Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 August 12

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Today's featured article
The Olympic Games are considered to be the world's foremost sports competition and more than 200 nations participate. The Games are held biennially, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating, so that each of these is held every four years. Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, which is still the governing body of the games. The 20th and 21st centuries have seen several changes to the games, such as the creation of the Winter Games for ice and winter sports, the Paralympic Games for athletes with a physical disability, and the Youth Olympic Games. The Olympics have shifted away from the pure amateurism envisioned by Coubertin to allow participation of professional athletes. The growing importance of the mass media has created issues around corporate sponsorship and commercialization of the Games. World Wars led to the cancellation of the 1916, 1940, and 1944 Games. Large boycotts during the Cold War limited participation in the 1980 and 1984 Games. (more...) Recently featured: South Side, Chicago – Gregorian mission – Western Ganga Dynasty Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that the extinct snakefly Alavaraphidia is known from a single female trapped in amber (pictured)? ... that Haitian runner Dieudonné LaMothe said he completed the marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympics in fear for his life? ... that Nancy Takes Revenge, a 1930 sequel, was released four months after the original film's conclusion? ... that German sculptor Walter Lemcke designed the first Olympic torch for the 1936 Summer Olympics torch relay, which began the tradition of taking the Olympic Flame to the host city? ... that the design of Henbury Hall in Cheshire, built in the 1980s, is based on Palladio's Villa Rotonda? ... that fighter pilot Yoshio Yoshida shot down six confirmed Boeing B-29 Superfortresses over Japan but was awarded the high military honor of Bukosho for an earlier "probable" in Manchuria? ... that Jennifer Lopez's song "Invading My Mind", from her seventh studio album Love?, was co-produced by Lady Gaga? ... that Englishman John Copley was the oldest person ever to receive an Olympic medal, winning silver at the age of 73? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
At least 250 people are killed and 2,000 others injured in a pair of earthquakes near Tabriz, Iran. In the London Olympics, the United States team (Allyson Felix pictured) breaks a 27-year old world record in the women's 4 × 100 metres relay. Researchers announce new fossils of Homo rudolfensis, helping to confirm it as a species distinct from Homo habilis. Libya's National Transitional Council transfers power to the recently elected General National Congress. American composer Marvin Hamlisch dies at the age of 68. Olympics summary – Wikinews – Recent deaths More current events...
On this day...
August 12 30 BC – Cleopatra VII Philopator, the last ruler of the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty, committed suicide, allegedly by means of an asp bite. 1121 – Forces led by David the Builder decisively won the Battle of Didgori, driving Ilghazi and the Seljuk Turks out of Georgia. 1877 – American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered Deimos, the smaller of the two moons of Mars. 1944 – After a week of indiscriminate killing of civilians in Wola, Warsaw, Poland, SS General Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski ordered that any remaining Poles be sent to labour or concentration camps. 1950 – Korean War: Members of the North Korean People's Army executed 75 captured U.S. Army prisoners of war. 1990 – American paleontologist Sue Hendrickson found the most complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus (pictured) ever discovered near Faith, South Dakota, US. More anniversaries: August 11 – August 12 – August 13 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now August 12, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

Christy Mathewson (1880–1925) was an American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He was among the most dominant pitchers of his (or any) era, and ranks in the all-time top-10 in major pitching categories such as wins, shutouts, and ERA. He was one of the "first five" inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936.

Photo: Paul Thompson; Restoration: Michel Vuijlsteke

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