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decathlon
decathlon , in modern Olympic games , a contest for men held over two days and composed of 10 track-and-field events. It consists of the long jump; the high jump; the discus throw; the shot putt; the javelin throw; the 100-, 400-, and 1,500-meter races; the 110-meter hurdle race; and the pole vault...
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transept
transept , term applied to the transverse portion of a building cutting its main axis at right angles or to each arm of such a portion. Transepts are found chiefly in churches, where, extending north and south from the main body, they create a cruciform plan. They may consist of a central portion as...
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track and field athletics
track and field athletics sports of foot racing, hurdling, jumping, vaulting, and throwing varied weights and objects. They are usually separated into two categories: track, the running and hurdling events; and field, the throwing, jumping, and vaulting events. "Meets" are traditionally conduct...
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Portales
Portales , city (1990 pop. 10,690), seat of Roosevelt co., E N.Mex., near the Tex. line; inc. 1910. It is the trade and processing center of an agricultural area. There is food processing, printing and publishing, and the manufacture of machinery, furniture, building products, and feeds. Oil wells a...
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Jesse Owens
Jesse Owens 1913-80, U.S. track star, b. Alabama. He was also called John Cleveland Owens, although his original name was said to be simply J. C. Owens. After his family moved to Cleveland he excelled at track and field events in high school. He won the broad-jump titles at the outdoor (1933-34) an...
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swimming
swimming self-propulsion through water, often as a form of recreation or exercise or as a competitive sport. It is mentioned in many of the classics in connection with heroic acts or religious rites. The first book on methods of swimming was Nicolas Wynman's Dialogue Concerning the Art of Swimming...
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Mark Spitz
Mark Spitz
American swimmer Mark Spitz (born 1950) is considered to have been the fastest swimmer in history. For six years, beginning in 1966, he dominated the sport, winning a world record seven gold medals in the 1972 Olympics held in Munich, West Germany. This was the most gold medals won by ...
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meter
meter abbr. m, fundamental unit of length in the metric system . The meter was originally defined as 1/10,000,000 of the distance between the equator and either pole; however, the original survey was inaccurate and the meter was later defined simply as the distance between two scratches on a bar m...
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meter
meter in music, the division of a composition into units of equal time value called measures, and the subdivision of those measures into an underlying pattern of stresses or accents (see measure ). Meter is usually indicated by a time signature, a fraction whose numerator indicates the number of b...
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Lorenzo Ghiberti
Lorenzo Ghiberti , c.1378-1455, Florentine sculptor. He received his early training in the workshop of Bartoluccio. In 1401 he entered the competition for a bronze portal for the baptistery in Florence. He won the contest against his closest rival, Brunelleschi . Their trial panels, depicting The ...
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