title: Wrongful execution

text: Wrongful execution is a miscarriage of justice occurring when an innocent person is put to death by capital punishment. Cases of wrongful execution are cited as an argument by opponents of capital punishment, while proponents say that the argument of innocence concerns the credibility of the justice system as a whole and does not solely undermine the use of the death penalty.


title: Wrongful execution

text: A variety of individuals are claimed to have been innocent victims of the death penalty. Newly available DNA evidence has allowed the exoneration and release of more than 20 death-row inmates since 1992 in the United States, but DNA evidence is available in only a fraction of capital cases. At least 190 people who were sentenced to death in the United States have been exonerated and released since 1973, with official misconduct and perjury/false accusation the leading causes of their wrongful convictions. The Death Penalty Information Center (U.S.) has published a partial listing of wrongful executions that, as of the end of 2020, identified 20 death-row prisoners who were "executed but possibly innocent".


title: Wrongful execution

text: Colin Campbell Ross was hanged in Melbourne in 1922 for the murder of 12-year-old Alma Tirtschke the previous year in what became known as the Gun Alley Murder. The case was re-examined in the 1990s using modern techniques and Ross was eventually pardoned in 2008, by which time capital punishment in Australia had been abolished in all jurisdictions. The last execution took place in 1967.


title: Wrongful execution

text: Ronald Ryan was the last person executed in Australia. His execution took place on February 3, 1967. He and a fellow inmate, Peter John Walker, attempted to escape from Pentridge Prison on December 19, 1965, when prison guard, George Hodgson was shot and killed. Multiple witnesses swore that they saw Ryan fire the shot that killed Hodgson, so he was found guilty. The true identity of the shooter is in contention as two other guards admitted to firing several shots, and in 2007, Peter John Walker said that it would have been impossible for Ryan to have shot the guard as his rifle had jammed.


title: Wrongful execution

text: Wei Qing'an (Chinese: 魏清安, 1961–1984, 23 years old) was a Chinese citizen who was executed for the rape of Kun Liu, a woman who had disappeared. The execution was carried out on 3 May 1984 by the Intermediate People's Court. In the next month, Tian Yuxiu (田玉修) was arrested and admitted that he had committed the rape. Three years later, Wei was officially declared innocent.


title: Wrongful execution

text: Teng Xingshan (Chinese: 滕兴善, ?–1989) was a Chinese citizen who was executed for supposedly having raped, robbed and murdered Shi Xiaorong (石小荣), a woman who had disappeared. An old man found a dismembered body, and incompetent police forensics claimed to have matched the body to the photo of the missing Shi Xiaorong. The execution was carried out on 28 January 1989 by the Huaihua Intermediate People's Court. In 1993, the previously missing woman returned to the village, saying she had been kidnapped and taken to Shandong. The absolute innocence of the wrongfully executed Teng was not admitted until 2005.


title: Wrongful execution

text: Nie Shubin (Chinese: 聂树斌, 1974–1995) was a Chinese citizen who was executed for the rape and murder of Kang Juhua (康菊花), a woman in her thirties. The execution was carried out on April 27, 1995 by the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court. In 2005, ten years after the execution, Wang Shujin (Chinese: 王书金) admitted to the police that he had committed the murder.


title: Wrongful execution

text: Qoγsiletu or Huugjilt (Mongolian:qoγsiletu, Chinese: , 1977–1996) was an Inner Mongolian who was executed for the rape and murder of a young girl on June 10, 1996. On December 5, 2006, ten years after the execution, Zhao Zhihong (Chinese: 赵志红) wrote the "Petition of my Death Penalty" admitting he had committed the crime. Huugjilt was posthumously exonerated and Zhao Zhihong was sentenced to death in 2015.


title: Wrongful execution

text: Sir Edward Crosbie, 5th Baronet was wrongfully executed in Carlow in 1798. Accused of being a United Irishman, his innocence was later proved.


title: Wrongful execution

text: Harry Gleeson was executed in Ireland in April 1941 for the murder of Moll McCarthy in County Tipperary in November 1940. The Gardai withheld crucial evidence and fabricated other evidence against Gleeson. In 2015, he was posthumously pardoned.


title: Wrongful execution

text: Chiang Kuo-ching (Chiang is the family name, Chinese: , 1975–1997) was a Republic of China Air Force soldier who was executed by a military tribunal on August 13, 1997 for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl. On January 28, 2011, over 13 years after the execution, Hsu Jung-chou (Chinese: 許榮洲), who had a history of sexual abuse, admitted to the prosecutor that he had been responsible for the crime. In September 2011 Chiang was posthumously acquitted by a military court who found Chiang's original confession had been obtained by torture. Ma Ying-jeou, the Republic of China's president, apologised to Chiang's family.


title: Wrongful execution

text: University of Michigan law professor Samuel Gross led a team of experts in the law and in statistics that estimated the likely number of unjust convictions. The study, published in "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" determined that at least 4% of people on death penalty/death row were and are likely innocent.


title: Wrongful execution

text: Statistics likely understate the actual problem of wrongful convictions because once an execution has occurred there is often insufficient motivation and finance to keep a case open, and it becomes unlikely at that point that the miscarriage of justice will ever be exposed. For example, in the case of Joseph Roger O'Dell III, executed in Virginia in 1997 for a rape and murder, a prosecuting attorney argued in court in 1998 that if posthumous DNA results exonerated O'Dell, "it would be shouted from the rooftops that ... Virginia executed an innocent man." The state prevailed, and the evidence was destroyed.


title: Wrongful execution

text: We-Chank-Wash-ta-don-pee, or Chaska (died December 26, 1862) was a Native American of the Dakota who was executed in a mass hanging near Mankato, Minnesota in the wake of the Dakota War of 1862, despite the fact that President Abraham Lincoln had commuted his death sentence days earlier.


title: Wrongful execution

text: Chipita Rodriguez was hanged in San Patricio County, Texas in 1863 for murdering a horse trader, and 122 years later, the Texas Legislature passed a resolution exonerating her.


title: Wrongful execution

text: Thomas and Meeks Griffin were executed in South Carolina in 1915 for the murder of a man involved in an interracial affair two years previously but were pardoned 94 years after execution. It is thought that they were arrested and charged because they were viewed as wealthy enough to hire competent legal counsel and get an acquittal.


title: Wrongful execution

text: In 1920, two Italian immigrants, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were controversially accused of robbery and murder in Braintree, Massachusetts. Anti-Italianism, anti-immigrant, and anti-Anarchist bias were suspected as having heavily influenced the verdict. As details of the trial and the men's suspected innocence became known, sporadic protests were held in major cities all around the world calling for their release, especially after Portuguese migrant Celestino Madeiros confessed in 1925 to committing the crime absolving them of participation. However, the Supreme Court refused to upset the verdict, and in spite of worldwide protests, Sacco and Vanzetti were eventually executed in 1927. On August 23, 1977, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation vindicating Sacco and Vanzetti, stating that they had been treated unjustly and that "any disgrace should be forever removed from their names". Later analyses have also added doubt to their culpability.


title: Wrongful execution

text: Joe Arridy (1915–1939) was a mentally disabled American man executed for rape and murder and posthumously granted a pardon. Arridy was sentenced to death for the murder and rape of a 15-year-old schoolgirl from Pueblo, Colorado. He confessed to murdering the girl and assaulting her sister. Due to the sensational nature of the crime precautions were taken to keep him from being hanged by vigilante justice. His sentence was executed after multiple stays on January 6, 1939, in the Colorado gas chamber in the state penitentiary in Canon City, Colorado. Arridy was the first Colorado prisoner posthumously pardoned in January 2011 by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, a former district attorney, after research had shown that Arridy was very likely not in Pueblo when the crime happened and had been coerced into confessing. Among other things, Arridy had an IQ of 46, which was equal to the mental age of a 6-year-old. He did not even understand that he was going to be executed, and played with a toy train that the warden, Roy Best, had given to him as a present. A man named Frank Aguilar had been executed in 1937 in the Colorado gas chamber for the same crime for which Arridy ended up also being executed. Arridy's posthumous pardon in 2011 was the first such pardon in Colorado history. A press release from the governor's office stated, "[A]n overwhelming body of evidence indicates the 23-year-old Arridy was innocent, including false and coerced confessions, the likelihood that Arridy was not in Pueblo at the time of the killing, and an admission of guilt by someone else." The governor also pointed to Arridy's intellectual disabilities. The governor said, “Granting a posthumous pardon is an extraordinary remedy. But the tragic conviction of Mr. Arridy and his subsequent execution on Jan. 6, 1939, merit such relief based on the great likelihood that Mr. Arridy was, in fact, innocent of the crime for which he was executed, and his severe mental disability at the time of his trial and execution."


title: Wrongful execution

text: George Stinney, a 14-year old African-American boy, was electrocuted in South Carolina in 1944 for the murder of Betty June Binnicker, age 11, as well as Mary Emma Thames, age 8. The arrest occurred on March 23, 1944 in Alcolu, inside of Clarendon County, South Carolina. Supposedly, the two girls rode their bikes past Stinney's house where they asked him and his sister about a certain type of flower; after this encounter, the girls went missing and were found dead in a ditch the following morning. After an hour of interrogation by the officers, a deputy stated that Stinney confessed to the murder. He was the youngest person executed in the United States. More than 70 years later, a judge threw out the conviction, calling it a "great injustice."


title: Wrongful execution

text: Carlos DeLuna was executed in Texas in December 1989 for stabbing a gas station clerk to death. Subsequent investigations cast strong doubt upon DeLuna's guilt for the murder of which he had been convicted. His execution came about six years after the crime was committed. DeLuna was found blocks away from the crime scene with $149 in his pocket. A wrongful eyewitness testimony and DeLuna's previous criminal record were used against him. Carlos Hernandez, who many believe to be the true killer, was a repeat violent offender who had a history of assaulting women with knives, and was said to have looked very similar to Carlos DeLuna. Hernandez was reported to have bragged about the killing of Lopez, the gas station clerk. In 1999, Hernandez was imprisoned for attacking his neighbor with a knife.


title: Wrongful execution

text: Jesse Tafero was convicted of murder and executed via electric chair in May 1990 in the state of Florida for the murders of a Florida Highway Patrol officer and a Canadian constable. The conviction of a co-defendant was overturned in 1992 after a recreation of the crime scene indicated a third person had committed the murders. Not only was Tafero wrongly accused, his electric chair malfunctioned as well – three times. As a result, Tafero's head caught on fire. After this encounter, a debate was focused around humane methods of execution. Lethal injections became more common in the states rather than the electric chair.


title: Wrongful execution

text: Johnny Garrett of Texas was executed in February 1992 for allegedly raping and murdering a nun. In March 2004 cold-case DNA testing identified Leoncio Rueda as the rapist and murderer of another elderly victim killed four months earlier. Immediately following the nun's murder, prosecutors and police were certain the two cases were committed by the same assailant. The flawed case is explored in a 2008 documentary entitled "The Last Word".


title: Wrongful execution

text: Cameron Todd Willingham of Texas was convicted and executed for the death of his three children who died in a house fire. The prosecution charged that the fire was caused by arson. He has not been posthumously exonerated, but the case has gained widespread attention as a possible case of wrongful execution. A number of arson experts have decried the results of the original investigation as faulty. In June 2009, five years after Willingham's execution, the State of Texas ordered a re-examination of the case. Dr. Craig Beyler found "a finding of arson could not be sustained". Beyler said that key testimony from a fire marshal at Willingham's trial was "hardly consistent with a scientific mind-set and is more characteristic of mystics or psychics". The Texas Forensic Science Commission was scheduled to discuss the report by Beyler at a meeting on October 2, 2009, but two days before the meeting Texas Governor Rick Perry replaced the chair of the commission and two other members. The new chair canceled the meeting, sparking accusations that Perry was interfering with the investigation and using it for his own political advantage. In 2010, a four-person panel of the Texas Forensic Science Commission acknowledged that state and local arson investigators used "flawed science" in determining the blaze had been deliberately set.


title: Wrongful execution

text: In 2015, the Justice Department and the FBI formally acknowledged that nearly every examiner in an FBI forensic squad overstated forensic hair matches for two decades before the year 2000. Of the 28 forensic examiners testifying to hair matches in a total of 268 trials reviewed, 26 overstated the evidence of forensic hair matches and 95% of the overstatements favored the prosecution. Defendants were sentenced to death in 32 of those 268 cases.


title: Wrongful execution

text: The executions of Nathaniel Woods, Dustin Higgs, and Troy Davis have been cited by some as possible cases of wrongful executions.


title: Wrongful execution

text: In 2003, Juan Catalan was arrested and indicted for the shooting death of 16-year-old Martha Puebla, and was facing capital punishment for the charges. The charges against Catalan were dropped after pre-production footage of an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm was obtained by his lawyer, showing him in the background of a scene. This corroborated his claim that he was attending an Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game at the time of the murder.


title: Wrongful execution

text: Aleksandr Kravchenko was executed in 1983 for the 1978 murder of nine year old Yelena Zakotnova in Shakhty, a coal mining town near Rostov-on-Don. Kravchenko as a teenager, had served a prison sentence for the rape and murder of a teenage girl but witnesses said he was not at the scene of Zakotnova's murder at the time. Under police pressure the witnesses altered their statements and Kravchenko was executed. Later it was found that the girl had been murdered by Andrei Chikatilo, a serial killer nicknamed "the Red Ripper" and "the Butcher of Rostov", who was executed in 1994.


title: Wrongful execution

text: Kirk Bloodsworth was the first American to be freed from death row as a result of exoneration by DNA evidence. Bloodsworth was a Marine before he became a waterman on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. At the age of 22, he was wrongly convicted of the murder of a nine-year-old girl; she had been sexually assaulted, strangled, and beaten with a rock. An anonymous call to the police claiming that the witness had seen Bloodsworth with the girl that day, and he matched up with the description from the police sketch. Five witnesses claiming that they saw Bloodsworth with the victim, as well as a statement in his testimony where he claimed that he had "done something terrible that day" that would affect his relationship with his wife, did not help his case. No physical evidence connected Bloodsworth to the crime, but he was still convicted of rape and murder which led to him receiving a death sentence. In 1992, DNA from the crime scene was tested against Bloodsworth's and found that he could not have been the killer. After serving nine years in prison, he was released in June 1993.


title: Wrongful execution

text: Ray Krone is the 100th American to have been sentenced to death and then later exonerated. Krone was convicted of the murder of Kim Ancona, thirty-six year old victim in Phoenix, Arizona. Ancona had been found nude, fatally stabbed. The physical evidence that the police had to rely on was bite marks on Ancona's breasts and neck. After Ancona had told a friend that Krone, a regular customer, was going to help her close the bar the previous night, the police brought him in to make a Styrofoam impression of his teeth. After comparing the teeth marks, Krone was arrested for the murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault of Ancona on December 31, 1991. At the trial in 1992, Krone pled innocence, but the teeth mark comparison led the jury to find him guilty and he was sentenced to death as well as a consecutive twenty-one year term of imprisonment. Krone's family also believed that he was innocent, which led them to spend over $300,000 in order to fight for his freedom.


title: Wrongful execution

text: The Death Penalty Information Center has identified at least 190 former death-row prisoners in the United States who have been exonerated since 1973. DPIC reported in February 2021 that exonerated death-row prisoners had been wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in 29 different states and in 118 different counties. The leading causes of these wrongful capital convictions were official misconduct by police, prosecutors, or other government officials and perjury or false accusation. Underscoring the often intentional nature of wrongful capital convictions, more than half of all exonerations involved both official misconduct and perjury or false accusation, and at least one or the other was present in nearly 83% of the cases.


title: Wrongful execution

text: In the UK, reviews prompted by the Criminal Cases Review Commission have resulted in one pardon and three exonerations for people that were executed between 1950 and 1953 (when the execution rate in England and Wales averaged 17 per year), with compensation being paid. Timothy Evans was granted a posthumous free pardon in 1966. Mahmood Hussein Mattan was convicted in 1952 and was the last person to be hanged in Cardiff, Wales, but had his conviction quashed in 1998. George Kelly was hanged at Liverpool in 1950, but had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal in June 2003. Derek Bentley had his conviction quashed in 1998 with the appeal trial judge, Lord Bingham, noting that the original trial judge, Lord Goddard, had denied the defendant "the fair trial which is the birthright of every British citizen."


title: Wrongful execution

text: Colin Campbell Ross (1892–1922) was an Australian wine-bar owner executed for the murder of a child which became known as The Gun Alley Murder, despite there being evidence that he was innocent. Following his execution, efforts were made to clear his name, and in the 1990s old evidence was re-examined with modern forensic techniques which supported the view that Ross was innocent. In 2006 an appeal for mercy was made to Victoria's Chief Justice and on 27 May 2008 the Victorian government pardoned Ross in what is believed to be an Australian legal first.


title: Wrongful execution

text: There has been much debate about the justification of imposing capital punishment on individuals who have been diagnosed with mental disabilities. Some have argued that the execution of people with serious mental illness or intellectual disability constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. While the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted cruel and unusual punishment to include those punishments that fail to take into account the defendant's degree of criminal culpability, it has never held that it is unconstitutional to apply the death penalty to those with serious mental illness and did not determine that executing intellectually disabled individuals constitutes cruel and unusual punishment until 2002.


title: Wrongful execution

text: In 1986, in "Ford v. Wainwright", the US Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to execute a person who does not understand the reason for or the reality of his or her punishment. The issue of whether it is constitutional to execute those with severe mental illness has repeatedly arisen in the state of Texas, where at least 25 individuals with documented diagnoses of paranoid schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other severe persistent mental illnesses have been put to death. However, "Ford" applies only to the mental competency of the prisoner at the time of execution, not to the constitutionality of his or her death sentence. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the federal appeals court that handles cases from Texas, has narrowly construed "Ford" and has never found a death-row prisoner to be incompetent to be executed. In "Panetti v. Quarterman", the Fifth Circuit held that a man with a long history of paranoid schizophrenia was competent to be executed because, despite his delusions, he was aware that the state intended to execute him for committing a particular murder. The US Supreme Court reversed, finding that the Fifth Circuit's incompetency standard was "too restrictive." The appropriate Eighth Amendment inquiry, the Court said, was whether Panetti had a "rational understanding" of the reason for his execution, not whether he was aware of the State’s rationale for executing him.


title: Wrongful execution

text: In 2019, in the case of Alabama death-row prisoner Vernon Madison, the Court again addressed the proper standard for determining competency to be executed. Madison had cognitive dementia resulting from a series of strokes that, his lawyers said, left him without a rational understanding of why Alabama intended to execute him. The Alabama courts had declared him competent to be executed, ruling that "Panetti" applied only to cases in which prisoners understanding of the reasons for their pending execution were distorted by delusional mental illness. In "Madison v. Alabama", the US Supreme Court disagreed, holding that the critical inquiry was whether the prisoner had a rational understanding of the reasons for the execution, not the type of disorder that caused him or her to lack a rational understanding.


title: Wrongful execution

text: A distinct, but related, issue in the U.S. death penalty is the constitutionality of applying capital punishment to those with intellectual disability. Intellectual disability is a developmental disorder characterized by significantly subaverage intellectual functioning, substantially impaired daily functioning, and onset during the developmental period. The US Supreme Court first addressed this issue in 1989 in the case of "Penry v. Lynaugh", in which Texas death-row prisoner Johnny Paul Penry argued that the application of the death penalty to individuals with mental retardation, as the disorder was then known, constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Penry presented evidence that his that his IQ ranged from 50 to 63 — far below the 70-75 IQ level that is typically considered evidence of intellectual disability — and that he possessed the mental abilities of a six-and-a-half-year-old. The Texas state and federal courts denied Penry's challenge and, in a five-to-four decision, the US Supreme Court ruled that the Eighth Amendment did not categorically prohibit the execution of individuals with mental retardation. Following the ruling, sixteen states as well as the federal government passed legislation that banned the execution of offenders with mental retardation.


title: Wrongful execution

text: The Supreme Court revisited "Penry" in 2002 in the case of "Atkins v. Virginia". By a vote of 6-3, the Court held that the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment applied to those with intellectual disability. The Court referred to the clinical definitions of the disorder in use by the medical community but ultimately left to the states the determination of who qualified as intellectually disabled.


title: Wrongful execution

text: In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled in "Hall v. Florida" that states cannot apply an IQ cut-off score of 70 to arbitrarily limit which individuals qualify as intellectually disabled. Then, in 2017 in "Moore v. Texas", the Court struck down Texas's use of a series of clinically inappropriate lay stereotypes that denied intellectually disabled defendants Eighth Amendment protection.


title: We Are Your Friends (film)

text: We Are Your Friends is a 2015 drama film directed by Max Joseph (in his feature directorial debut) and with a screenplay by Joseph and Meaghan Oppenheimer, from a story by Richard Silverman. The film stars Zac Efron, Emily Ratajkowski and Wes Bentley, and follows a young Los Angeles DJ trying to make it in the music industry and figure out life with his friends.


title: We Are Your Friends (film)

text: The film was released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on August 28, 2015. Its financier, StudioCanal, distributed it internationally, including France, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand. The film received mixed reviews and grossed $11 million.


title: We Are Your Friends (film)

text: Cole Carter (Zac Efron), a former track star, college dropout, and struggling 23-year-old DJ in the electronic dance music (EDM) scene, dreams of becoming a major record producer. Cole books a gig to DJ at a local nightclub, where he meets the headliner, a once-innovative DJ, James Reed (Wes Bentley). James invites Cole to a party, where Cole hallucinates because a joint they shared contained Phencyclidine (PCP). The morning after, Cole wakes up at James' house, where he is introduced to Sophie (Emily Ratajkowski), James' girlfriend and personal assistant, who drives him home.


title: We Are Your Friends (film)

text: Later, James calls Cole to DJ at his house party, a paid gig. Cole's friends Dustin Mason (Jonny Weston), Ollie (Shiloh Fernandez), and Squirrel (Alex Shaffer) show up, and after a party goer insults Mason, Mason gets in a fight with him and has to be pulled out of James's pool. Despite his background and friends, James sees potential in Cole and takes him as his student. After listening to Cole's original song, James criticizes Cole for imitating other well-known producers, and he suggests using organic sounds for an original vibe. They write a song using the original vibe technique and vocals from Sophie, which is well received at a local nightclub. Next, Cole and his friends head to Las Vegas for a music festival, where he meets up with Sophie, whom James ditched. Sophie gives Cole MDMA, and they sleep together, spending the night at a hotel.


title: We Are Your Friends (film)

text: Back in San Fernando, James invites Cole over to watch an MMA fight with him and Sophie. An awkward moment ends up with Sophie telling Cole to accept what happened and leave it alone, and James gives Cole a new MacBook Pro and the opportunity to open for him at a popular music festival. One day, Cole and Paige (Jon Bernthal) meet up with Tanya Romero (Alicia Coppola), whose house is being foreclosed. During the negotiation, Paige buys her house and rents it back to her, intending to sell it quickly for a substantial price, which angers Cole. While James' alcoholism begins to affect Sophie, he and Cole go to a strip club for his birthday. Cole gets sick, and James finds out about Cole's relationship with Sophie, and severs ties with him. Returning to his three friends, it is revealed that Squirrel has been looking for better jobs, and Mason has rented a house for all of them. Following intense partying, Squirrel is found unconscious and dies from an overdose. After the funeral, the remaining friends begin to question their future, and go their separate ways after Mason blames Ollie for the drugs that killed Squirrel. Cole visits James, whose alcoholism has completely consumed him, to let him know of Squirrel's death and that it could possibly have been his fault. James consoles him and also tells him that Sophie moved to the San Fernando Valley and works at a local coffee shop, where he later visits her.


title: We Are Your Friends (film)

text: While taking a run, the battery of Cole's phone goes dead, causing his music to stop playing. Upon closer observation, he listens to his surroundings, which inspires him to record samples and integrate them into his long-awaited track. Cole then calls and tells James that he has something for Summer Fest, and James gives him another chance. The festival is set outside the American Apparel building in Los Angeles. Cole releases his track, which contains snippets of his conversations with Sophie and Squirrel, and he later uses Squirrel's quote "Are We Ever Going To Be Better Than This?" as a hook before the beat drop. When the song ends, Cole is met with enthusiastic acclaim from the audience and James. The film concludes with Sophie going back to college, Ollie reading for an audition, Mason handling the nightclub, and Cole remaining positive about his future and creating a proper relationship with Sophie.


title: We Are Your Friends (film)

text: In the mid-credits scene, Tanya opens her front door to an Adidas box that Cole has been saving all of his earnings in throughout the film.


title: We Are Your Friends (film)

text: On June 6, 2014, Efron entered negotiations to star in an untitled film about a DJ, which was set to be directed by Max Joseph. The film is Joseph's debut. On July 31, 2014, Ratajkowski joined the cast of the film, which by then had been given the title "We Are Your Friends", and had a start date of August 18 announced for principal photography. The name came from the 2006 Justice vs. Simian song "We Are Your Friends". Jon Abrahams joined the cast on August 5, Alicia Coppola on August 14, and Wes Bentley on August 18. By that point, Jonny Weston, Shiloh Fernandez, and Alex Shaffer had also signed on to star. In late September, the film cast background actors.


title: We Are Your Friends (film)

text: Principal photography began on August 18, 2014, in the San Fernando Valley. Joseph co-wrote the adapted screenplay with Meaghan Oppenheimer, based on a Richard Silverman story. Working Title Films partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner co-produced the film, which was financed by StudioCanal. Silverman was an executive producer. StudioCanal is the worldwide distributor. The promotional tour for the film included stops in London, Paris and 6 North American cities (Toronto, Miami, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco).


title: We Are Your Friends (film)

text: A critically noted scene in the film involves animation depicting Cole's PCP hallucinations at a swanky LA art gallery. Rotoscoping was used to achieve this effect.


title: We Are Your Friends (film)

text: In November 2014, Warner Bros. Pictures acquired the film's North American distribution rights. Two weeks later, StudioCanal announced that international distribution had been sold in several markets. On April 28, 2015, Warner Bros. set the film for an August 28, 2015 release. The film was only released on DVD on November 17, 2015, in North America. The Blu-ray was only released in region B (UK, Europe, Oceania, Middle East, Africa) on December 17, 2015.


title: We Are Your Friends (film)

text: "We Are Your Friends" grossed $3.6 million in North America and $7.5 million in other territories for a total gross of $11.1 million.


title: We Are Your Friends (film)

text: It made $1.8 million in its opening weekend, finishing 14th at the box office. Box Office Mojo reports with a 2,333 theater count, the film grossed an average $758 from each venue, making it the fourth worst debut for a film with a 2,000+ theater average. It was surpassed later in the year by "Rock the Kasbah" ($731 average) and "Jem and the Holograms" ($570), both of which opened on October 23, 2015.


title: We Are Your Friends (film)

text: "We Are Your Friends" received mixed reviews from critics, although Efron's performance and the soundtrack were praised.


title: We Are Your Friends (film)

text: Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 38% based on 133 reviews, with an average rating of 4.93/10. The site's consensus reads, ""We Are Your Friends" boasts magnetic stars and glimmers of insight, but they're lost in a clichéd coming-of-age story as programmed as the soundtrack's beats." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 46 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.


title: We Are Your Friends (film)

text: "The Hollywood Reporter" named Efron's performance as Cole Carter their 2nd-favorite film performance of 2015, behind only Christopher Abbott as the title character of "James White". The magazine stated, "And while the picture's box-office returns didn't exactly pump up the volume, this 28-year-old Tyrone Power clone increasingly ranks among the most exciting American actors of his generation." Bilge Ebiri of Vulture.com notec that Ratajkowski's role takes a back seat to the love triangle's central Efron/Bentley relationship.


title: We Are Your Friends (film)

text: The movie is the subject of the third season of the podcast "The Worst Idea of All Time", in which two New Zealand comedians watch the same movie every week for a whole year, and discuss it each week.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: Sadyr Nurgojoyevich Japarov (sometimes Zhaparov) (; ; born 6 December 1968) is a Kyrgyz politician who has served as the president of Kyrgyzstan since 28 January 2021. He had previously served as the acting prime minister of Kyrgyzstan in the 2020 interim government following the resignation of Sooronbay Jeenbekov on 15 October 2020 amidst electoral protests. Japarov also became acting president of Kyrgyzstan after Jeenbekov's resignation but resigned himself on 14 November 2020.<ref name="RFE/RL"></ref> On 10 January 2021, Japarov was elected president.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: Japarov was born in Keng-Suu, a village in the Tüp District in what was then the Kirghiz SSR within the Soviet Union, in the family of Nurgozho and Kadic Japarov. After finishing his middle school education in 1986, he joined the Kyrgyz National Academy of Physical Culture and Sport. In 1987, Japarov was drafted into the Soviet Army, where he served for two years in Novosibirsk as a commander in a telecommunications division. After returning in 1989 with the rank of Junior Sergeant, Japarov continued his education in the academy until 1991. In 2006, Japarov graduated from the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University in Bishkek with a degree in law.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: Japarov started his political career after the 2005 Tulip Revolution. In March 2005, he was elected as member of the Supreme Council from the Tüp electoral district where he headed the Kelechek parliamentary faction. He was a supporter of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. In 2006, Japarov was a member of the State Awards Commission. In 2007, he was Deputy Chairman of the Amnesty Commission.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: In the 2007 parliamentary elections, he participated in the lists of the pro-presidential party Ak Jol, which won the majority of seats in parliament but went on to work as an adviser to the president. From 2008 to 2010, Japarov worked as an authorized representative of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: In 2010, President Bakiyev was overthrown in the Kyrgyz Revolution of 2010. As a result of interethnic clashes that took place soon in Osh and Jalal-Abad, Japarov and his associates took an active part, which according to their own statements, they tried to prevent clashes. However they were accused by opponents in supporting the Kyrgyz nationalists.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: In the October 2010 elections, he was re-elected as a member of Supreme Council on the party list of Ata-Zhurt which led by Kamchybek Tashiev, which won the majority of seats. From there, he became the chairman of the Committee on Judicial and Legal issues.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: During one of the rallies for the nationalization of the Kumtor Gold Mine in the fall of 2012, the protesters attempted to take over the White House in Bishkek. Tashiev and Japarov were both charged under Article 295 of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic "Forcible seizure of power or forcible retention of power." In March 2013, the Pervomaisky District Court of Bishkek found them guilty and sentenced them to one year and six months in prison. But in June 2013, the Bishkek City Court acquitted the politicians and released them in the courtroom.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: On 27 June 2013, during the protests against Kumtor in Karakol, the protesters tried to kidnap the akim of the region Emilbek Kaptagaev and take him hostage. The Kyrgyz authorities accused Japarov and Kubanychbek Kadyrov of organizing the plan. The protest leaders were detained, but Japarov, who denied his involvement, fled Kyrgyzstan where he lived for some time in Cyprus.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: In 2017, Japarov attempted to return to Kyrgyzstan. On 25 March 2017, he was detained at the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border. In the case of allegedly attempting to kidnap Emilbek Kaptagaev, he was sentenced to 11 years and 6 months in prison. While in prison, Japarov founded the political party Mekenchil with Kamchybek Tashiyev. Between 2018 and 2019, the party and its supporters grew and organized protests against Japarov's imprisonment.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: Much of Japarov's success is due to his strong social media campaigning, which has expanded in scale after his election to the president. Japarov told Kommersant in January 2021 that from 2017 to 2020, he created a power base from within prison by forming social media groups on Odnoklassniki, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. When questioned how he accomplished it from behind bars, he said, "According to the law, it is impossible, but we found a way out." However, his three years of illicit social media outreach did not appear to have spread extensively among the Kyrgyz people, since none of the respondents reported hearing of him during this period.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: On 5 October 2020, protests and demonstrations against the results of the parliamentary elections began throughout Kyrgyzstan.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: After the release of Japarov from a seized government building on 6 October, he was taken to Ala-Too Square in Bishkek where he sought appointment to become prime minister. Members of parliament staying at the Dostuk Hotel approved his appointment that night, but the opposition's nominee, Tilek Toktogaziev, declared himself to be the legitimate head of government. Toktogaziev asserted the election to be illegal, claiming that members were pressured by Japarov's supporters who had gathered near the hotel. Opponents of Japarov also highlighted the absence of a quorum and a violation of parliamentary procedure.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: On 13 October, then-President Sooronbay Jeenbekov rejected Japarov's appointment as prime minister due to proxy voting occurring. Jeenbekov requested for the parliament to reconvene and vote again for the nomination; this happened the following day, with Japarov again winning parliamentary nomination. Japarov successfully was approved as prime minister by Jeenbekov, but he was initially unsuccessful in persuading the president to step down until a new general election could be held.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: The following day, on 15 October, Jeenbekov resigned from the presidency, leading Japarov to declare himself as acting president. Despite the Kyrgyzstan Constitution stating that the speaker of the Supreme Council should succeed to the office, Kanatbek Isaev refused to assume office, resulting in Japarov becoming the acting president. He was confirmed as president of Kyrgyzstan by parliament on 16 October 2020.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: Japarov's first five executive orders were related to spiritual development, a new personnel policy, business protection, migration, and mining. On 11 February, Japarov signed a decree on the celebration of the 120th anniversary of the birth of political figure Zhusup Abdrakhmanov.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: Since 2012, Japarov has advocated the nationalization of the Kumtor gold mine located in his native Issyk-Kul Region, and accused the management company, Centerra Gold, of environmental violations and corruption. His stance has earned him popularity among his fellow natives of the region.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: On 14 May 2021, he signed into a bill allowing for temporary government control over the mine, eight days after it was approved by parliament. In response, Centerra Gold launched arbitration against Kyrgyzstan over the mine.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: Sadyr Japarov has emphasized his administration will have a "multipronged" foreign policy, with Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan being major partners under his leadership.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: Sadyr Japarov has adopted a pro-Russia stance. His first plan for a trip to a foreign country while in office was to Russia on 25–26 February 2021.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: On 2–3 March 2021, Japarov visited Nur-Sultan, where he held consultations with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and former president Nursultan Nazarbayev. Japarov secured a protocol aimed to ensure energy security of Kyrgyzstan by preventing Toktogul Reservoir from running out of water to a critical level. During the visit, Japarov said that "there are no political contradictions between our countries" and that "We have many common interests". He visited Tashkent a week later, where he and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev agreed to solve all border issues in three months.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: During the 2021 Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan conflict, he led the Kyrgyz response to the clashes. On 30 April, he held a telephone conversation with the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, during which he agreed to participate in a face-to-face meeting in Dushanbe in the second half of May. He also proposed the creation of a peacekeeping commission composed of elders from both countries. Later that day, Japarov addressed the Kyrgyz people, where he called for calm particularly from youth, underlining that the Tajik leadership don't want a war with Kyrgyzstan, noting their experience in the Tajik Civil War. At the same time, he also accused "certain forces" of destabilizing the situation on the border. He declared 1 and 2 May as a period of nationwide mourning.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: In June 2021, Sadyr Japarov and his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov met to discuss the possibility of Turkmenistan supplying Kyrgyzstan with natural gas and electricity in the autumn and winter. At the time, Kyrgyzstan authorities had plans to convert the Bishkek coal-burning power plant to gas. On 17 June, Ulukbek Maripov, head of the Kyrgyz cabinet, stated his view that gas was too costly.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: Japarov has been described as a nationalist and a populist. Among Western media, he has been compared to politicians like Ilham Aliyev and Donald Trump.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: Japarov is accused of adherence to Kyrgyz nationalism, with many labelling him as "a staunch nationalist inclined to violence", and an anti-Uzbek. Many allege that during the time of Japarov's work in anti-corruption departments, he "did not show significant success in the fight against corruption", being accused of having connections with a "thief in law" and northern crime boss, Kamchy Kolbaev.


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: In April 2021, Japarov promoted toxic Aconitum root as a treatment for COVID-19. Subsequently, at least four people were admitted to hospital suffering from poisoning. Facebook had previously removed the President's posts advocating use of the substance, saying "We've removed this post as we do not allow anyone, including elected officials, to share misinformation that could lead to imminent physical harm or spread false claims about how to cure or prevent COVID-19".


title: Sadyr Japarov

text: Japarov is married to Aigul Japarova (née Asanbaeva), who is five years his junior. She was born in the neighboring village to Japarov's in the Tüp District. During his acting presidency, she volunteered to help volunteers in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. He is also the father of four children, with his eldest son Dastan having died on 26 August 2019 in an accident. His father and mother died in September 2017 and March 2019, respectively, during his prosecution and prison term. In neither case was Japarov allowed by the State Penitentiary Service to attend the funeral. It is known that one of his brothers owns one of the coal mines in the north of the country.


title: Ministry of External Affairs (India)

text: The Ministry of External Affairs (abbreviated as MEA; ) of India is the government agency responsible for implementing Indian foreign policy. The Ministry of External Affairs is headed by the Minister of External Affairs, a Cabinet Minister. The Foreign Secretary, an Indian Foreign Service officer, is the most senior civil servant who is the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry represents the Government of India through embassies and is also responsible for India's representation at the United Nations and other international organizations and expanding and safeguarding India’s influence and Indian interests across the world by providing developmental aid to other countries worth billions of dollars. It also advises other Ministries and State Governments on foreign governments and institutions.


title: Ministry of External Affairs (India)

text: The Ministry was initially the Ministry of External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations, a holdover from the British Raj. It was renamed the Ministry of External Affairs in 1948. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru held the portfolio as an additional charge till his death in 1964 and it was only then that a separate Minister with Cabinet rank was appointed. The ministry is responsible for the administration of Naga Hills, Tuensang Area, Indian Emigration Act of 1923, the Reciprocity Act of 1943, the Port Haj Committee Act of 1932, the Indian Merchant Shipping Act in so far as it relates to pilgrim ships, the Indian Pilgrim Shipping Rules of 1933, the Protection of Pilgrims Act of 1887 (Bombay) and the Protection of the Mohammedan Pilgrims Act of 1896 (Bengal).


title: Ministry of External Affairs (India)

text: The Ministry was integrated Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs on 7 January 2016. The government said that the decision was taken in line with government's "overall objective of minimizing government and maximizing governance" and that it will help the government address duplication as well as unnecessary delays.


title: Ministry of External Affairs (India)

text: The Ministry is the cadre-controlling authority of the Indian Foreign Service; the service is wholly under the administration and supervision of the External Affairs Ministry.


title: Ministry of External Affairs (India)

text: The Ministry of External Affairs is headed by the Minister of External Affairs (or simply, the Foreign Minister; in Hindi Videsh Mantri).The Foreign Secretary is the most senior civil servant who is the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and is supported by other secretary level officers.


title: Ministry of External Affairs (India)

text: Development Partnership Administration (DPA) is an agency under the Ministry of External Affairs formed in 2013 to increase its strategic footprint and for the effective execution of projects with professionals from diverse backgrounds. India has an elaborate project portfolio in its neighbourhood, including Bhutan, Nepal, Afghanistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, as well as Africa and Latin America. It is headed by Sujata Mehta, one of India’s foremost diplomats and former Indian representative to the UN Conference on Disarmament, Geneva. Mehta is Special Secretary in the MEA. According to OECD estimates, 2019 official development assistance from India increased to US$1.6 billion.


title: Ministry of External Affairs (India)

text: "India Perspectives" is the flagship publication of the Ministry of External Affairs. A bi-monthly magazine, it is digitally published in English and Hindi, and 14 other international languages, with a readership spanning 170 countries. It is crafted to support the Ministry’s diplomatic initiatives and highlight India’s bilateral ties with the rest of the world.


title: Ministry of External Affairs (India)

text: The magazine provides an insight into India’s culture and tradition along with elements of contemporary India. With intelligent, analytical and verified editorial content, the publication is one of the most authentic sources of information regarding India’s ‘soft diplomacy’ initiatives as well as its rich cultural, scientific and political heritage. By showcasing the country’s various facets through original stories on travel, art, music, cinema and more, the magazine takes India to the world.


title: Ministry of External Affairs (India)

text: The office of the Ministry is located in the South Block building which also contains the Prime Minister's office and Ministry of Defence. Other offices are located in Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan, Shastri Bhawan, Patiala House, and ISIL Building.


title: Ministry of External Affairs (India)

text: Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs is mandated with the task of the legislative oversight of the Ministry of External Affairs.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Japanese martial arts refers to the variety of martial arts native to the country of Japan. At least three Japanese terms ("budō", "bujutsu", and "bugei") are used interchangeably with the English phrase Japanese martial arts.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: The usage of the term budō (武道) to mean martial arts is a modern one: historically the term meant a way of life encompassing physical, spiritual and moral dimensions with a focus on self-improvement, fulfillment or personal growth. The terms "bujutsu" (武術) and "bugei" (武芸) have different meanings from "budō", at least historically speaking. "Bujutsu" refers specifically to the practical application of martial tactics and techniques in actual combat. "Bugei" refers to the adaptation or refinement of those tactics and techniques to facilitate systematic instruction and dissemination within a formal learning environment.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: The historical origin of Japanese martial arts can be found in the warrior traditions of the samurai and the caste system that restricted the use of weapons by other members of society. Originally, samurai were expected to be proficient in many weapons, as well as unarmed combat, and attain the highest possible mastery of combat skills.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Ordinarily, the development of combative techniques is intertwined with the tools used to execute those techniques. In a rapidly changing world, those tools are constantly changing, requiring that the techniques to use them be continuously reinvented. The history of Japan is somewhat unusual in its relative isolation. Compared with the rest of the world, the Japanese tools of war evolved slowly. Many people believe that this afforded the warrior class the opportunity to study their weapons in greater depth than other cultures. Nevertheless, the teaching and training of these martial arts did evolve. For example, in the early medieval period, the bow and the spear were emphasized, but during the Tokugawa period (1603-1867 CE), fewer large-scale battles took place, and the sword became the most prestigious weapon. Another trend that developed throughout Japanese history was that of increasing martial specialization as society became more stratified over time.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: The martial arts developed or originating in Japan are extraordinarily diverse, with vast differences in training tools, methods, and philosophy across innumerable schools and styles. That said, Japanese martial arts may generally be divided into "koryū" and "gendai budō" based on whether they existed prior to or after the Meiji Restoration (1868), respectively. Since "gendai budō" and "koryū" often share the same historical origin, one will find various types of martial arts (such as jujutsu, kenjutsu, or naginatajutsu) on both sides of the divide.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: , meaning "traditional school", or "old school", refers specifically to schools of martial arts, originating in Japan, either prior to the beginning of the Meiji Restoration in 1868, or the "Haitōrei" (Sword Abolishment Edict) in 1876. In modern usage, , meaning military art/science, is typified by its practical application of technique to real-world or battlefield situations.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: The term also is used generally to indicate that a particular style or art is "traditional", rather than "modern". However, what it means for an art to be either "traditional" or "modern" is subject to some debate. As a rule of thumb, the primary purpose of a "koryū" martial art was for use in war. The most extreme example of a "koryū" school is one that preserves its traditional, and often ancient, martial practices even in the absence of continuing wars in which to test them. Other "koryū" schools may have made modifications to their practices that reflect the passage of time (which may or may not have resulted in the loss of ""koryū"" status in the eyes of its peers). This is as opposed to "modern" martial arts, whose primary focus is generally upon the self-improvement (mental, physical, or spiritual) of the individual practitioner, with varying degrees of emphasis on the practical application of the martial art for either sport or self-defence purposes.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: The following subsections represent not individual schools of martial arts, but rather generic "types" of martial arts. These are generally distinguishable on the basis of their training methodology and equipment, though wide variation still exists within each.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: , considered by many to be Japan's national sport, has its origins in the distant past. The earliest written records of Japan, which are dated from the 8th century AD, record the first sumo match in 23 BC, occurring specifically at the request of the emperor and continuing until one man was too wounded to continue. Beginning in 728 AD, the Emperor Shōmu (聖武天皇, 701–756) began holding official sumo matches at the annual harvest festivals. This tradition of having matches in the presence of the emperor continued, but gradually spread, with matches also held at Shintō festivals, and sumo training was eventually incorporated into military training. By the 17th century, sumo was an organized professional sport, open to the public, enjoyed by both the upper class and commoners.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Today, sumo retains much of its traditional trappings, including a referee dressed as a Shintō priest, and a ritual where the competitors clap hands, stomp their feet, and throw salt in the ring prior to each match. To win a match, competitors employ throwing and grappling techniques to force the other man to the ground; the first man to touch the ground with a part of the body other than the bottom of the feet, or touch the ground outside the ring with any part of the body, loses. Six grand tournaments are held annually in Japan, and each professional fighter's name and relative ranking is published after each tournament in an official list, called the "banzuke", which is followed religiously by sumo fans.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: , literally translates to "soft skills". However, more accurately, it means the art of using indirect force, such as joint locks or throwing techniques, to defeat an opponent, as opposed to direct force such as a punch or a kick. This is not to imply that jujutsu does not teach or employ strikes, but rather that the art's aim is the ability to use an attacker's force against him or her, and counter-attack where they are weakest or least defended.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Methods of combat included striking (kicking, punching), throwing (body throws, joint-lock throws, unbalance throws), restraining (pinning, strangulating, grappling, wrestling) and weaponry. Defensive tactics included blocking, evading, off balancing, blending and escaping. Minor weapons such as the "tantō" (短刀; dagger), "ryufundo kusari" (weighted chain), "jutte" (十手; helmet-smasher), and "kakushi buki" (隠武器; secret or disguised weapons) were almost always included in "koryū" jujutsu.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Most of these were battlefield-based systems to be practiced as companion arts to the more common and vital weapon systems. At the time, these fighting arts went by many different names, including "kogusoku", "yawara", "kumiuchi", and "hakuda". In reality, these grappling systems were not really unarmed systems of combat, but are more accurately described as means whereby an unarmed or lightly armed warrior could defeat a heavily armed and armored enemy on the battlefield. Ideally, the samurai would be armed and would not need to rely on such techniques.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: In later times, other "koryū" developed into systems more familiar to the practitioners of the jujutsu commonly seen today. These systems are generally designed to deal with opponents neither wearing armor nor in a battlefield environment. For this reason, they include extensive use of "atemi waza" (当て身技; vital-striking technique). These tactics would be of little use against an armored opponent on a battlefield. They would, however, be quite valuable to anyone confronting an enemy or opponent during peacetime dressed in normal street attire. Occasionally, inconspicuous weapons such as knives or "tessen" (鉄扇; iron fans) were included in the curriculum.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Today, jujutsu is practiced in many forms, both ancient and modern. Various methods of jujutsu have been incorporated or synthesized into judo and aikido, as well as being exported throughout the world and transformed into sport wrestling systems, adopted in whole or part by schools of karate or other unrelated martial arts, still practiced as they were centuries ago, or all of the above.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Swordsmanship, the art of the sword, has an almost mythological ethos, and is believed by some to be the paramount martial art, surpassing all others. Regardless of the truth of that belief, the sword itself has been the subject of stories and legends through virtually all cultures in which it has been employed as a tool for violence. In Japan, the use of the katana is no different. Although originally the most important skills of the warrior class were proficiency at horse-riding and shooting the bow, this eventually gave way to swordsmanship. The earliest swords, which can be dated as far back as the Kofun era (3rd and 4th centuries) were primarily straight bladed. According to legend, curved swords made strong by the famous folding process were first forged by the smith Amakuni Yasutsuna (天國 安綱, c. 700 AD).


title: Japanese martial arts

text: The primary development of the sword occurred between 987 AD and 1597 AD. This development is characterized by profound artistry during peaceful eras, and renewed focus on durability, utility, and mass production during the intermittent periods of warfare, most notably civil warfare during the 12th century and the Mongolian invasions during the 13th century (which in particular saw the transition from mostly horseback archery to hand-to-hand ground fighting).


title: Japanese martial arts

text: This development of the sword is paralleled by the development of the methods used to wield it. During times of peace, the warriors trained with the sword, and invented new ways to implement it. During war, these theories were tested. After the war ended, those who survived examined what worked and what didn't, and passed their knowledge on. In 1600 AD, Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川 家康, 1543–1616) gained total control of all of Japan, and the country entered a period of prolonged peace that would last until the Meiji Restoration. During this period, the techniques to use the sword underwent a transition from a primarily utilitarian art for killing, to one encompassing a philosophy of personal development and spiritual perfection.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: The terminology used in Japanese swordsmanship is somewhat ambiguous. Many names have been used for various aspects of the art or to encompass the art as a whole.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: literally means "the art/science of the sword". Although the term has been used as a general term for swordsmanship as a whole, in modern times, "kenjutsu" refers more to the specific aspect of swordsmanship dealing with partnered sword training. It is the oldest form of training and, at its simplest level, consists of two partners with swords drawn, practicing combat drills. Historically practiced with wooden katana ("bokken"; 木剣), this most often consists of pre-determined forms, called "kata" (型), or sometimes called "kumitachi" (組太刀), and similar to the partner drills practiced in kendo. Among advanced students, "kenjutsu" training may also include increasing degrees of freestyle practice.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: , literally meaning "the art/science of drawing a sword", and developed in the mid-15th century, is the aspect of swordsmanship focused upon the efficient draw of the sword, cutting down one's enemy, and returning the sword to its scabbard ("saya"; 鞘). The term came into use specifically during the Warring States Period (15th–17th centuries). Closely related to, but predating "iaijutsu", "battōjutsu" training emphasizes defensive counter-attacking. "Battōjutsu" training technically incorporates "kata", but generally consist of only a few moves, focusing on stepping up to an enemy, drawing, performing one or more cuts, and sheathing the weapon. "Battōjutsu" exercises tend to lack the elaborateness, as well as the aesthetic considerations of "iaijutsu" or "iaidō" "kata". Finally, note that use of the name alone is not dispositive; what is "battōjutsu" to one school may be "iaijutsu" to another.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: , approximately "the art/science of mental presence and immediate reaction", is also the Japanese art of drawing the sword. However, unlike "battōjutsu", "iaijutsu" tends to be technically more complex, and there is a much stronger focus upon perfecting form. The primary technical aspects are smooth, controlled movements of drawing the sword from its scabbard, striking or cutting an opponent, removing blood from the blade, and then replacing the sword in the scabbard.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: is the Japanese art of wielding the "naginata", a weapon resembling the medieval European glaive or guisarme. Most "naginata" practice today is in a modernized form ("gendai budō") called the "way of naginata" ("naginata-dō") or "new naginata" ("atarashii naginata"), in which competitions are also held.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: However, many koryu maintain naginatajutsu in their curriculum. Also of note, during the late Edo period, naginata were used to train women and ladies in waiting. Thus, most naginatajutsu styles are headed by women and most naginata practitioners in Japan are women. This has led to the impression overseas that naginatajutsu is a martial art that was not used by male warriors. In fact, naginatajutsu was developed in early medieval Japan and for a time was widely used by samurai.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: is the Japanese art of fighting with the spear ("yari"). For most of Japan's history, "sōjutsu" was practiced extensively by traditional schools. In times of war, it was a primary skill of many soldiers. Today it is a minor art taught in very few schools.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: "Shinobi no jutsu" (aka "Ninjutsu") was developed by groups of people mainly from Iga, Mie and Kōka, Shiga of Japan who became noted for their skills as infiltrators, scouts, secret agents, and spies. The training of these "shinobi" (忍; "ninja") involves


title: Japanese martial arts

text: espionage, sabotage, disguise, escape, concealment, assassination, archery, medicine, explosives, poisons, and more.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: The early martial art schools of Japan were almost entirely "Sōgō bujutsu", composite martial systems made up of an eclectic collection of skills and tools. With the long peace of the Tokugawa shogunate there was an increase in specialization with many schools identifying themselves with particular major battlefield weapons. However, there were many additional weapons employed by the warriors of feudal Japan, and an art to wielding each. Usually they were studied as secondary or tertiary weapons within a school but there are exceptions, such as the art of wielding the short staff, ("jōdō"; 杖道) which was the primary art taught by the Shintō Musō-ryū.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Other arts existed to teach military skills other than the use of weaponry. Examples of these include marine skills such as swimming and river-fording ("suijutsu"; 水術), equestrianism ("bajutsu"; 馬術), arson and demolition ("kajutsu").


title: Japanese martial arts

text: , literally meaning "modern martial way", usually applies to arts founded after the beginning of the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Aikido and judo are examples of "gendai budō" that were founded in the modern era, while "iaidō" represents the modernization of a practice that has existed for centuries.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: The core difference is, as was explained under ""koryū"", above, that "koryū" arts are practiced as they were when their primary utility was for use in warfare, while the primary purpose of "gendai budō" is for self-improvement, with self-defense as a secondary purpose. Additionally, many of the "gendai budō" have included a sporting element to them. Judo and kendo are both examples of this.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: , literally meaning "gentle way" or "way of softness", is a grappling-based martial art, practiced primarily as a sport. It contains substantially the same emphasis on the personal, spiritual, and physical self-improvement of its practitioners as can be found throughout "gendai budō".


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Judo was created by Kano Jigoro (嘉納 治五郎 "Kanō Jigorō", 1860–1938) at the end of the 19th century. Kano took the "koryū" martial arts he learned (specifically Kitō-ryū and Tenjin Shin'yo-ryū jujutsu), and systematically reinvented them into a martial art with an emphasis on freestyle practice (randori) and competition, while removing harmful jujutsu techniques or limiting them to the kata. Kano devised a powerful system of new techniques and training methods, which famously culminated on June 11, 1886, in a tournament that would later be dramatized by celebrated Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa (黒沢 明 "Kurosawa Akira", 1910–1998), in the film "Sanshiro Sugata" (1943).


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Judo became an Olympic sport in 1964, and has spread throughout the world. Kano Jigoro's original school, the "Kodokan", has students worldwide, and many other schools have been founded by Kano's students.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: , meaning the "way of the sword", is based on Japanese sword-fighting. It is an evolution of the art of "kenjutsu", and its exercises and practice are descended from several particular schools of swordsmanship. The primary technical influence in its development was the "kenjutsu" school of Ittō-ryū (founded c. 16th century), whose core philosophy revolved around the concept that all strikes in swordsmanship revolve around the technique "kiri-oroshi" (vertical downward cut). Kendo really began to take shape with the introduction of bamboo swords, called "shinai" (竹刀), and the set of lightweight wooden armour, called "bōgu" (防具), by Naganuma Sirōzaemon Kunisato (長沼 四郎左衛門 国郷, 1688–1767), which allowed for the practice of strikes at full speed and power without risk of injury to the competitors.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Today, virtually the entire practice of kendo is governed by the All Japan Kendo Federation, founded in 1951. Competitions are judged by points, with the first competitor to score two points on their opponent declared the winner. One point may be scored with a successful and properly executed strike to any of several targets: a thrust to the throat, or a strike to the top of the head, sides of the head, sides of the body, or forearms. Practitioners also compete in forms ("kata") competitions, using either wooden or blunted metal swords, according to a set of forms promulgated by the AJKF.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: , which would be "the way of mental presence and immediate reaction", is nominally the modernization of "iaijutsu", but in practice is frequently identical to "iaijutsu". The replacement of "jutsu" (術) with "dō" (道) is part of the 20th century emphasis upon personal and spiritual development; an evolution that took place in many martial arts. In the case of "iaidō", some schools merely changed in name without altering the curriculum, and others embraced the wholesale change from a combat-orientation to spiritual growth. Similar to Kendō, Iaidō is largely practiced under the All Japan Kendo Federation and it's not unusual for a Kendō club to offer Iaidō practice as well.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: means "the way to harmony with ki". It is a Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba (植芝 盛平 "Ueshiba Morihei", 1883 – 1969). The art consists of "striking", "throwing" and "joint locking" techniques and is known for its fluidity and blending with an attacker, rather than meeting "force with force". Emphasis is upon joining with the rhythm and intent of the opponent in order to find the optimal position and timing, when the opponent can be led without force. Aikidō is also known for emphasizing the personal development of its students, reflecting the spiritual background of its founder.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Morihei Ueshiba developed aikido mainly from Daitō-ryū aiki-jūjutsu incorporating training movements such as those for the "yari" (槍; spear), "jō" (杖; a short quarterstaff), and perhaps also "jūken" (銃剣; bayonet). Arguably the strongest influence is that of "kenjutsu" and in many ways, an aikidō practitioner moves as an empty handed swordsman.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: , which means “way of the bow", is the modern name for Japanese archery. Originally in Japan, kyujutsu, the “art of the bow", was a discipline of the samurai, the Japanese warrior class. The bow is a long range weapon that allowed a military unit to engage an opposing force while it was still far away. If the archers were mounted on horseback, they could be used to even more devastating effect as a mobile weapons platform. Archers were also used in sieges and sea battles.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: However, from the 16th century onward, firearms slowly displaced the bow as the dominant battlefield weapon. As the bow lost its significance as a weapon of war, and under the influence of Buddhism, Shinto, Daoism and Confucianism, Japanese archery evolved into kyudō, the “way of the bow". In some schools kyudō is practiced as a highly refined contemplative practice, while in other schools it is practiced as a sport.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: literally means "empty hand". It is also sometimes called . It was originally called 唐手 ("Chinese hand"), also pronounced 'karate'.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Karate originated in and, is technically, Okinawan, except for Kyokushin (an amalgamation of parts of Shotokan and Gojoryu), formerly known as the Ryūkyū Kingdom, but now a part of present-day Japan. Karate is a fusion of pre-existing Okinawan martial arts, called ""te"", and Chinese martial arts. It is an art that has been adopted and developed by practitioners on the Japanese main island of Honshu.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Karate's route to Honshu began with Gichin Funakoshi (船越 義珍 "Funakoshi Gichin", 1868–1957), who is called the father of karate, and is the founder of Shotokan karate. Although some Okinawan karate practitioners were already living and teaching in Honshū, Funakoshi gave public demonstrations of karate in Tokyo at a physical education exhibition sponsored by the ministry of education in 1917, and again in 1922. As a result, karate training was subsequently incorporated into Japan's public school system. It was also at this time that the white uniforms and the "kyū"/"dan" ranking system (both originally implemented by judo's founder, Kano Jigoro) were adopted.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Karate practice is primarily characterized by linear punching and kicking techniques executed from a stable, fixed stance. Many styles of karate practiced today incorporate the forms ("kata") originally developed by Funakoshi and his teachers and many different weapons traditionally concealed as farm implements by the peasants of Okinawa. Many karate practitioners also participate in light- and no-contact competitions while some (ex. kyokushin karate) still compete in full-contact competitions with little or no protective gear.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: is a post-World War II system of self-defense and self-improvement training (行: "gyo" or discipline) known as the modified version of Shaolin Kung Fu. There are two primary technique categories such as "gōhō" (剛法; strikes, kicks and blocks) and "jūhō" (柔法; pins, joint locks and dodges). It was established in 1947 by who had been in Manchuria during World War II and who on returning to his native Japan after World War II saw the need to overcome the devastation and re-build self-confidence of the Japanese people on a massive scale.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Although Shorinji Kempo was originally introduced in Japan in the late 1940s and 1950s through large scale programmes involving employees of major national organizations (e.g. Japan Railways) it subsequently became popular in many other countries. Today, according to the World Shorinji Kempo Organization (WSKO), there are almost 1.5 million practitioners in 33 countries.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: The principle of is particularly difficult to describe or explain. The most simple translation of "aiki", as "joining energy", belies its philosophical depth. Generally, it is the principle of matching your opponent in order to defeat him. It is this concept of "matching", or "joining", or even "harmonizing" (all valid interpretations of "ai") that contains the complexity. One may "match" the opponent in a clash of force, possibly even resulting in a mutual kill. This is not "aiki". "Aiki" is epitomized by the notion of joining physically and mentally with the opponent for the express purpose of avoiding a direct clash of force. In practice, "aiki" is achieved by first joining with the motion of the opponent (the physical aspect) as well as the intent (the mental portion), then overcoming the will of the opponent, redirecting their motion and intent.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Historically, this principle was used for destructive purposes; to seize an advantage and kill one's opponent. The modern art of aikido is founded upon the principle that the control of the opponent achieved by the successful application of "aiki" may be used to defeat one's opponent without harming them.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: "Kokoro" (心:こころ) is a concept that crosses through many martial arts, but has no single discrete meaning. Literally translating as "heart", in context it can also mean "character" or "attitude." Character is a central concept in karate, and in keeping with the "dō" nature of modern karate, there is a great emphasis on improving oneself. It is often said that the art of karate is for self-defense; not injuring one's opponent is the highest expression of the art. Some popularly repeated quotes implicating this concept include:


title: Japanese martial arts

text: A code of honor for samurai way of life, in principle similar to chivalry but culturally very different. Literally "the way of the warrior", those dedicated to Bushido have exemplary skill with a sword or bow, and can withstand great pain and discomfort. It emphasizes courage, bravery, and loyalty to their lord (daimyō) above all.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Words that I have often heard are that "everything begins with "rei" and ends with "rei"". The word itself, however, can be interpreted in several ways; it is the "rei" of "reigi" meaning "etiquette, courtesy, politeness" and it is also the "rei" of "keirei", "salutation" or "bow". The meaning of "rei" is sometimes explained in terms of "kata" or "katachi" ("formal exercises" and "form" or "shape"). It is of prime importance not only in karate but in all modern martial arts. For the purpose in modern martial arts, let us understand "rei" as the ceremonial bow in which courtesy and decorum are manifest.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: He who would follow the way of karate must be courteous, not only in training but in daily life. While humble and gentle, he should never be servile. His performance of the kata should reflect boldness and confidence. This seemingly paradoxical combination of boldness and gentleness leads ultimately to harmony. It is true, as Master Funakoshi used to say, that the spirit of karate would be lost without courtesy.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: In practical use this often refers to the scream or shout made during an attack, used for proper breathing as well as debilitating or distracting the enemy.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: There are two underlying strategic methodologies to the application of force in Japanese martial arts. One is the , and the other is the . Implicit in these concepts is their separate but equal and interrelated nature, in keeping with their philosophical relationship to the Chinese principles of yin and yang (Jp.: "in" and "yō").


title: Japanese martial arts

text: The hard method is characterized by the direct application of counter-force to an opposing force. In practice, this may be a direct attack, consisting of movement directly towards the opponent, coinciding with a strike towards the opponent. A defensive technique where the defender stands their ground to block or parry (directly opposing the attack by stopping it or knocking it aside) would be an example of a hard method of defense. Hard method techniques are generally conceptualized as being linear.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: The soft method is characterized by the indirect application of force, which either avoids or redirects the opposing force. For example, receiving an attack by slipping past it, followed by adding force to the attacker's limb for the purpose of unbalancing an attacker is an example of soft method. Soft method techniques are generally conceptualized as being circular.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: These definitions give rise to the often illusory distinction between "hard-style" and "soft-style" martial arts. In truth, most styles technically practice both, regardless of their internal nomenclature. Analyzing the difference in accordance with yin and yang principles, philosophers would assert that the absence of either one would render the practitioner's skills unbalanced or deficient, as yin and yang alone are each only half of a whole.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: Openings, initiative, and timing are deeply interrelated concepts applicable to self-defense and competitive combat. They each denote different considerations relevant to successfully initiating or countering an attack.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: There are two types of initiative in Japanese martial arts, , and . Each type of initiative complements the other, and has different advantages and weaknesses. Early initiative is the taking advantage of an opening in an opponent's guard or concentration ("see "suki", supra"). To fully take the early initiative, the attack launched must be with total commitment and lacking in any hesitation, and virtually ignoring the possibility of a counter-attack by the opponent. Late initiative involves an active attempt to induce an attack by the opponent that will create a weakness in the opponent's defenses, often by faking an opening that is too enticing for the opponent to pass up.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: All of the above concepts are integrated into the idea of the combat . "Maai" is a complex concept, incorporating not just the distance between opponents, but also the time it will take to cross the distance, and angle and rhythm of attack. It is specifically the exact "position" from which one opponent can strike the other, after factoring in the above elements. For example, a faster opponent's "maai" is farther away than a slower opponent. It is ideal for one opponent to maintain "maai" while preventing the other from doing so.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: is the title used for a teacher, in a similar manner to a college 'Professor' in the United States. translates as "headmaster" meaning the head of a "ryu".


title: Japanese martial arts

text: The relationship between and is one with its origins not in martial arts, but rather in Japanese and Asian culture generally. It underlies Japanese interpersonal relationships in many contexts, such as business, school, and sports. It has become part of the teaching process in Japanese martial arts schools. A senior student is senior to all students who either began training after him or her, or who they outrank. The role of the senior student is crucial to the indoctrination of the junior students to etiquette, work ethic, and other virtues important to the school. The junior student is expected to treat their seniors with respect, and plays an important role in giving the senior students the opportunity to learn leadership skills. Senior students may or may not teach formal classes, but in every respect their role is as a teacher to the junior students, by example and by providing encouragement.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: There are ultimately two ranking systems in the Japanese martial arts, although some schools have been known to blend these two together. The older system, usual prior to 1868, was based a series of licenses or "menkyo". There were generally very few levels culminating in the license of total transmission ("menkyo kaiden"; 免許皆伝).


title: Japanese martial arts

text: In the modern system, first introduced in the martial arts through judo, students progress by promotion through a series of grades (kyū), followed by a series of degrees (dan), pursuant to formal testing procedures. Some arts use only white and black belts to distinguish between levels, while others use a progression of colored belts for kyū levels.


title: Japanese martial arts

text: It has often been said that forms ("kata") are the backbone of the martial arts. Nevertheless, different schools and styles put a varying amount of emphasis upon their practice.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which were held in Stockholm, Sweden, in June 1956.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: These Games were the first to be staged in the Southern Hemisphere and Oceania, as well as the first to be held outside Europe and North America. Melbourne is the most southerly city ever to host the Olympics. Due to the Southern Hemisphere's seasons being different from those in the Northern Hemisphere, the 1956 Games did not take place at the usual time of year, because of the need to hold the events during the warmer weather of the host's spring/summer (which corresponds to the Northern Hemisphere's autumn/winter), resulting in the only summer games ever to be held in November and December. Australia did not host the Games again until 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, and will host them again in 2032 in Brisbane, Queensland.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: The Olympic equestrian events could not be held in Melbourne due to Australia's strict quarantine regulations, so they were held in Stockholm five months earlier. This was the second time the Olympics were not held entirely in one country, the first being the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, with some events taking place in Ostend, Belgium and Amsterdam, Netherlands. Despite uncertainties and various complications encountered during the preparations, the 1956 Games went ahead in Melbourne as planned and turned out to be a success. Started during the 1956 Games was the "Parade of Athletes" at the closing ceremonies.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: Eight teams boycotted the Games for various reasons. Four teams (Egypt, Iraq, Cambodia and Lebanon) boycotted in response to the Suez Crisis, in which Egypt was invaded by Israel, France and the United Kingdom. Three teams (the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland) boycotted in response to the Soviet invasion of Hungary, and China's boycott was in response to the presence of the Republic of China.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: One of the most notable events of the games was a controversial water polo match between the Soviet Union and the defending champions, Hungary. The Soviet Union had recently suppressed an anti-communist revolution in Hungary and violence broke out between the teams during the match, resulting in numerous injuries. When Ervin Zádor suffered bleeding after being punched by Valentin Prokopov, spectators attempted to join the violence, but they were blocked by police. The match was cancelled, with Hungary being declared the winner because they were in the lead.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: Melbourne was selected as the host city over bids from Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Montreal, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and San Francisco at the 43rd IOC Session in Rome, Italy on 28 April 1949. Mexico City, Montreal and Los Angeles would eventually be selected to host the 1968, 1976 and 1984 Summer Olympics.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: Many members of the IOC were sceptical about Melbourne as an appropriate site. Its location in the Southern Hemisphere was a major concern since the reversal of seasons would mean the Games must be held during the northern winter. The November–December schedule was thought likely to inconvenience athletes from the Northern Hemisphere, who were accustomed to resting during their winter.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: Notwithstanding these concerns, the field of candidates eventually narrowed to two Southern Hemisphere cities, these being Melbourne and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Melbourne was selected, in 1949, to host the 1956 Olympics by a one-vote margin. The first sign of trouble was the revelation that Australian equine quarantine would prevent the country from hosting the equestrian events. Stockholm was selected as the alternative site, so equestrian competition began on 10 June, five and a half months before the rest of the Olympic Games were to open.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: The above problems of the Melbourne Games were compounded by bickering over financing among Australian politicians. Eventually, in March 1953, the State Government accepted a £2 million loan from the Commonwealth Government to build the Olympic Village, which would accommodate up to 6,000 people, in Heidelberg West. After the Olympics, the houses in the village were handed back to the Housing Commission for general public housing.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: At one point, IOC President Avery Brundage suggested that Rome, which was to host the 1960 Games, was so far ahead of Melbourne in preparations that it might be ready as a replacement site in 1956. Construction of sporting venues was given priority over the athlete's village. The village was designed as a whole new suburb with semi-detached houses and flats. For the first time both sexes were to reside in the same buildings, separated only by fence.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: As late as April 1955, Brundage was still doubtful about Melbourne and was not satisfied by an inspection trip to the city. Construction was well under way by then, thanks to a $4.5 million federal loan to Victoria, but it was behind schedule. He still held out the possibility that Rome might have to step in.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: Egypt, Iraq, Cambodia and Lebanon announced that they would not participate in the Olympics in response to the Suez Crisis when Egypt was invaded by Israel, the United Kingdom, and France.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: The People's Republic of China chose to boycott the event because Taiwan had been allowed to compete.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: Although the number of countries participating (67) was almost the same as in 1952 (69), the number of athletes competing dropped sharply, from 4,925 to 3,342. (This figure does not include the 158 athletes from 29 countries who took part in the Stockholm equestrian competition.)


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: Once underway, the Games progressed smoothly, and came to be known as the "Friendly Games". Betty Cuthbert, an 18-year-old from Sydney, won the 100 and 200 metre sprint races and ran an exceptional final leg in the 4 x 100 metre relay to overcome Great Britain's lead and claim her third gold medal. The veteran Shirley Strickland repeated her 1952 win in the 80 metre hurdles and was also part of the winning 4 x 100 metre relay team, bringing her career Olympic medal total to seven: three golds, a silver, and three bronze medals.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: Australia also triumphed in swimming. They won all of the freestyle races, men's and women's, and collected a total of eight gold, four silver and two bronze medals. Murray Rose became the first male swimmer to win two freestyle events since Johnny Weissmuller in 1924, while Dawn Fraser won gold medals in the 100 metre freestyle and as the leadoff swimmer in the 4 x 100 metre relay team.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: The men's track and field events were dominated by the United States. They not only won 15 of the 24 events, they swept four of them and took first and second place in five others. Bobby Morrow led the way with gold medals in the 100 and 200 metre sprints and the 4 x 100 metre relay. Tom Courtney barely overtook Great Britain's Derek Johnson in the 800 metre run, then collapsed from the exertion and needed medical attention.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: Ireland's Ronnie Delany ran an outstanding 53.8 over the last 400 metres to win the 1,500 metre run, in which favourite John Landy of Australia finished third.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: There was a major upset, marred briefly by controversy, in the 3,000 metre steeplechase. Little-known Chris Brasher of Great Britain finished well ahead of the field, but the judges disqualified him for interfering with Norway's Ernst Larsen, and they announced Sándor Rozsnyói of Hungary as the winner. Brasher's appeal was supported by Larsen, Rozsnyói, and fourth-place finisher Heinz Laufer of Germany. Subsequently, the decision was reversed and Brasher became the first Briton to win a gold medal in track and field since 1936.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: Only two world records were set in track and field. Mildred McDaniel, the first American woman to win gold in the sport, set a high jump record of , and Egil Danielsen of Norway overcame blustery conditions with a remarkable javelin throw of .


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: Throughout the Olympics, Hungarian athletes were cheered by fans from Australia and other countries. Many of them gathered in the boxing arena when thirty-year-old Laszlo Papp of Hungary won his third gold medal by beating José Torres for the light-middleweight championship.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: A few days later, the crowd was with the Hungarian water polo team in its match against the Soviet Union which took place against the background of the Soviet invasion of Hungary. The game became rough and, when a Hungarian was forced to leave the pool with a bleeding wound above his eye, a riot almost broke out. The police restored order and the game was called early, with Hungary leading , and the Hungarians went on to win the gold medal.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: In a much publicized Olympic romance, American hammer throw champion Hal Connolly would marry Czechoslovak discus throw champion, Olga Fikotová. After moving to the United States, Olga wanted to continue representing Czechoslovakia, but the Czechoslovak Olympic Committee would not allow her to do so. Thereafter, as Olga Connolly, she took part in every Olympics until 1972 competing for the U.S. She was the flag bearer for the U.S. team at the 1972 Summer Olympics.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: Despite the international tensions of 1956—or perhaps because of them—a young Melburnian, John Ian Wing, came up with a new idea for the closing ceremony. Instead of marching as separate teams, behind their national flags, the athletes mingled together as they paraded into and around the arena for a final appearance before the spectators. It was the start of an Olympic tradition that has been followed ever since.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: While the Olympic flame was being carried to Sydney, an Australian veterinary student named Barry Larkin carried a fake Olympic Flame and fooled the mayor of Sydney.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: The Olympics were first televised during the 1936 games to a domestic audience in Berlin. The 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo were broadcast internationally with the organising committee giving the television rights for free. While there was much interest in the games overseas, no international television or newsreel rights were awarded, as the Melbourne organising committee requested licensing payments for the broadcasting rights. However, domestic rights to the games were hastily agreed by the three Melbourne stations at the time, GTV9, HSV7 and ABV2, only a week before the opening ceremony. The three Sydney stations, TCN9, ATN7 and ABN2, syndicated the Melbourne coverage. With television in Australia having its beginnings in September 1956, for many Australians, their first glimpse of television was Olympic broadcasts. As only around five thousand televisions had been sold by the time of the Games, the Australian audience largely watched the games at community halls and at Ampol petrol stations.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: The 1956 Summer Olympics featured 17 different sports encompassing 23 disciplines, and medals were awarded in 151 events (145 events in Melbourne and 6 equestrian events in Stockholm). In the list below, the number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: A total of 67 nations competed in the 1956 Olympics. Eight countries made their Olympic debuts: Cambodia (only competed in the equestrian events in Stockholm), Ethiopia, Fiji, Kenya, Liberia, Federation of Malaya, North Borneo (modern-day Sabah of Malaysia), and Uganda. Athletes from East Germany and West Germany competed together as the United Team of Germany, an arrangement that would last until 1968.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: Five nations competed in the equestrian events in Stockholm, but did not attend the Games in Melbourne. Cambodia, Egypt and Lebanon did not compete in Melbourne due to a boycott regarding the Suez Crisis, whilst the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland all boycotted the Melbourne Olympics in protest at the Soviet invasion of Hungary.


title: 1956 Summer Olympics

text: Host nation (Australia). John Ian Wing of Australia was also presented with a bronze medal, not included in the above table, for suggesting the closing ceremony have athletes as one nation.


title: Steven Levitan

text: Steven E. Levitan (born April 6, 1962) is an American television producer, director, and screenwriter. He has created such television series as "Just Shoot Me!", "Stark Raving Mad", "Stacked", "Back to You", "Modern Family", and "Reboot".


title: Steven Levitan

text: Levitan was raised Jewish in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Glenbrook South High School and University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1980 to 1984, graduating with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He is a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.


title: Steven Levitan

text: Levitan worked as a WKOW-TV on-air news reporter and morning anchorman in Madison, Wisconsin, and as a copywriter at Leo Burnett Advertising in Chicago. He moved to Hollywood in 1989.