Events (Games) in the Ancient Olympics:

The races and other events (games) in the ancient Olympics were not fixed at the time of the first Olympics, but gradually evolved. Here you'll find a description of the big events at the ancient Olympics and the approximate date when they were added.

• Boxing
• Discus (part of Pentathlon)
• Equestrian Events
• Javelin (part of Pentathlon)
• Jumping
• Pankration
• Pentathlon
• Running
• Wrestling

Foot Race:

According to "The Athletic Events of the Ancient Olympic Games,"(1) the stade, a 200-yard foot race, was the first and only Olympic event for 13 Games. The diaulos, a 400-yard foot race, was instituted for the next (the 14th) set of Olympic Games and the dolichos, a variable-length foot-race, averaging 20 stades, was instituted in the 15th Olympiad.

The stadion was a sprint a stadion long (about 192 m) or the length of the stadium. The women's racecourse was shorter than the men's by about a sixth.

At the first recorded Olympic games there was one event, a race, -- the stade (also a measure of the distance of the length of the track). By 724 B.C. a 2-length race was added; by 700, there were long distance races (the marathon came later). By 720, men participated naked, except for the foot race-in-armor (50-60 pounds of helmet, greaves, and shield) that helped young men prepare for war by building speed and stamina. Achilles' epithet, swift footed, and the belief that Ares, god or war, was fastest of the gods indicate, according to Roger Dunkle (2), that the ability to win a race was a much admired martial skill.

Pentathlon:

In the 18th Olympiad, the pentathlon and wrestling were added. Pentathlon was the name for the five events in Greek gymnastics: running, jumping, wrestling, discus throwing, and javelin throwing.

President Viktor F. Yanukovich of Ukraine announced that a national award bestowed on one of the most divisive figures in the country’s modern history — a leader of the Ukrainian partisans during World War II — had been officially revoked.

The Hero of Ukraine award was given to the partisan leader, Stepan Bandera, by Mr. Yanukovich’s predecessor, Viktor A. Yushchenko,shortly before he left office last year.

The award dispute reflects the longstanding geographic schism in Ukraine and its impact on the nation’s politics. Mr. Bandera, who was assassinated by the K.G.B. in 1959 in West Germany, where he lived in exile, is revered in western Ukraine as a patriot who led the struggle for independence from the Soviet Union and Poland. But he is reviled in other, more pro-Russian regions as a Nazi collaborator. European and Jewish groups have called him a fascist who condoned massacres of Jews and Poles.

Mr. Yushchenko, who had strong backing from Ukrainian-speaking nationalists in western Ukraine, handed out the award after losing a bid for re-election. The move was widely seen as a parting blow toward Mr. Yanukovich, the winner in the presidential race, who is from Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine, which has close ties to Moscow.

Mr. Yanukovich and his allies in the Kremlin assailed the award, and Mr. Yanukovich suggested that he might annul it.

Mr. Bandera’s supporters have argued that he never had a close relationship with the Nazis, pointing out that he was later detained by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp.

Mr. Yanukovich had the award canceled through the courts, not through a presidential decree, apparently deciding that such a method would be less provocative. In Ukraine, as in much of the former Soviet Union, the judicial system tends to have little independence, and typically follows the will of the executive branch.

With support from the new president, a Ukrainian lawyer last spring convinced a court to revoke the award, and subsequent appeals courts have upheld the decision, officials said.

On Wednesday, Mr. Yanukovich’s office indicated in a statement that the judicial process had ended and that the award was formally annulled.

The statement did not offer further comment. But Mr. Yushchenko’s party, «Our Ukraine», denounced Mr. Yanukovich for “attempts to rewrite the history of Ukraine and to belittle — in order to please Moscow — the heroes of the Ukrainian people.”

Mark Twain

 I would like to tell you about one of my favourite writers, Mark Twain.
Mark Twain was one of the most famous American writers, famous for his wit and wisdom, made evident in novels like "Tom Sawyer","The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," as well as his travel writings, essays, and letters. And I like his works very much!!!
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), called "the Great American Novel", and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).
Mark Twain was born in Florida, Missouri. Sam was the sixth of seven children of John and Jane Clemens, with only two of his siblings surviving childhood; his brother Orion and sister Pamela.
When Sam was four years old the family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, a small frontier town on the banks of the Mississippi River, which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. Missouri was a slave-holding state. The family owned one slave named Jenny. Sam’s uncle also owned several slaves. Sam delighted in the spirituals and tall-tales told by Jenny and in the slave quarters of his uncle. This early influence would serve young Clemens well.
Sam was eleven years old when his father died in 1847. He left school in the fifth grade to work as a printer’s apprentice for a local paper. It was there, while setting type, that Sam got a taste for the news and a sense of the world beyond the small village of Hannibal.
At eighteen, Sam set out for New York and Philadelphia, working for several newspapers and getting some of his first articles published.

 In 1857, Sam embarked on his career as a riverboat pilot. Guiding a riverboat down the capricious Mississippi was no easy feat in the mid-nineteenth century. After two years of meticulously learning the ways of the river Sam earned his pilot license.
During his training, Clemons convinced his younger brother Henry to come join him on the river. On June 21st, 1858, the steamboat Henry was working on exploded, a tragic accident that killed Sam’s brother. Ridden with guilt, Sam held himself responsible for Henry’s death for the rest of his life.
He was a failure at gold mining, so he next turned to journalism. While a reporter, he wrote a humorous story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, which proved to be very popular and brought him nationwide attention. His travelogues were also well-received. Twain had found his calling.
He achieved great success as a writer and public speaker. His wit and satire earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty.
However, he lacked financial acumen. Though he made a great deal of money from his writings and lectures, he squandered it on various ventures, in particular the Paige Compositor, and was forced to declare bankruptcy. With the help of Henry Huttleston Rogers, however, he eventually overcame his financial troubles. Twain worked hard to ensure that all of his creditors were paid in full, even though his bankruptcy had relieved him of the legal responsibility.
Born during a visit by Halley's Comet, he died on its return. He was lauded as the "greatest American humorist of his age" and William Faulkner called Twain "the father of American literature".

Do you dream about what your future may hold for you? Or do you believe dreaming is just wishful thinking, and that your fate has already been decided for you?
Have you already decided that what you do is what you will probably always do, you are who you are and that you must just accept your lot for what it is and just get on with life?

Dreaming is good for you, it allows you to step into the future and see a whole new life for yourself. Some medical researcher will probably one day find some health benefits to dreaming (if they haven't already). I think it's healthy to get lost in day dreams from time to time.
The process of dreaming creates images in your mind, which should then create a desire to go and make something happen in your life. Somebody once said 'Our aspirations become our possibilities. You will want what you think about'.It is good to dream and think about what you might  to create for yourself in your life.