Opus

Encyclopædia of the sublime

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Władysław Kozakiewicz

In Poland, the Bras d'honneur became known as the Kozakiewicz gesture. Kozakiewicz made the gesture on July 30, 1980 to Russian spectators in the stadium during the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The crowd supporting Soviet jumper Konstantin Volkov booed, hissed, jeered, and whistled during Kozakiewicz's spectacular performance. Having just secured his gold medal position, Kozakiewicz made the gesture in defiance to the Soviet crowd. He later confirmed his dominance over the competition by breaking the world record, clearing at 5.78 meters.

Lawn bowls

Bowls historians believe that the game developed from the Egyptians. One of their pastimes was to play skittles with round stones. This has been determined based on artefacts found in tombs dating circa 5,000 B.C. The sport spread across the world and took on a variety of forms, Bocce (Italian), Bolla (Saxon), Bolle (Danish), Boules (French) and Ula Maika (Polynesian). The oldest Bowls green still played on is in Southampton, England where records show that the green has been in operation since 1299 A.D. There are other claims of greens being in use before that time, but these are, as yet, unsubstantiated.

Roy Shaw

Roy Shaw is an English millionaire, real estate investor, author and businessman from the East End of London who was formerly a notorious criminal and Category A prisoner. During the 1970s-1980s, Shaw was a well known and respected figure in the criminal underworld of London and was frequently associated with the Kray twins. Shaw is perhaps best remembered today for his infamous careers as both a professional boxer and an unlicensed fighter, becoming a legend in bare-knuckle boxing and during which time he became arch-rival with the also legendary Lenny McLean.

Lev Yashin

Lev Yashin was a Russian-Soviet football goalkeeper, considered by many to be the greatest goalkeeper in the history of the game. He was known for his superior athleticism in goal, imposing stature, amazing reflex saves and inventing the idea of goalkeeper sweeping. One of his best performances was the 1963 FA Centenary match, when he appeared in the ‘Rest of the World XI’ against England at Wembley Stadium and made a number of breathtaking and almost unbelievable saves. Known all over the world as the “Black Spider” for his distinctive all-black outfit, and because it seemed like he had eight arms to save almost everything. But to his fans he was always the fearless “Black Panther”. He often played wearing a cloth cap of burnt-brick color. In 1971 in Moscow he played his last match for Dynamo Moscow. Lev Yashin’s FIFA testimonial match was held at the Lenin Stadium in Moscow with 100,000 fans attending, and a host of football stars, including Pelé, Eusébio and Franz Beckenbauer.

Abortion doping

Abortion doping refers to the rumoured practice of purposely inducing pregnancy for athletic performance-enhancing benefits, then aborting the pregnancy. Research suggests that hormonal and other changes during pregnancy do affect physical performance, with women producing a natural surplus of red blood cells during the first three months, increasing aerobic capacity. Perhaps the most notable documented case of an athlete gaining possible benefit from pregnancy was Norwegian distance runner Ingrid Kristiansen, who won the 1983 Houston marathon five months after giving birth.