's get them in the competition, 364 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:38,520 Speaker 1: and let's decide ourselves, just just the three of us, 365 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:42,240 Speaker 1: and you listen, you along, folks, Let's decide to not 366 00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:45,600 Speaker 1: give anyone a medal. Let's have everyone compete, and then 367 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:48,439 Speaker 1: let's do them like the art competence the Art jury 368 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:51,560 Speaker 1: did back then. All bronzes except for Strickland, who gets 369 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:57,120 Speaker 1: the dishonorable mentionable and a dishonorable discharge. And we will 370 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:01,200 Speaker 1: make it exclusively in the spoken word category. Why I 371 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:03,399 Speaker 1: will I will die on this hill? Okay, all right, 372 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:06,479 Speaker 1: and that's the title of your of your peace right. 373 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:10,320 Speaker 1: I will die on this hill, I will do yes, 374 00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:14,639 Speaker 1: And indeed it's true. So this this, this fellow, you 375 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:17,560 Speaker 1: know that kind of through a wrench in the works, 376 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:23,160 Speaker 1: he essentially led to a serious discussion about the merits 377 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:25,639 Speaker 1: of the art competition and whether or not they should 378 00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:30,639 Speaker 1: be you know, removed from the Games. Yeah. Eventually his 379 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:34,360 Speaker 1: position won the day, and it was decided that art 380 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:38,760 Speaker 1: competitions would be scrapped completely and they would be replaced 381 00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:44,800 Speaker 1: by an exhibition, a non competitive exhibition, and this eventually 382 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:49,320 Speaker 1: became known as the Cultural Olympiad. And so there are 383 00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:53,880 Speaker 1: no more winners of Olympic medals in the field of 384 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:56,720 Speaker 1: the arts for now, because, as we said, the Olympics 385 00:24:56,720 --> 00:25:00,400 Speaker 1: seemed to always be undergoing some sort of evolution. One 386 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:03,840 Speaker 1: of the last medals awarded was a silver medal in 387 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:09,080 Speaker 1: n to John Copley, a British guy, for his engraving 388 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:14,439 Speaker 1: polo players. You could see there's a there's kind of 389 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:17,080 Speaker 1: a trend on simple titles here, you know what I mean, 390 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:28,360 Speaker 1: owed to sports polo players. The shot pushes the javelin thrower. 391 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:36,160 Speaker 1: This is cool because he was seventy three years old 392 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:38,160 Speaker 1: when he got this. This would have made him the 393 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:43,480 Speaker 1: oldest medal winner in all of Olympic history. But that's interesting. Yeah, 394 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:46,520 Speaker 1: but his victory didn't count. Well, okay, that that that 395 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:49,080 Speaker 1: being said, it does occur to me though, that by 396 00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:52,440 Speaker 1: including the arts in this way, you are significantly broadening 397 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:56,120 Speaker 1: the range of ages that could you know, successfully compete 398 00:25:56,160 --> 00:26:00,879 Speaker 1: in the quote unquote Olympics. Yeah, very young people could 399 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:04,560 Speaker 1: theoretically win, as could quite elderly people. But this is 400 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:07,600 Speaker 1: such a bummer to me. The one and fifty one 401 00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:13,480 Speaker 1: medals that had been awarded were retroactively stricken from the record, 402 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:16,960 Speaker 1: so they don't This is important because it doesn't count 403 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:21,680 Speaker 1: for a country's total number of medals overall, which is 404 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:25,639 Speaker 1: a bummer. We learned about this thanks to Joseph Stromberg 405 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:30,000 Speaker 1: over at the Smithsonian Big fans of the Smithsonian. So 406 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:34,560 Speaker 1: this competition goes to the wayside in nineteen forty nine 407 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:40,639 Speaker 1: because the IOC says, all right, all these art contestants 408 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:44,320 Speaker 1: are professional artists, so this doesn't reflect what we see 409 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:55,640 Speaker 1: as the amateur status of the Olympics. And that's something 410 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:58,720 Speaker 1: again in the modern day I think most people would 411 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:02,639 Speaker 1: disagree with, right, like the you can. I guess you 412 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:08,359 Speaker 1: could say all figure skater is an amateur. Maybe, but 413 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:14,000 Speaker 1: these folks spend all their lives working to perform, to 414 00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:17,560 Speaker 1: compete at the Olympics, and if it's the focus of 415 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:20,119 Speaker 1: your life, I feel like it's kind of difficult to 416 00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:22,760 Speaker 1: call that person an amateur. I feel like it diminishes 417 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:25,000 Speaker 1: the work they're putting in. What do you guys think 418 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:28,280 Speaker 1: about that? Well, I could see them not counting towards 419 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:32,639 Speaker 1: the metal count because it is such a different category. 420 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:35,160 Speaker 1: I mean, it really is. It doesn't really reflect the 421 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:39,680 Speaker 1: athletic competitive prowess of a country. It seems to sort 422 00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:43,000 Speaker 1: of not stack the deck necessarily, but skew the numbers 423 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:45,640 Speaker 1: a little bit, you know. So I definitely I feel that. 424 00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:49,239 Speaker 1: But you know, I mean I think artists who won 425 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:52,560 Speaker 1: them should still be able to say Olympic award, Olympic 426 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:55,520 Speaker 1: medal winning artists, you know. Yeah, And art is also 427 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:59,280 Speaker 1: you know, to our point about subjectivity. This art competition 428 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:03,920 Speaker 1: didn't have the same quantitative metrics you could lean on, 429 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:07,919 Speaker 1: right if you're measuring four hundred yard dash or something, 430 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:13,000 Speaker 1: you can say, hey, this person finished first, and we 431 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:15,840 Speaker 1: know that because we looked at the time. You can't 432 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:19,119 Speaker 1: say this person finished fifth, but we're giving them the 433 00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:23,160 Speaker 1: gold medal because there's just something beautiful about the way 434 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:26,960 Speaker 1: they run there like a gazelle, and aesthetically they're the winner. 435 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:31,280 Speaker 1: That doesn't happen in the world of sports. And yeah, 436 00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:33,800 Speaker 1: to your point, like, I can see how it wouldn't 437 00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:36,520 Speaker 1: count for the medals for that reason, but I don't 438 00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:39,800 Speaker 1: think you should strike them from the record, remove them 439 00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:45,040 Speaker 1: from history. Also, look, we started trying to look for 440 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:49,720 Speaker 1: some pieces, some examples of these works of art, and 441 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:53,320 Speaker 1: we found that a lot of the Olympic medal winning 442 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:58,080 Speaker 1: works have been lost to history. You can see the 443 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:01,960 Speaker 1: architectural projects they were getting medals for things like best 444 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:06,479 Speaker 1: town Planning basically. So it's tougher to get rid of 445 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:09,200 Speaker 1: some of that stuff than it is to say, lose 446 00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:15,840 Speaker 1: a plaque or an engraving uha, or a medallion or 447 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,440 Speaker 1: a medallion. God, do you know what, I bet somebody 448 00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:21,040 Speaker 1: has lost their Olympic medal. I bet somebody want it 449 00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:24,680 Speaker 1: and then lost it. Right, A lot of people probably have, yeah, 450 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:28,400 Speaker 1: like a championship ring. But up maybe it's like it's 451 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:31,440 Speaker 1: it's some pawn shop somewhere, you know, just floating right. 452 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:36,160 Speaker 1: Who knows there was some Olympian fell on hot times especially, 453 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:39,600 Speaker 1: but you're you're an amateur, so it's not gonna paid 454 00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:41,640 Speaker 1: any money to do this. That's a good point. It 455 00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:44,560 Speaker 1: is all about the the actual you know, artifact, the 456 00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:48,720 Speaker 1: Olympic medal itself, which obviously carries some value or some 457 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,440 Speaker 1: some weight in terms of monetary you know, exchange. Right. 458 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:56,040 Speaker 1: But I could see someone perhaps uh, you know, hawking 459 00:29:56,080 --> 00:30:00,680 Speaker 1: their Olympic medal because things didn't work out. Yeah, I 460 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,600 Speaker 1: can see that. I mean, you know, O. J. Simpson 461 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:06,239 Speaker 1: got in hot water when he had to get some 462 00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:09,520 Speaker 1: of his trophies back, right, some of his accolades. Uh. 463 00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:13,360 Speaker 1: And this this could happen with artists in this environment 464 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:16,080 Speaker 1: as well. We know you can still see some of 465 00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:22,080 Speaker 1: these architectural projects. The Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam designed by 466 00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:25,880 Speaker 1: an architect named Jan Wiles. He got the Olympic gold in. 467 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:31,720 Speaker 1: The Payne Whitney Gymnasium at Yale was designed by John 468 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:34,800 Speaker 1: Russell Pope. He got the silver in nineteen thirty two. 469 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:38,680 Speaker 1: Now he's best known for the Jefferson Memorial. And then 470 00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:43,400 Speaker 1: there's also Richard Honwyers who got the bronze at the 471 00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:47,840 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty two Olympics for the Olympic Stadium. So we 472 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:52,720 Speaker 1: see multiple people got an Olympic medal in architecture for 473 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:56,840 Speaker 1: designing the Olympic Stadium. I think that's your path to victory. Yeah, 474 00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:00,360 Speaker 1: it would, it would definitely seem so. So fast forward 475 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:03,640 Speaker 1: just a little bit to the nineteen forty eight Games 476 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:08,840 Speaker 1: in London, which um boasted the last, the very last 477 00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:13,360 Speaker 1: of the Olympic art medals. Finland seemed to lead the 478 00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:18,480 Speaker 1: charge here with two gold medals, one silver and one bronze. 479 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:21,880 Speaker 1: And then, as we already said, it went the way 480 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:27,560 Speaker 1: of non competitive you know games adjacent exhibitions. Um. And 481 00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:31,720 Speaker 1: that's still the case today, yeah, yeah, still Now there 482 00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:36,480 Speaker 1: are art competitions in some form associated with the Olympics. 483 00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:40,200 Speaker 1: Starting in two thousand four and going forward, the IOC 484 00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:44,760 Speaker 1: has routinely held what they call a Sport and Art 485 00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:48,680 Speaker 1: contest leading up to the Summer Games. For example, for 486 00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:52,760 Speaker 1: the two thousand twelve contests, people sent in sculptures and 487 00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:57,480 Speaker 1: graphic works on the following theme sport and the Olympic 488 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:01,480 Speaker 1: values of excellence, friendship and respect. They don't get medals, 489 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:05,320 Speaker 1: but they do get cash prizes, and if you are 490 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:08,240 Speaker 1: a crowd favorite or a judge's favorite, then your work 491 00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:13,479 Speaker 1: gets displayed in London during the Games. So it's something nice. Yeah. Again, 492 00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:17,160 Speaker 1: it just contributes to raising the profile of an artist 493 00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:21,320 Speaker 1: and leading to perhaps more monetary success down the road 494 00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:24,440 Speaker 1: because they become a little bit more of a hot commodity. 495 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:27,560 Speaker 1: But I would argue maybe it's sort of the equivalent 496 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:31,560 Speaker 1: of winning one of those like postage stamp illustration contests. 497 00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:35,280 Speaker 1: You know, what's your what's your cool? But is it 498 00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:39,200 Speaker 1: making superstar artists? You know? I would argue maybe now, 499 00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:42,360 Speaker 1: like yeah, you know, and we'd have to be more connected, 500 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:48,120 Speaker 1: I think, to the international art world to understand, you know, 501 00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:50,240 Speaker 1: who is the boss Scott here, who is the war 502 00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:54,720 Speaker 1: hal and so on. But we do know a little 503 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:57,520 Speaker 1: bit more. We found some extra effects. Our buddy Jeff 504 00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:01,440 Speaker 1: found some things that he just really wanted us to mention. First, 505 00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:06,280 Speaker 1: the Olympic Game art competitions had a street name Pentathlon 506 00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:12,040 Speaker 1: of the Muses. Oh my gosh, Yeah, that's fun. I 507 00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:15,360 Speaker 1: like that because you know, full circle. Uh. The Olympics, 508 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:18,800 Speaker 1: in their original incarnation and as they originally intended, were 509 00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:22,240 Speaker 1: a celebration of the gods and uh, you know the 510 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:26,680 Speaker 1: muses are an important part of that pantheon. Yeah, and 511 00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:31,520 Speaker 1: then there's there's another one here, uh, the nineteen thirty 512 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:34,360 Speaker 1: six Games. There's a story that Jedi won't tell you. 513 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:38,280 Speaker 1: The government of Germany said they should add a film 514 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:43,600 Speaker 1: contest to ZIP Pentathlon. And already by thirty six you 515 00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:45,920 Speaker 1: could tell that you're kind of had a bad vibe 516 00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:51,280 Speaker 1: about German film and propaganda. So they said no, no, sorry, guys, 517 00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:53,200 Speaker 1: that's a bridge too far. And that's not a ding 518 00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:56,640 Speaker 1: on all the awesome German films of the early nineteen hundreds. 519 00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:00,640 Speaker 1: I'm just wondering if they were like, I know, you 520 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:03,200 Speaker 1: guys have a weird vibe. I feel like you're going 521 00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:06,760 Speaker 1: to release some strange films not too long from now, 522 00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:09,480 Speaker 1: so we'll skip it. That's just me speculating, you know. 523 00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:14,480 Speaker 1: But nol could they Okay, if they couldn't get medals, 524 00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:18,040 Speaker 1: but they could get cash prizes. What did they do 525 00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:20,120 Speaker 1: with the art when they were done, Well, they were 526 00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:24,239 Speaker 1: allowed to sell their works. They weren't auctioned in the exhibition. 527 00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:28,000 Speaker 1: This wasn't like a bidding situation, but they were allowed 528 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:31,200 Speaker 1: to then remove their pieces from the exhibit and sell 529 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:35,440 Speaker 1: them independently. Nice. Yeah, at least for a time, And 530 00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:40,200 Speaker 1: this was kind of controversial. The most successful Olympic artist 531 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:45,480 Speaker 1: was a painter from Luxembourg, Jean Jacobi, and he got 532 00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:48,680 Speaker 1: two gold medals over the course of his career as 533 00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:52,359 Speaker 1: an Olympic artist. You could also, this is an interesting thing. 534 00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:56,000 Speaker 1: I didn't know, you could also submit works of art 535 00:34:56,239 --> 00:35:00,759 Speaker 1: in multiple iterations. Not just like I'm not saying you 536 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:04,320 Speaker 1: could submit a piece of music and then also submit 537 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:07,600 Speaker 1: and engraving. I'm saying you could submit several works of 538 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:12,360 Speaker 1: art to the same category. So it's theoretically possible to 539 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:15,360 Speaker 1: do a full sweep. The gold medal goes to Max, 540 00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:18,719 Speaker 1: the bronze medal goes to Max. After intense debate, the 541 00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:21,200 Speaker 1: silver medal goes to Max. You know what I mean. 542 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:26,640 Speaker 1: That is still in the game, That seems because and 543 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:30,000 Speaker 1: there and all of his things are called the sport 544 00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:34,240 Speaker 1: of run, which is very in line with those titles. 545 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:37,799 Speaker 1: I don't know, like nowadays, I still love all the 546 00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:43,719 Speaker 1: artistic expression associated with especially the opening events for the Olympics, 547 00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:47,760 Speaker 1: like the two thousand eight Olympics in China. Man Chef Kiss, 548 00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:52,240 Speaker 1: that was amazing, right, and I hope that that stuff 549 00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:55,400 Speaker 1: continues in the future, and I hope maybe we can 550 00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:58,239 Speaker 1: lend some podcasts to the Olympics. And you know, I 551 00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:01,880 Speaker 1: mean even people that are necessarily into the sporting aspect 552 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:05,080 Speaker 1: of the Olympics typically tune in for the opening ceremonies 553 00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:09,760 Speaker 1: because there's such a you know, combination of art, music, 554 00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:13,600 Speaker 1: and science. Remember the cloud seating thing that you know, 555 00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:16,759 Speaker 1: So that really is to me a perfect kind of 556 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:20,520 Speaker 1: middle ground where it really is still highlighting and uh, 557 00:36:20,600 --> 00:36:24,319 Speaker 1: you know, glorifying the arts, but again it's more of 558 00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:27,759 Speaker 1: a presentation. It's more of a theatrical display rather than 559 00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:30,759 Speaker 1: something that that needs to be judged. Well, I do 560 00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:32,360 Speaker 1: want to kind of throw this out there, guys, because 561 00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:36,560 Speaker 1: there is still some artistic competitions in the Olympics. I 562 00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:41,040 Speaker 1: mean they are athletic artistic. Are you talking about curling? No, no, no, 563 00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:43,279 Speaker 1: curling is not curling has a score based thing. But 564 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:46,200 Speaker 1: you're skating. Yeah, So we got figure skating, We got 565 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:48,920 Speaker 1: ice dancing as well, Olympics. I got a couple of 566 00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:52,440 Speaker 1: Summer Olympics ones for us. We have equestrian horse dancing. 567 00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:59,120 Speaker 1: Well that's dressage is a sub Yeah, we got artistic swimming. 568 00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:04,000 Speaker 1: Is that like synchronized. Yeah, it's not called synchronized any longer. 569 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:08,560 Speaker 1: It's called not artistic, I believe. Uh, there's rhythmatic rhythmatic gymnastics. 570 00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:11,360 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that makes sense. And here's 571 00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:13,799 Speaker 1: the one I had forgotten about. There is now one 572 00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:22,160 Speaker 1: called breaking, like break dancing. It's funny that you mentioned 573 00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:24,399 Speaker 1: these maximum I'm glad that you did, because these are 574 00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:29,200 Speaker 1: also somewhat subjective in the panel of judges. Hold up 575 00:37:29,239 --> 00:37:31,799 Speaker 1: like a number, you know, that is a there's a 576 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:34,160 Speaker 1: there's a scale, you know, I guess one to ten 577 00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:37,720 Speaker 1: or whatever. But I think also you get extra points, 578 00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:39,640 Speaker 1: you know, you have to you want to land a 579 00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:42,760 Speaker 1: certain number of these tricks, you know, and that really 580 00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:45,839 Speaker 1: affects your score. I mean, the beauty of it all, 581 00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:48,400 Speaker 1: and the music and the costumes and all. I guess 582 00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:50,680 Speaker 1: you know it's contributed that a little bit. But I mean, 583 00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:53,520 Speaker 1: you're more likely to win if you land a bunch 584 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:56,360 Speaker 1: of like, you know, triple axles or whatever, these like 585 00:37:56,520 --> 00:37:59,280 Speaker 1: really hard to pull off tricks are Yeah. And then also, 586 00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:03,680 Speaker 1: I mean, maybe maybe it's better to say that the 587 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:08,720 Speaker 1: arts competitions were not kinesthetic in nature. So even these 588 00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:14,600 Speaker 1: subjective uh performances or these subjective physical competitions are kind 589 00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:18,080 Speaker 1: of aesthetic. They are people moving their bodies in space. 590 00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:22,719 Speaker 1: Uh and this or horse or horse, yeah, or a 591 00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:27,640 Speaker 1: really precise horse who I think is probably traumatized. I'm 592 00:38:27,680 --> 00:38:31,520 Speaker 1: just gonna be honest, because that's not how horses normally walk. 593 00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:34,640 Speaker 1: It's funny you bring up pressage because that became a 594 00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:37,400 Speaker 1: running joke in uh Stuff they Don't Want you to 595 00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:40,080 Speaker 1: Know show we recorded recently. I don't know why what 596 00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:42,400 Speaker 1: about like like like like the what is the hobbies 597 00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:48,840 Speaker 1: of failed dictators? Something like? Well, I know, when Romney 598 00:38:48,960 --> 00:38:51,200 Speaker 1: was running for president back in twelve, The Daily Show 599 00:38:51,239 --> 00:38:53,840 Speaker 1: caught on the fact that he had adressage horse and 600 00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:56,360 Speaker 1: they had a lot of fun with that. Yeah, the 601 00:38:56,440 --> 00:39:00,600 Speaker 1: Daily Show, And shout out to John Stewart Man. You know, hey, 602 00:39:00,680 --> 00:39:03,560 Speaker 1: that guy. That guy deserves the Nobel Prize of some sort. 603 00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:07,080 Speaker 1: And we hope that you enjoyed this episode, folks. No, 604 00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:09,960 Speaker 1: this is something we asked at the end of another 605 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:13,120 Speaker 1: Olympics episode. What are some sports you think should be 606 00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:16,200 Speaker 1: included in the Olympics that have yet to be included? 607 00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:19,480 Speaker 1: What are some sports you believe should come back We 608 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:21,719 Speaker 1: can't wait to hear your thoughts. Find us on that 609 00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:25,719 Speaker 1: Facebook page mentioned Ridiculous Historians. Thanks as always to our 610 00:39:25,760 --> 00:39:30,920 Speaker 1: super producer Max Max. You are known curling enthusiasts, so 611 00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:34,400 Speaker 1: I imagine that would be your Olympic sport of choice 612 00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:37,520 Speaker 1: were you to compete. I'm gonna say that if I 613 00:39:37,640 --> 00:39:41,000 Speaker 1: were competing the Olympics, I would go with breaking because 614 00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:43,640 Speaker 1: back in the day it was actually pretty good at it. Nol. 615 00:39:43,719 --> 00:39:48,279 Speaker 1: What about you if you were competing in an Olympic sport? Uh, 616 00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:54,759 Speaker 1: finger skateboarding? Nice? Nice? Yeah, the skateboarding of kings. So 617 00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:57,680 Speaker 1: let's see who else thinks to Thanks to you, sir, 618 00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:01,320 Speaker 1: Thanks to Eve's Jeff Coats, Thanks to oh Alex Williams 619 00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:06,920 Speaker 1: who composed this Olympic metal worthy track. Indeed, Christopher rosciotis 620 00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:10,160 Speaker 1: here in spirit the quister. All the above, everyone our 621 00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:15,279 Speaker 1: Olympic Committee are rogues. Gallery of Ridiculous Historians. We'll see 622 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:24,719 Speaker 1: you next time. Focus For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, 623 00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:27,440 Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 624 00:40:27,560 --> 00:40:29,120 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.