Expansion Banner for the 2018 Winter Korean Olympics at Pyeong Chang

As it has been said before, 5 medals make it a five rings!  The time for expanding the rewards for the Olympic games is long, long overdue.  What are we waiting for?  Maybe fourth can get a pewter, an alloy of tin, known to the ancients.  And fifth can get the iron, reflective of the Iron Age?

Medals Awarded for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th - Matching the 5 Rings, Medals - Mantra : Russian 2014 Olympics

1	Tatiana Volosozhar / Maxim Trankov	Russia
2	Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy	Germany
3	Ksenia Stolbova / Fedor Klimov	Russia
4	Pang Qing / Tong Jian	China
5	Meagan Duhamel / Eric Radford	Canada

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Tatiana Volosozhar / Maxim Trankov

 Russia

Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy

 Germany

Ksenia Stolbova / Fedor Klimov

 Russia

Pang Qing / Tong Jian

 China

Meagan Duhamel / Eric Radford

 Canada

FIVE RINGS = FIVE MEDALS

The original spirit of the new games was to come together in healthy competition and community, not necessarily for a medal count. So here is a suggestion, since there are five rings why not five medals?

Fourth and fifth place certainly deserve something for their fortitude and so close effort! They don't even have to stand on the podium or get their flags raised. But maybe they can stand on the flanking left and right sides? Also if it's a team sport then only one member of the team can stand by the podium. When the Olympics started in 1896 there weren't as many nations participating as their are today. In fact their were only 14 nations, now there are over 200 participating nations.

5 Olympic Rings match with 5 Olympic Medals

So what would the metals be made up of? It really does not matter but it would make sense to have them made up of the constituent elements of bronze. Thus fourth place gets copper while fifth place gets tin.

So that would make 6th place the unlucky duck who just missed out..... but not completely!

Another idea that would take focus away from the national obsession for trophies, is to give out awards to the best 24 competitors. Since the Games are based on Greek culture why not give out ring trophies to the top 24 competitors? Just wait till you hear how we would do this!

24 Olympic Achievement Rings based on the Greek Alphabet from Alpha to Omega, for the top 24 places.

First it will promote Greek Culture, and thus the world will become familiar with Greek letters. Second, we all enjoy the games because of the Greeks, it's the right thing to do to honor the Greeks. Finally all those athletes who sacrificed so much certainly deserve something.


Thus 1st place gets the Alpha ring, the 2nd place gets the Beta ring, 3rd gets a Gamma ring, 4th gets a Delta ring, and 5th gets an Epsilon ring in addition to their medals the receive already.

6th place to 24th would not get a medal but only rings of their respective position. 6th gets a ring with Eta on it while 24th position gets a ring with Omega on it. The person or team in 25th does not get a Greek Ring, but only a token participant ring. 

Doing this is in the spirit of the games for community and healthy competition, and in respect to the Greeks who started these games. If this is done, people all over the world will eventually know the Greek Alphabet through osmosis (my favorite Greek word).

If they ever expand the medal reward system, why not also crown 1st place with a wreath of olives too? Apparently in the original Greek Games only the winner received this olive branch token. Medals for 1st let alone 2nd and 3rd were modern contrivances.


Besides, wearing an Olympic medal in public after the games are over is a wee bit ostentatious, no? But the athletes who placed in the top 24 positions can still strut their stuff and inspire others with "Official Place Position Olympic Rings."

The rings of fist five places should match their medal position. Thus 1st place gets a golden ring, 2nd a silver ring, 3rd a bronze ring, 4th a copper ring, and 5th a tin ring. Places 6th and below get a regular ring made out of a less expensive metal than tin or some alloy of it.


These men and women worked hard and sacrificed time, money, and certain aspects of their youth. They deserve something. If any of these ideas are adopted then former Olympic athletes can easily show others a humble memento and inspire.

They can keep the fire of the Olympics shining wherever they go.

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Look at my fingers! One, two, three, four, and five! I said five medals for the next Olympics! There are five rings! Thus the top five athletes get a medal! Otherwise you'll get a lightening bolt up your... you know where!
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Did you know that expanding the medal reward system has already happened for the modern Olympics? The first two Olympics at Athens & Paris only gave out official medals for first and second. And they did not give out any gold. Instead first place received a silver medal and second place got a bronze medal. If you placed third – you got nada.

It wasn’t until the first American Olympics in St. Louis that gold medals were handed out. So if you think we shouldn’t add medals for fourth or fifth just because it breaks with tradition – tradition has already been broken. 

Furthermore, when you do the math on the ratio of prizes to participating nations the shift in numbers is staggering. During the first modern Olympics there were 14 participating nations competing for 2 medals (first and second). This leads to a 1 out of 7 chance of randomly winning a medal. Basically, if things were led to chance a nation had a 14% chance of winning a medal.* When they started handing out gold medals for first place at the St. Louis Olympics the ratio actually increased to about 1 to 4, because there were 3 medals to win for 12 participating nations (25% chance). Fast forward to the Rio-2016 Olympics with 206 participating nations – the ratio of winning a medal is about 1 to 69. In terms of a percentages that’s about a 1% chance of winning a medal.
 

Let’s say they expand to five medals for the top five places, the ratio changes to about 1 to 42, raising the chances of winning a medal a measly 2%. So if you are worried that giving fourth and fifth a medal will devalue 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd - is one percent a big fuss? 
 

Now when you calculate the 24 ring-alphabet awards with 2016-Rio Olympic numbers the pure chance ratio of winning ring is about 1 to 8.5 – which is only 12%. Note 12% is a lot closer to the original ratio or percentage of the first modern Olympics at Athens.
 

So why not!? Think of all that hard work and sacrifice those athletes put into their training – the heartache, time, tears, sweat, and blood. Certainly they deserve a better shot at winning a medal or at least snatching a humble token of their dedication and fortitude. The time has come to expand the Olympic medal reward system. 

An expanded idea for the Olympic rings is that all participants get a ring.  If they place 24 or higher they get a Greek letter carved in it, if they place 5th or higher they get a medal.  Athletes who place 25th or below get a ring with logo of the host nations choosing, perhaps the year, place, and logo.  Thus all athletes get a ring, some will get the generic participant ring, some will get a Greek lettered ring, while a few will get a coveted gold, silver, bronze, copper, and tin ring.  

Finally since the Olympic flag has five rings - five medals make a harmonious whole for the five 'official' continents.  This idea is consistent with the official Olympic Creed:

"THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE OLYMPICS IS NOT TO WIN BUT TO TAKE PART, JUST AS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN LIFE IS NOT THE TRIUMPH BUT THE STRUGGLE.  THE ESSENTIAL THING IS NOT TO HAVE CONQUEORED BUT TO HAVE FOUGHT WELL"  -PIERRE DE COUBERTIN


Image Source Podium: https://www.rt.com/news/russia-figure-skating-win-770/ 

Pyeong Chang - 2018 Winter Olympics Flag in Korenglish

Korean is a very very unique language.  In this case we have new script called Korenglish or Hanglish, which is a mash of the Korean written form with English letters.  In this case the name of the host city Pyong Chang can be decoded in the Korea-funked letters of the Roman Alphabet, which is where the English Alphabet comes from.  If you don't see it at first look closely at the four letters and you'll see it!                            

If you have trouble read Hanglish, which you should if you are a native English speaker, then here is a fun message.  The English letters should slowly pop out at you when you read the message.  Trump and Kim were never going to war, we have the Olympics to celebrate after all!

Vexillology Day

October 1st is vexillology day.  Due to the publication of the first journal dedicated to vexillology.

But vexillology day started last year.

Flag for the Southwestern Quarter of the Earth

The design for the Southwestern Quarter of the Earth flag is a tribute to Whitney Smith.  The Southwestern Quarter is where the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres overlap. The dart or chevron points to the fly, like the flag of Guyana, which was Smith's original idea for the flag of Guyana.

However the colour scheme stems from ancient Chinese Cosmology.  Red is associated with the South and white is associated with the West.  Of consequence to Southerns in the USA is the mythical animal associated with the South - the Phoenix.  In case you forgot the Phoenix like rises up from the ashes, as the would be forlorn chant that "the South will rise again." Yellow is also included, since it acts as the reference point from a center.

More recently these colours have been popularized in Japanese pop culture, with the red phoenix of the South and white tiger of the West. Furthermore, nearly the entire world under the age of 30 has some notion of these concepts due to the rise of Anime and Pokemon.

This flag can be flown over any area of the Earth in the Southwestern Quarter: most of South America, French Polynesia, and the Easter Islands. 

Flag for the Southeastern Quarter of the Earth

The design for the Southeastern Quarter of the Earth is based upon a pattern in tribute to Whitney Smith.  The Southeastern Quarter is where the Southern and Eastern Hemispheres overlap. The dart or chevron to the fly design, as proposed for the flag of Guyana, was Smith's conception for a flag now accepted across the world.

However the colour scheme stems from ancient Chinese Cosmology.  Because, red is associated with the South and blue is associated with the East.  Yellow is also included, since it acts as the reference point from the center.

More recently these colours have been popularized in Japanese pop culture, with the red phoenix of the South and blue dragon of the East. Furthermore, nearly the entire world under the age of 30 has some notion of these concepts due to the rise of Anime and Pokemon.

This flag can be flown over any area of the Earth in the Southeastern Quarter: which includes South Africa, Mozambique, the southern half of Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand. 

Flag for the Northeastern Quarter of the Earth

The design for the Northeastern Quarter of the Earth is based upon designs in tribute to Whitney Smith.  The Northwestern Quarter is the quarter is where the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres overlap. The dart or chevron to the fly design, as proposed for the flag of Guyana, was Smith's concept for a national flag.

However the colour scheme stems from ancient Chinese Cosmology.  Reason being, black is associated with the North and blue is associated with the East.  Yellow is also included, since it acts as the reference point from the center.

More recently these colours have been popularized in Japanese pop culture, with the black turtle of the North and blue dragon tiger of the South. Furthermore, nearly the entire world under the age of 30 has some notion of these concepts due to the rise of Anime and Pokemon.

This flag can be flown over any area of the Earth in the Northeastern Quarter, which includes much of Europe, all of Russia, Germany, India, Arabia, China, and Korea.

Flag for the Northwestern Quarter of the Earth

The design for the Northwestern Quarter of the Earth is based upon a style in tribute to Whitney Smith, the founder of vexillology.  The Northwestern Quarter is where the Northern and Western Hemispheres overlap. The dart or chevron design, as proposed for the flag of Guyana, was Smith's original concept.

However the colour scheme stems from ancient Chinese Cosmology.  Accordingly, black is associated with the North and white is associated with West.  Yellow is also included, since it acts as the reference point from the center.

More recently these colours have been popularized in Japanese-American pop culture, with the black turtle of the North and white tiger of the West. Nearly the entire world under the age of 30 has some notion of these concepts due to the rise of anime and Pokemon.

This flag can be flown over any area of the Earth in the Northwestern Quarter- which includes the USA, Canada, Mexico, all of the Caribbean, and the part of South America north of the Equator.