Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2016 August 21

= August 21 =

Rigged dead heats
What are the rules for competitive sports such as the Triathlon. I see that 3rd and 4th at the Rio Women's Triathlon were two women who share a flat. There appeared to be no one for some distance behind them. Could they have forced a dead heat for 3rd place by holding hands as they crossed the line or something ? -- SGBailey (talk) 08:29, 21 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Scroll up 2 questions for a discussion of this very subject (albeit focussing on the men's race). See also ESPN: Nicola Spirig wins in photo finish for when an (un-engineered) photo finish was used to separate the top two positions in the 2012 Women's Olympic Triathlon. TL;DR: Could two competitors force a dead heat by holding hands? Yes, they could certainly try, but the technology available for photo finishes makes it near impossible to achieve. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 10:11, 21 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Thx -- SGBailey (talk) 11:25, 21 August 2016 (UTC)


 * I remember seeing two men at the end of a walk at a major athletics championship crossing the line together with arms around each other's shoulders; one got gold and the other silver. Trawling Category:Racewalking competitions I couldn't identify it: some time in the 90s I think. jnestorius(talk) 12:07, 26 August 2016 (UTC)

4*100m relay
I observe that the heats Jamaican team only had 2 runners in common with the finals. Is this normal? How many folk can be in a squad? Who gets gold medals - just the 4 in the final or the entire squad? -- SGBailey (talk) 08:36, 21 August 2016 (UTC)
 * The IAAF Competition Rules state (Rule 170.10, page 188) "Each member of a relay team may run one leg only. Any four athletes from among those entered for the competition, whether for that or any other event, may be used in the composition of the relay team for any round. However, once the relay team has started in a competition, only two additional athletes may be used as substitutes in the composition of the team. If a team does not follow this Rule, it shall be disqualified."
 * Thus, "Is this normal?" Yes. "How many folk can be in a squad?" Any number you like, but only six may compete.
 * All members of the relay team who run in any part of the Olympic competition receive a medal. See Francena McCorory and Taylor Ellis-Watson who both ran in preliminary rounds but not the final, yet received a gold medal as part of the USA team. So, "Who gets gold medals?" Everyone who competes - between 4 and 6 squad members. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 10:30, 21 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Thx -- SGBailey (talk) 11:26, 21 August 2016 (UTC)
 * This was not always the rule: formerly you could only replace a runner from the heats if they got injured, and in the 1980 Olympic women's 4x400 compliant doctors certified injuries for Olga Mineeva and Liudmila Chernova who had run ran slowly in the heats and were replaced by Nina Ziuskova and Irina Nazarova in the final. The Soviets won but Mineeva and Chernova got no medals. jnestorius(talk) 12:07, 26 August 2016 (UTC)

Chukovsky
Is it true that Korney Chukovsky was very nearly sent to the gulag in 1937 for his poem "Tarakanische" ("The Monster Cockroach"), because the monster cockroach terrorizing other animals was seen as an allegory for Joseph Stalin? 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:F88D:DE34:7772:8E5B (talk) 21:16, 21 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Russian WP's article on the poem "Тараканище" (which was written in 1921 and published in 1923, before Lenin died, and not about Stalin, see also Rise of Joseph Stalin) states that the author was later still afraid of the authorities viewing it as satire on Stalin and afraid of the consequences. But I couldn't find any reference to discussion or correspondence or documents on Chukovsky being sent to the Gulag for having written that poem.
 * The mustached cockroach in Osip Mandelstam's satirical poem "The Kremlin Highlander" aka "Stalin Epigram" (Мы живём, под собою не чуя страны) in 1933, was bitingly clear, on the other hand, and it had consequences.
 * "Was Stalin 'The Monster Cockroach'?" by Katya Rogatchevskaia (the British Library's Lead Curator East European Collections; Specialism: Russian studies) might interest you as well. ---Sluzzelin talk  23:46, 25 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks! 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:F88D:DE34:7772:8E5B (talk) 05:00, 26 August 2016 (UTC)