With a total of 18 medals won, Larissa Latynina, a gymnast representing the Soviet Union, has won the most number of medals in the history of the Olympic Games. She won 9 gold medals, 5 silver medals, and 4 bronze medals in the three Summer Olympics she participated in making her the only female athlete with 9 gold medals to her name.
Gymnastics is one of the oldest sports in the Olympic Games. It was first seen in the 1896 Athens summer Olympics and the first team of women gymnasts appeared only on the 1928 Olympics. While male gymnasts vie in floor, pommel horse, ring, vault, parallel bars, and horizontal bars categories, female gymnasts take part on the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercises. Individual all-around events and team events are also some of the events included in the competition.
After a 10-year training in gymnastics Lasrissa Latynina’s first Olympic experience was in the 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics at the age of 22. She won 6 medals that year; 4 gold medals were from the all-around, teams, and floor exercise and vault events. She won 1 silver medal in the uneven bars category and 1 bronze medal from the object exercise event.
In the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Latynina was the crowd’s favorite despite being in her fourth month of pregnancy. She again brought home a total of 6 medals in which 3 of these are gold medals from the all-around and teams and floor exercise. In the bars and balance beam categories, she had 2 silver medals, while 1 bronze medal was from the vaults event.
Latynina’s last participation in the Olympic Games was in the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics where she further garnered 6 medals. Despite losing the gold medal in the all-around event, she still gained 2 gold medals in the teams and floor exercises, 2 silver medals in the all-around and vault events, and 2 bronze medals in the bars and balance beams categories.
In the history of gymnastics in Olympic competitions, Latynina is well known as the only woman who has won the gold medal in the all-around event in more than 2 Olympic Games. Furthermore, she is the only woman who has earned a spot in an individual event in more than 2 Olympic Games. Despite retiring in her early 30′s, she became a coach in her native Russia for years. At present, she still plays an active role behind the scenes in various gymnastic competitions.
In the simplest definition, a dime back in American Football is the sixth defensive back or db in a dime defense or package. This type of defensive formation utilizes six db’s instead of the usual four or five and is obviously applied in situations where a lot of passing is necessary. This formation can be comprised of four line men and one line backer or three line men and two line backers. Either way, the five line men and line backers are backed up with sixth defensive backs instead of the usual four or five db’s.
In the lineup mentioned, line men are specially known for plays and are positioned within the line of scrimmage. Line backers on the other hand are aligned about three of four yards away from the line of scrimmage. This line is only imaginary but teams are strictly prohibited from crossing it prior to the beginning of the next play. Here, a line backer is replaced by a dime back for greater defense and to perform a dime strategy.
Going back to the dime package, a fifth member of the defense is called a nickel back while a dime back is of course, the sixth. The regular defense consists of two corner backs (cb) for the first and second slot, one nickel back (third), and one dime back (fourth). In other formations such as the nickel formation (with three db’s and 2 safety players), a dime back always plays the fourth db. The dime back is the second extra db or the sixth in total with the nickel back being the first extra (in dime defenses). The name dime back was therefore derived from a nickel since a dime is equivalent to two nickels in American currency.
On a more practical definition, a dime back is synonymous to running in foot ball. This explains why dime backs are often fast players and dime formations are applied to plays with a lot of passing necessary. Dime backs are actually corner backs or corner specifically chosen for defense positions. Corner backs are positioned in the defensive backfield. They are responsible for defending against offensive passes, making tackles, and covering the wide receivers. The latter are players where most of the plays with passing involved are attributed to.
Based on the description of a dime backs responsibility, a db is therefore expected to posses the skills for running, tackling, back-pedaling, disrupting routes for offensive passes, shedding blockers, and executing coverage for single players and a whole zone for receivers. Most of these require running which is why dime backs are chosen for speed and agility.
Set about 70 years after the completion of the original series, the Avatar the Last Airbender, the new Avatar the Legend of Korra has already has all the classical tales of making for great animation series. First, it is created by none other than the creators of the original series – Michael Daniel DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. Secondly, it is not an entirely different setting from the original series. In fact, it is more or less a continuation of the original series.
The story contains many of the elements of the original series. The four nations – Earth nation, fire nation, water nation and air nation. The habitants of these nations contain the psychokinetic ability to “bend” their respective elements i.e. those in the earth nation can “bend” earth, those in the fire nation fire e.t.c. But there is the twist of having one special individual among these four nations who can bend all the elements. This individual is known as the Avatar. In the original series, the Avatar was a young boy called Aang. In “Avatar the Legend of Korra”, the Avatar is Korra, a girl full of energy and with the fervor to learn everything.
The story follows her as she embarks on a quest to Republic City to perfect her air bending skills. She is already perfect in water, earth and fire bending. In the Republic City, she meets Tenzin, an elderly man who will be the one who teaches her air bending. To show that the story is a continuation of the old series, Tenzin is the son of Aang.
During her training in the Republic City, Korra discovers that there is a group of anti benders meant to tear the world apart. In the same city, the crime rate is at an all time high too. Korra makes it her task to take on the anti benders and reduce the crime rate so that the city can be safe again. According to various sources, Nickelodeon is set to release the series around mid-2012.