Athens - Here is a brief descriptive of the sports to be featured at the Athens Olympic Games, between August 13-29:
Archery
The objective is to hit the centre or bullseye, measuring 12.2cm, of a target measuring 1.22m in diameter, placed at a distance of 70m. The bullseye counts for 10 points and each concentric ring decreases by one point from the centre.
Individual events: after standings are determined by each archer shooting a total of 72 arrows (6 in 4 minutes), the 64 qualified archers face each other in an automatic elimination event. Archers compete simultaneously, shooting 18 arrows each in three series of 6 arrows, and continue in this format until the last 16. As of the quarter-finals, archers shoot 12 arrows, this time alternately, in four series of 3 arrows.
Team events (16 countries, 3 archers per country): archers shoot a total of 27 arrows, 9 each, in a direct elimination format. Each team is allowed 3 minutes to shoot 9 arrows (3 arrows per archer for each round).
Athletics
Track and field events where, except for the walk and the marathon, athletes take part in qualification rounds in order to arrive at the final eight participants.
Jumping and throwing requires a minimum distance or height to qualify for the next round. If this is unattainable, the 12 best performances advance to the next stage. In the final, six attempts are allowed. After three attempts, the four athletes with the least height or distance are eliminated.
Heptathlon (women) and decathlon (men) multi-discipline events have a points system, based on an already-established scale.
Badminton
Players use a racquet to strike a leather-covered, cork-topped shuttlecock over a net into his/her opponent's area. Points are won when a player's adversary fails to return the shuttle.
The court: the playing area measures 14.31m x 5.18m (singles) and 14.31m x 6.1m for doubles. The net sits at the half-way point of the court and 1.55m high at either post.
A badminton match is played over three games. After the toss of a coin prior to the first game (the winner may serve first or choose an end to play from), play commences. Only the serving side can score points. To win a game, sides must score 15 points (in doubles and men's singles) or 11 points in women's singles.
Baseball
An Olympic sport only since 1992, the format consists of one elimination tournament with eight teams (each with 9 players). The first four go through to the semi-finals, with the first-placed team playing the fourth-placed team and the second playing the third. The winners progress to the final.
The field of play is enclosed by the home plate and the three bases, hence the name 'diamond'. The square bases lie 27.43m apart and are turned on a 45° angle.
A team scores a point when a player completes one tour of the interior field, passing by the three bases to arrive back at the home plate. To do this he must first hit the ball past the outfield defenders (catchers). In Olympic baseball aluminium bats, deemed more powerful than wooden bats, are permitted.
Basketball
Twelve teams from both the men's and women's competition are broken up into two groups of six. The first round provides the first four teams from each group for the quarter-finals. The winners of the semi-finals play to decide the gold and silver medals while the remaining two teams contest the bronze. Four periods of 10 minutes are played, with a five-minute overtime being played in the event of a tie.
A court measuring 28m in length by 15m in width is used. At each end, a basket is attached to a circular (45cm in diameter) steel apparatus. This hangs 3.05m from the floor and is fixed on to a board.
Players are allowed to move with the ball while dribbling, with one hand only.
Boxing
Ring measures 6m x 6m. In Olympic competition, boxers wear protective headgear and a vest.
Competitors will contest the elimination and qualification rounds, leading to the quarter-finals. The subsequent phase is the semi-final, followed by the final in each category. Each fight takes place over four two-minute rounds, with one minute's rest between rounds.
Points are awarded for each successful punch landed.
Canoeing
Canoeing (kayaking) competitions are conducted under two categories: slalom and flatwater.
The slalom is a 300m moving-water race against the clock, held over a maximum of two rounds. The result from the first round is retained for the final standings. In case of a tie, the winner is the competitor with the best time from the second round. Competitors must pass through, without touching or missing, a maximum of 25 gates which are placed at several different locations along the course. Each missed or touched gate incurs an automatic penalty. The time recorded is transformed into seconds, then points according to an already established conversion system.
The flatwater is a race of specified distance in a calm stretch of water. Nine lanes are marked out for the nine competitors, the aim being to arrive at the finish ahead of the opponent. The various rounds consist of elimination rounds, repechages, semi-finals and the final.
Cycling
Three different cycling competitions will take place in Athens 2004: road, track and mountain cycling.
On the road, the cyclists, organised in national team formations, depart simultaneously on a designated circuit and make a number of laps totalling a distance of around 239 km (120km for women).
More complex and specialized than other cycling disciplines, track cycling consists of three different categories according to distance, short medium and long, and focuses on speed and endurance.
Quickly developed into an international sport from being a recreational activity, mountain cycling competition will take place in the Parnitha Olympic Mountain Bike Venue, in Mount Parnitha, where cyclists will compete to come first on a hilly, rough terrain.
Diving
The diver jumps from a flexible board measuring 4.8m long and at least 50cm wide and sitting 3m above the surface of the water, or, from a rigid platform situated 10m above the water. The figures and routines performed during the dive are marked out of a possible 10 points by a panel of seven judges (the best and worse scores are disregarded) on the quality of the approach, the jump, the execution and the elegance with which the diver enters the water. The score obtained is multiplied by an already established technical difficulty coefficient.
For the synchronised event a pair of divers jump from a special board. Scores are decided by a panel of 9 judges, with 5 judging the synchronised aspect of the dive, the remaining 4 (two per diver) judging the execution. The initial 5 judges do not score on the execution of the dive. As with individual diving, the best and worse scores are disregarded. For synchronised events, eight pairs of divers take part in each event.
Fencing
One of the four sports featured in every Olympic Games since 1896, fencing is the modern manifestation of an ancient form of combat, practiced indoors. Two competitors meet on a 14m stage using either the foil, epee or sabre. The individual competition comprises a dual with direct elimination (as of the final 32 competitors), the winner being the first to score 15 touches. If, at the 9-minute mark, no-one has attained 15 touches, the fencer with the most touches is declared winner.
The team competition, also by direct elimination, is conducted on a relay basis with three fencers trying to attain 45 touches to win the bout. Each assault may last a total of three minutes.
Three types of blades are used: epee (solid, triangular blade), foil (flexible, rectangular blade), sabre (flexible, triangular blade).
Football
Arguably the most popular sport in the world, after the elimination rounds, the teams (16 for the men, 8 for the women) are split into four groups (2 for the women) of four teams. After the group matches the two top teams from each group qualify for the quarter-finals (semi-finals for the women). The semi-finals will feature the winners of each quarter-final and the final will feature the winners of each semi-final. "Silver goal" rule will apply as of the quarter-finals stage.
Since 1984, in Los Angeles, Olympic football has been open to professional footballers, although certain rules come into play in order to limit the number of professionals: each team can only field a maximum of three players over the age of 23.
Gymnastic
In artistic gymnastics, gymnasts carry out exercises on different apparatus, combining technique and aestheticism. Each exercise is marked by judges with a maxiumum of 10 points.
In both individual and team competitions, men compete in six different apparatus (floor, pommel horse, rings, long horse vault, parallel bars and fixed bars), while women compete in four (side horse vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor).
Rythmic gymnastics is a women-only event, where gymnasts attempt to obtain the most points possible using four out of the five accessories (rope, ribbon, clubs, hoop, ball) to complete a 60 - 90 second routine on a 13m x 13m mat. The total from the four scores determines the Olympic champion.
In the team event, each of the 10 teams must carry out two routines. In the first routine 5 gymnasts use clubs. In the second, two gymnasts use hoops, and three use ribbons. Both scores are combined.
Trampoline, the third category of gymnastics events, has routines of 10 elements. In the qualifying rounds athletes perform two routines. 8 of 16 athletes qualify to the finals, where they will perform one routine only.
Each routine must display one landing on either the front or back of the body, a single or double somersault, or similar, with a twist of at least 540 degrees, a forward or backward double somersault, with or without a twist, a forward or backward double somersault, including at least a full twist.
Handball
Played on a court or pitch 40m long by 20m, with goals that measure 3m wide by 2m in height, handball consists of two teams of seven, who aim to score as many goals against the opposing teams using only the hands. The game consists of two periods of 30 minutes each.
In the first round, teams split into two groups. After a round-robin competition, the first four teams in each group qualify for the quarter-finals for single elimination play, which is followed by a final for the gold and silver medals and the losing semi-finalists contesting the bronze.
Hockey
Played between two teams of 11, a hockey game is divided into two periods of 35 minutes each.
Among the two types of hockey disciplines (indoor and outdoor), only outdoor or field hockey will be played in Athens Olympic Games.
Judo
Using a variety of holds and movements, the aim is to beat the adversary within the allocated time limit. Victory is either given through ippon (before the expiration of the time limit) or by obtaining more advantages than the opponent thanks to certain holds (waza-ari, yuko, koka).
A square mat measuring 10m on each side is used in competitions that last five minutes for men, four minutes for women.
In each weight category, judoka are split into two pools, with direct elimination applying in each contest. Judokas who lose to one of the two pools' semi-finalists go into a repechage round within the same groups. The overall final features the winner of pool A against the winner of pool B. For 3rd places (there are two bronze medals), both losers from the pools finals compete against the two winners of the repechage contest.
Modern Pentathlon
Standing for the letter five, penta, modern pentathlon consists of five events over the course of a single day.
Created by Pierre de Coubertin, who was influenced by ancient pentathlon, in the first Olympic Games of 1896, modern pentathlon is a competition that brings together tests of strength, technique, endurance and will-power.
The five events that make up the event are shooting, fencing, swimming, horseriding and cross-country running.
Rowing
In this competition of discipline and coordination, competitors race on a stretch of water of 2 000m, with six separate lanes. All boats initially race in heats, with the fastest finishers going straight through to the semi-finals or the six-boat final. However, the remaining boats have a second chance in the repechage rounds, which provide further qualifiers for the later stages - although the composition of these later stages, including the semi-finals, depends upon the number of boats in each event.
Two major competitions are sweep (each rower in the boat uses one oar each), and sculls (rowers using two oars each).
Sailing
Competitors have to sail a triangular course in the quickest time possible. Races are in two categories: fleet racing - in which all competing boats race against each other at the same time - and match racing.
At the end of each heat, a negative points system is used to determine the final standings, as follows: 0 pt for 1st place, 3 pt for 2nd, 5.7 for 3rd etc. At the end of the last heat, each competitor deducts the two worst results (except in Soling where the winner is the sailor who wins the final), the winner being the competitor with the least number of points.
Shooting
The aim is to hit, as close to the centre as possible, a mobile or standing target, or to shoot a clay pigeon launched into the air.
For each weapon, elimination rounds serve to qualify 8 competitors for the finals of the rifle, pistol and moving target events, while six competitors from this round will go through from the skeet, Olympic trap and double trap events.
Different events include air pistol, rapid-fire pistol, sport pistol (only women), free pistol (only men), air rifle, small-bore rifle, Olympic trap, skeet, double trap and moving target (only men).
Softball
A women-only sport, softball is played on a diamond, composed of an interior field (18m each side) bordered by three bases and a home plate, and an exterior field, which is more flexible - although the distance from home plate to the outfield fence must be 61m.
There are seven allotted innings. In each inning both teams bat. A team scores a point when a player has made a full tour of the field, passing over the three outfield bases and returning to the home plate.
Softball differs from baseball in that the ball is larger, the bat is shorter and the pitcher must throw the ball underarm.
Swimming
A pool measuring 50m long, 21m wide and 1.8m deep is normally used. This is divided into 8 lanes.
The designated styles consist of freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, backstroke and medley, which is a combination of the previous four styles.
In syncronised swimming, the aim is to obtain as many points as possible from the 10 judges by executing certain synchronised artistic shapes and movements in the water. In the technical programme, competitors must execute a range of specific moves in a given order. In the free programme, music, movements and their order of execution are not restricted.
Table tennis
To win a point, the ball must hit the opponent's side of the table without a return of the ball. The ball cannot be played on the volley, as in tennis. The first opponent to reach 21 points, with a 2-point margin, wins a game. If the score reaches 20-20, the match continues until the first player to have a 2-point margin wins.
Taekwondo
Taekwondo is a form of karate which allows competitors - "Chung" (blue) and "Hong" (red) - to deliver rapid upper body kicks and punches, except to the face and throat. Contests are subject to direct elimination, with a double repechage giving the two contestants beaten by the finalists a chance to take 3rd place.
The method of scoring allows one point to be awarded for each legitimate blow to designated parts of the body (head, abdomen, side of the body).
Tennis
Singles and doubles events where matches are either the best of three or five sets. Sets are won by the first player to win six games, with a two game cushion needed to win a set. Sets tied at six games are decided by a tie-break game - the first player to reach seven points, with a two-point margin, wins the set.
Equestrian
The three-day event is essentially a combination of the dressage, cross country and showjumping events. The showjumping and cross-country parts of this event abide by the normal procedures. This takes place over a 20 - 30km course divided into four sections: warm-up, a steeplechase of 3 105m - 3 450m (3 105m in Sydney) scattered with 8 to 10 obstacles (9 in Sydney), another warm-up and a cross-country of 6 480 - 7 980m (7.4km in Sydney) with 35 obstacles. Penalties and points are attributed to riders and their horses in the event of refusal or a first fall. If a second fall occurs, the rider is disqualified.
Triathlon
Another competition of versatility, triathlon brings together three different events, swimming, cycling and running.
Competitors swim 1 500m, immediately followed by 40km of cycling, and then 10km of running.
After a mass start, the race to the finish is continuous, therefore changeovers from event to event are important.
Volleyball
Volleyball is the game of scoring points by hitting the ball over a net into the opponent's half of the court, keeping the ball in the air at all times. Points are won when opponents fail to return the ball, either directly following a successful service or after a rally, or when an attempt at returning the ball is unsuccessful.
Teams consist of six players, and a match is decided over five sets. These sets are normally decided over 15 points, with the winner needing a two-point margin to win.
Water polo
Played between two teams of seven players in a pool. Players must not touch the bottom or sides of the pool, thus swimming or treading water during the game, and are restricted to using one hand. Only goalkeepers can use both hands. The defence may tackle an opposing player who has the ball, but if that player holds the ball under water a foul is called. The attacking side has 35 seconds to shoot, and the entire ball must cross the goal line. If 35 seconds have passed without a shot, the opposing side is awarded possession via a throw or throw-in.
Weightlifting
Using two specific lifts, the aim is to lift the barbell, with the heaviest possible weights, from the floor above the head. Two movements are used - the snatch and the clean and jerk.
Each competitor has three opportunities to execute each movement. It is up to the lifter to choose which bar and weight he/she will lift, with added weights being added in sizes of 2.5kg or multiples thereof. A fourth attempt at a lift, with the added exceptional weight of 0.5kg, may be considered a world record attempt, although only the nearest multiple of 2.5kg counts towards the total. Each attempt is ratified by a panel of three judges.
Wrestling
Modern wrestling is divided into two styles: freestyle and greco-roman.
In the greco-roman style, holds are allowed from the waist up, while in free style holds are allowed on the whole body. Matches in both styles consist of two, three-minute parts, with a 30 second interval.
Each wrestler attempts to win over his adversary, either by holding both shoulders on the ground (fall) long enough to be in control. Pinning the opponent to the floor automatically ends the match. Wrestlers can also win by taking a ten-point lead (technical superiority) through a variety of holds and moves, or by finishing with more points.
