Five RIngs, Five Medals flag - Beijing 2022

 

It is here yet again.  Rinse and repeat, the calls for 4th place medals reappear every two years to deaf ears.  Come on people, ya gotta dig a little deeper than just because it feels bad to be in 4th.  Look here below, and it will all make sense.  If they ever do expand the medals, here are some sound and logical arguments to do so, below.

This year in 2022, year of the Tiger, there are three additional rings.  

Athletes who place below 24th get a Qoppa Ring.  Qoppa is an archaic Greek letter.  Since there are 24 letters in the Greek Alphabet the first 24 finishers get a unique letter.  However everyone who finishers from 25th to last gets a Qoppa Ring. 

The Heta Ring is for participants who do not finish.  It can be for any number reasons.  They get injured at the event.  Something happens personally where to do not finish, whatever the reason.  This is partial credit ring. 

Finally there is the Digamma ring, for Olympians who qualified but did not show up at the Olympics.  It can be for various reasons from very personal, injury, or a a boycott by their home nation.  Thus all the athletes who missed the Moscow 1980 Olympics should have gotten a Digamma Ring.  For this year, 2022, all the athletes from North Korea get a Digamma Ring.

Every participant gets a ring, it's an idea consistent with Olympic Creed. They only get one ring.  The ring of this highest rank or win.  They can still snatch as many medals as they can win, but they will only get one ring per Olympics.

 

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Expansion of medals for 4th & 5th place
2012 London Olympics

Although China got first gold the USA got first Tin, likewise Czech got the fist Copper.


Jamie-Lynn Gray of the USA gets the first unofficial honorary "TIN" medal of the 2012 Olympic Games!

Why two extra medals? Because it matches with the five rings of the Olympic flag - a medal for each continent. Besides those athletes worked so hard and sacrificed so much.

Finally since the Olympic flag has five rings - five medals make a harmonious whole for the five continents.  This idea is in harmony 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

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Added 8/11/2016

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 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.

 

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.  Once again, 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

'Sup Dawg Logo from Hot Tub Time Machine 2010

 

Take me back to 2010, old movies are like time capsules in a bottle.  In 2010, another classic time machine movie came to be, Hot Tub Time Machine.  Of vexillological note is the unique logo for 'Sup Dawg specialty care pet store.  The logo features of pink poodle in the crest upon a coat of arms with S and D, and the motto underneath that reads 'Sup Dawg. 

Lunar Twilight 2021 - a solo song

 

Wishing you all in the future a 'Lovely Lunar Twilight.'  This is a short one!  Since the last moon of 2021 dissolves tonight on New Years Day.  Lunar Twilight's length depends on the phases of the Moon.  Since the last New-Empty Moon was just about one month ago, we only get one night of Lunar Twilight.  This is when we get an extra moment to say goodbye to yesteryear that returned at sunset.  Reason being the next new cycle of the Moon wont start until January 3, 2022. 

During the evenings when yesteryear returns, it is a soulful time to reflect on the gift that was and cherish all of last year.  Looking to the future with enthusiasm is best mixed with a sweet good bye kiss to past.  

One song that captures all the feels of Lunar Twilight is Alan Jackson's Remember When, released back in 2003!

Other Vexilloids from Trading Places 1983

 

The stain glass works image is from the classic Christmas-New Year's Holiday celebration film Trading Places 1983. Several coats of arms can be seen in the windows, including the arms for the UK, Longon, and what looks like Harvard. 

On the back of The Wall Street Journal an advertisement for the Apple II personal computer is visible on the back.  Who knew, this little computer company would grow and grow to become the great corporate oak of 2020.

Barely noticeable in the background is Christmas Holiday banner flying from a flag pole on a building.  It is red flag that is impossible to determine what is reads. 

The ancient question of hereditary vs environment.  Which factor plays a bigger role on shaping a man?  No doubt hereditary plays a critical role in shaping a women and providing her or him with a certain advantage over others.  Likewise for men who inherit 6ft genes, get romance handed to them on a golden platter.

Note the logo of Jamison scotch can be seen, which employs a coat of arms. 

 

 

 

Pennsylvania and City of Philadelphia Flag in Trading Places - 1983

 

During the Heritage Club humiliation scene the flags of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia appear in the background.  The best shot of the flags when the camera zooms on Clarence Beeks, the covert security expert. The flag of Philadelphia is on the left behind Beeks' right shoulder.  It has a light blue color and you can see the Goddess Ceres holding a cornucopia.  On the right side of the image, behind the left shoulder of Beeks is a dark blue flag with three sheaves of wheat.   A gold fringe and gold tassels are visible as well. 

 

From left to right is the US flag, Heritage Club flag, city of Philadelphia flag, and Pennsylvania state flag. 

The flag of Philadelphia is vertical tribar of sky blue, yellow, and sky blue.  In the middle yellow section is Philadelphia coat of arms.  The colors are based upon the flag of Sweden which planted the first permanent Old World colony in the Pennsylvania and Delaware.
 

African Pride Flag in Trading Places 1983

 

The Pan African Pride flag makes an appearance in the Trading Places 1983.  The colours also do a swell job of echoing the spirit of Christmas, since they include red and green. 

The Heritage Club Flag - Trading Places 1983

 

It is funny how Hollywood sometimes conforms itself to star, and in 1983 it made way for Eddie Murphy to shine in the film Trading Places.  In the background is the flag of the 'Heritage Club' of Philadelphia.  It is a horizontal tribar of green, yellow, and green. 

The fictional Heritage Club of Philadelphia has a flag flying from the side of the building.  This movie plays the rags to riches theme, but also riches to rags, and makes a statement on high society and the city poor. It is classic 1980s movie that pulls hard punches, and not afraid to show some the lewd humor of the time.

In reality this show is a complete fantasy, yet is grounding in reality.  It is an absurd plot, but the super rich are often an absurd bunch, who are willing to spend money in absurd ways. 

In this shot the Heritage Club flag is to the left of US flag.