Olympic Profiles of the Day

Steve Redgrave is much celebrated here - more so than Matthew in many ways - both are very highly thought of! Rowing would be a very British discipline to feature!

Tennis is also one that would be good because the matches are being played at Wimbledon - and Charlotte Reinagle Cooper was very much in at the beginning!

Rowing medal events 1st - 4th August
Tennis medal events 4th and 5th August

From your list I see the following as definite candidates -

July 30 : Swimming Men's 200 freestyle - Mark Spitz
August 4 : Men's Long Jump - Jesse Owens

because they are both legends and already have profiles on Geni.

Strong contenders - because they are already being researched and on the tree

Jim Thorpe

Decathalon final 1500 metres is on 9th August clashes with Carl Lewis but is more Historical and very interesting

Muhammad Ali Boximg already established tree - lightheavyweight division 1960 - final for this weight 12th August. but clashes with men's marathon

Charlotte Reinagle Sterry 4th and 5th finals - so could be at the beginning of the women's singles - 28th July

Matthew Pinsent - if we can use his profile but might have to make a public duplicate - again final events are all grouped around 1st - 5th

I think we are going to have to be quite flexible!

You want to set that up George?

OK, I'll set it up, and insert all your thoughts, too.
I think we do need to keep a Marathon man for the last day. It's a fundamental and legendary event, highly watched as it's the close of the Olympics.

Good show - agree about the marathon!

I've the page almost set up. I have the page open, so pleas don't join whilst I'm still editing - otherwise we may start overwriting one another :-)
I'll post here when i'm done.

OK, done http://www.geni.com/projects/London-2012-Workshop/12008

Thanks George!

Am having a go at Johnny Weissmuller 1904-1984

June, have you seen George is working at Johnny's profile? It.s on Geni already, b ut maybe you can work towards each other.. ;-)

Didn't come up in a search!! I will stop!!

Johnny Weissmuller this is what I did! Quite happy to delete the profile but George please take the documents if you need them.

I suppose you should add them to the project http://www.geni.com/projects/When-I-was-16/8898
don't you think, Private

oh sorry, the whole wide world is watching television now for the EUROPEAN championship Football !
HUP HOLLAND HUL against DANMARK

And I do NOT tell the points already, ok?

This slideshow has some good suggestions for athletes to focus on as major storylines:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1255015-50-biggest-storylines-he...

Would one of our South African collaborators like to tackle Oscar Pistorius' genealogy? He's already a huge storyline around the world.

Also, apologies to George J. Homs for not seeing his project before. I thought this is where we were organizing? Is the "Workshop" project something Amanda is definitely going to be working off? Because I was hoping to feature current Olympians more than past ones. For example, instead of using Nadia or Mary Lou for gymnastics, this year's all-around favorite Jordyn Wieber is a priority for me to get into the tree. I feel like people might be more interested in seeing how they relate to someone they just saw win a medal?

Ashley, in order to get some Olympics momentum, I'm sure that it will be good if we can have Amanda switch flexibly when a current athlete scores big and if he/she has a nice profile. I think our challenge is that even 'older' Olympic profiles are hard to identify in the big tree (especially the Africans) - let alone current athletes :-)
June Barnes has the current list, but I think we need to add possible alternatives in the case of gold medal winners today, like Jordyn Wieber.

By all means Ashley - if you think there is time.

I have been beavering away at the Olympics projects for a while now, and concentrated on the profiles from the time George started this discussion and made the suggestion. George set up the workshop page on 9 June and posted the link here. It has taken quite a bit of scratching around to get a cross section of people from across the board, trying to connect personalities with events of the day where possible, getting a balance of nations, disciplines etc. George J. Homs was in communication with Amanda and I am sure can comment on whether she is using the list.

Researching living or more recent personalities is more difficult but we have had a go. I will look at Oscar Pistorius and perhaps get some others on board! Sometimes we have to be satisfied with what we can get - see Abebe Bikila.

Many people are just not interested in sport - so there has been very little support forthcoming on these projects!

The list as it stands sent to George 11/7 for assessment. those marked XXX are weak and could be replaced

√ July 27 - Pierre de Coubertin - needs English write-up/Translation
√ July 28 - Johnny Weissmuller (IN HAND - George)
√ July 29 - Carl Lewis - replaces Jeannie Longo
√ July 30 - Mark Spitz - GOOD TO GO
√ July 31 - Edoardo Mangiarotti GOOD TO GO
√ Aug 1 - Matthew Pinsent GOOD TO GO - Linda Kathleen Thompson if more needed.
√ Aug 2 - Nadia Comăneci - GOOD TO GO - Linda Kathleen Thompson
√ Aug 3 - Michael Phelps - Needs sprucing up? - Ashley Odell
√ Aug 4 - Jesse Owens - GOOD TO GO - Linda Kathleen Thompson
√ Aug 5 - Charlotte Reinagle Cooper - GOOD TO GO June Barnes
√ Aug 6 - Launceston Elliot - could do with some attention but good
√ Aug 7 - Sebastien Coe - GOOD TO GO June Barnes (mostly developed the timeline)
√ Aug 8 - Reiner Klimke NEEDS SPRUCING - about me not complete - George Homs curator XXX
√ Aug 9 - Jim Thorpe - GOOD TO GO - Erica Howton Curator
√ Aug 10 - Francina Elsje Koen - NEEDS SPRUCING - about me not complete - George Homs curator
√ Aug 11 - Félix Savón Fabré - Practically no tree - Needs tidy up - June Barnes Curator XXX
?? Aug 12 Abebe Bikila (ET), marathon, 2 golds in 1960 and 1964 DONE

As obsessed with the Olympics (and sports in general) as I am, I've never heard of many of these athletes. I wonder if they'd be big draws on the blog? I'll continue working on current athletes in hopes that Amanda might want to use them. I think it would be exciting to watch someone win a gold medal, then check Geni the next day to see your connection.

And regarding Michael Phelps, he's very close to being in the big tree, but I think I need one more generation to make it happen. I'll keep working on it.

Tagging Private User for input. Amanda, do you have "priority" athletes we should be working on? I've been trying to work off lists of likely medalists.

Kenneth Kwame Welsh, (C), do you think we might be able to locate any records on Usain Bolt?

There's what appears to be a claimed account for him (Usain Bolt), but I doubt that's actually him since it was created in the middle of the 2008 Olympics.

Once you start researching the History of the Olympics rather than the current sports men and women you will start recognising/coming up against these names. I can see where you are coming from Ashley - depends on what the focus of Geni is to various people - for me it is mostly historic.

I have found the Oscar Pistorius family - most of which is private understandably - and have contacted the manager of that line to see if they would like to make it public - handed over to the SA Olympics collaborators.

I am now bowing out as my daughter's wedding is a week today and there is much to do with that and an exhibition afterwards. Hopefully I will have time to watch some of the Olympics!

Just drawing attention to this project WIP

http://www.geni.com/projects/London-%E2%80%AA2012-Summer-Olympics%E...

That's actually what's funny to me about it, June! I read books about Olympics history all the time and watch every documentary that comes out, but I'd still never heard of Francina Elsje Koen, Reiner Klimke, Launceston Elliot, or Edoardo Mangiarotti.

I think there's a distinction between Geni as a whole and the Geni Profile of the Day blog. Geni as a whole is historic to me, but the blog is marketing-driven and therefore tends to use more "household name" type of profiles. I guess what I'm trying to figure out is what approach Amanda is going to take. My sense is that while she'll probably incorporate a few historic profiles, she's probably going to want the active athletes.

Anyway, it's weekend and she's not reading this. :) As long as everyone keeps working on all aspects, we'll hopefully be able to give her lots of options to use. Great work, everyone!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Blankers-Koen

Yes, I also have Google. :) Thanks.

Enjoy - that is what it is all about. I also think that perhaps a European perspective (historically) is probably slightly different from one from the USA? In the end Amanda will make good choices.

http://www.fbk-games.nl/

I was in doubt if I should react. Not being a negative person and want to enjoy Geni and contribute to that in any way I can.
But what is happening here is accectly what sometimes happens when people with the best intentions starts a project and than another starts questioning it.
The list George suggested and was al in for discussion was meant to cover different countries different Oympic "heroes". I thing coming from the idea that Geni is a "worldwide" project. Than saying I never heard of this of that person is very odd to me I have not heard of all the persons too. But must I? Well if the blog is only marketing driven I would see add only American profiles or the ones that whole the world is formilair with.
I'm not responding because one of the profiles mentioned is one of my. I would never get angry if a profile of my would not get on the blog. I think she deserves it but hey more do so too. It is the responding I have never heard from those persons as an argument. When the blog is only about household persons (all over the world to know..?) because of marketing well I would very much be disappointent by that.
Well said what I needed to say. And do as you like and let Amanda make her decisions.
Btw I hardly contribute to the project so I want to compliment June and "her team" for doing such a great job and with such a positive attitude.

Jennie, thanks for making your comment. It's important to speak up whenever you feel like you have something to say.

I think you might have taken my tone in a way than it wasn't intended. I'm a very vocal advocate for internationalization on Geni and am one of the first people to complain when the blog feels too U.S.-centric. I make a special effort to find non-American profiles to suggest highlighting on the blog. Also, my "American" status in my profile doesn't at all reflect my personal experience. So my comments weren't coming from a place of U.S.-centrism at all. Nor was I saying that there was anything wrong whatsoever with featuring profiles of people I personally haven't heard of. My comments were simply to try to figure out what perspective the blog will be coming from -- will it be taking a historical look at the Olympics or looking for current Olympians? No nefarious undertones or motives, I promise. :)

Also, I feel like I should point out that I didn't simply walk into this effort last night. I've been working on Olympics-related profiles for several months now. It looks like you put me in the category of people without the best intentions, so I just want to be clear on that. Please see me as a colleague in this effort, not the enemy. :)

As one other follow-up thought: The best thing about Geni is obviously the collaboration. Sometimes when we're working on the same general topic, but in slightly different areas, we forget that we're all working on something together. (It's the dreaded silo mentality.) So when I look at the dozens of Olympics projects that have popped up over the past several months, I don't think of any one group of volunteers as having a monopoly on it or as being "the" authoritative group working on the subject. What I'm reading in your comments -- and I could be wrong, so please let me know if I am -- is that you feel like I intruded on something that other people were rightfully working on, so that's unfortunate. Or it could simply be that we're both trying to overcome barriers and not quite understanding each other fully.

In any case, I go back to what June said -- let's enjoy, have fun, and trust that Amanda will find a way to highlight everything well. :) The competition is better for athletes, anyway!