Olympics Cities Destination Quiz (5 of 6) Atlanta to Seoul

We could perhaps call this entry "Beauty and the Beast," since we are featuring images of American gymnast Dominique Dawes, 36, and Turkish weightlifter Naim Suleymanoglu, 45, as we look at the distance between Atlanta, where the 1996 Olympics were held, and Seoul, where the 1988 Olympics took place.

Dawes and six other American gymnasts nicknamed "The Magnificent Seven," perhaps in reference to the western movie with Charles Bronson of that same name (well, we don't have time to research and verify everything), won team in front of home spectators at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics .

In recent years, Dawes has become a highly touted public speaker and physical fitness advocate. Her teammate Dominique Moceau, 30, has recently published a memoir called "Off Balance" about her trials and tribulations as an elite gymnast. And, another member of that team, Shannon Miller, 35, has survived a serious battle with cancer.

In addition to the team gold, Miller won gold on balance beam, Dawes won bronze on the floor and another American team gymnast Amy Chow, 34, won silver on bars, an event which was won by Russian gymnast Svetlana Khorkina, 33, a feat she repeated at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The 1988 Seoul Olympics were the first ones to have the United States and the Soviet Union since the 1976 Montreal Olympics, and coincidentally they were the last Olympics between the two countries as the U.S.S.R. abruptly dissolved in 1991.

For those games, which were boycotted by neighboring North Korea, Suleymanoglu, 45, won gold  and set new world records in weightlifter. The athlete nicknamed "the Pocket Hercules," sought political asylum from Turkey's neighbor Bulgaria via Australia due to the fact that Bulgarian citizens of Turkish heritage were being oppressed by the communist regime in Sofia. He would go on to win two more gold medals in the sport at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, then in Atlanta.

The 1988 Seoul Olympics were also noted for American diver Greg Louganis, 52, successful efforts, which garnered him another two gold medals. And, Soviet gymnast Svetlana Boginskaya, 39, who would later represent Belarus, won two gold meals in women's gymnastics in South Korea.

So, today's quiz is just far these two cities are from one another? Is the answer:

A) 7,003 miles

B) 7,123 niles

C) 7,223 miles

D) 7,563 miles

http://www.olympic.org/naim-suleymanoglu

http://www.dominique-moceanu.com

http://www.dominiquedawes.com

http://www.shannonmillerlifestyle.com

UPDATE: The answer is B) 7,123 miles, upon further research, we have come to the unofficial conclusion that Dominique Dawes, who is 5 feet, 3 inches tall, is about two inches taller than Naim Suleymanoglu!

Quote of the Day/Week- Dominique Moceanu

We continue our quotes from American athletes who won gold or silver at Olympics past with a gymnast Dominique Moceanu, 30, a daughter of Romanian immigrants who now resides in Cleveland in honor of the upcoming 2012 London Olympics.

Moceanu was a member of the Magnificent Seven women's gymnastics team from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, which also included Amanda Borden, Shannon Miller and Dominique Dawes. That team won gold over tough competition from Romania, Russia and China.

The gymnast, who is a mother of two, also coaches part-time in Cleveland. Moceanu's coach was Romanian emigre Bela Karolyi, who coached Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton.

Here is Moceanu's quote:

"I was always kinda fearless in everything I did."

We had also considered quoting Borden, 35, a mother of a four-year-old child, who is originally from Cincinnati and now coaches and resides in Tempe, Ariz. Her gym is called, appropriately enough Gold Medal Gym.

Miller, whom we quoted two weeks ago, made news last year as she publicly disclosed that she was battling cancer which at last report was in remission.

http://www.dominique-moceanu.com

http://www.goldmedalgym.com

Quote of the Day/Week-Shannon Miller

Today, we start our series with a month of quotes from American athletes who won gold or silver medals at the Summer Olympics, with a quip from Shannon Miller, now age 35, who remains one of America's most decorated international gymnasts.

Alas, tragedy has happened recently in Miller's as she underwent chemotherapy for cancer last year, but she has reportedly made a solid recovery and we wish her the best.

Miller, originally from Edmond, Oklahoma, was part of "The Magnificent Seven," which if, of course, not a reference to a western movie with Charles Bronson, but rather the nickname of the 1996 American team that won gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Amanda Borden, Dominique Dawes and Dominique Moceanu were also a part of that historic team. At those very same Olympics, Miller won individual gold on balance beam.

Before the Atlanta Olympics, Miller won five medals at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, including two silver medals and three bronze medals, which included the team bronze from those games.

It was recently announced that Miller will be part of the Yahoo! sports team covering the 2012 London Olympics. Swimmer Summer Sanders and decathlete Dan O'Brien will be joining Miller in London.

Here is her quote:

"At an Olympic game, you want to enjoy it, especially if you know it's going to be your last one."http://www.shannonmillerlifestyle.com

Bonus Quote of the Week- Dominique Dawes

Like students at my alma mater of Central High School in Woodstock, Va*, we are getting for spring break. So, we are planning not to post an entry until Sunday.

But, we will leave our loyal fans in Cyprus, Russia and Slovenia (I have no idea why, but we get an unusual amount of hits from those three countries!) with a quote from the great Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes, 35, who is a native of Silver Spring, Maryland.

Dawes, who also acted on Broadway in a revival of the musical "Grease," was the first African-American women's gymnast to win a gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Dawes was part of the 'magnificent seven,' the nickname given to that gymnastics team, which also included Shannon Miller, Amanda Borden and Dominique Moceanu.

Dawes also won bronze medals at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

In 2010, Dawes was appointed as co-chair of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition.

We used this quote for our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" back on Feb. 1, 2001, and it proved to be quite popular:

"I found through research that between 50 and 70 percent of young girls who describe themselves as overweight are actually normal weight."

*- Central High School in Woodstock, Va., is a real place, but the school whose nickname is the Falcons is not my alma mater; it is like Javier the Intern, one of the running gags on our blogs.

Things We Learned on Google Today_ Barcelona Kicks Butt

Since FC Barcelona has advanced to face Manchester United in the UEFA League finals, which is apparently watched with religious fervor in every country in the world except the United States and maybe Bhutan, we thought we'd tell everyone some facts that everyone in Spain assuredly already knows.

I asked Google: "How many UEFA League Championships has FC Barcelona won?" and the answer appears to be three (1992, 2006 and 2009). We also learned that FC Barcelona became the first team to win a domestic cup, a domestic league title and a UEFA Champions League title in the same year, 2009.

The current team features two Spanish socccer gods in David Villa and Pedro. The team has also featured international stars like Ronaldinho from Brazil and Lional Messi from Argentina.

The other image in this entry is Cobi, who was the mascot for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Speaking of which, we understand the American Olympic gymnast Shannon Miller who competed in several Olympics, including Barcelona, is battling cancer; she's only in her early 30s. I have not heard about her status, but we certainly wish her the best as well as a complete recovery.

We have no idea what Cobi's gender is (oh with a shirt and tie, he must be a man), or much about the mascot. We had to use Google to remind us who was mascot of the Barcelona Olympics actually!

And, lastly, an interesting thing about Bhutan, according to the NPR show "The World," one can not smoke there. In fact, they sent a Buddhist monk in Bhutan to prison for three years (?!) for smuggling smokes! Even though I haven't smoked since I was 20 years old in 1990, this seems a bit much, but I'm sure this means the air in the Himalayan nation is quite clean now!