at that year's Summer Olympics in Moscow in the Soviet Union. The 16
teammates, all from Zimbabwe's white minority, were assembled less than
a month before the Olympics, after an American-led boycott reduced the
number of teams competing. It was the first time the women's field
hockey event had been held at the Olympics. After beating Poland and the
Soviet Union and drawing with Czechoslovakia and India, the Zimbabweans
secured the gold on the final day with a 4–1 victory over Austria.
Their victory was considered a huge upset, particularly considering the
short time the team had to prepare. Won at a time of great transition in
Zimbabwe—as Rhodesia, the country had been barred from the previous
three Olympics—the gold medal was the nation's first Olympic medal of
any colour. The players were dubbed the "Golden Girls" by the Zimbabwean
press and were briefly national celebrities. Zimbabwe did not win
another Olympic medal until 2004.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwe_women%27s_national_field_hockey_team_at_the_1980_Summer_Olympics>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1503:
Christopher Columbus and his crew became the first Europeans to
visit the Cayman Islands, naming them Las Tortugas after the numerous
sea turtles there.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cayman_Islands>
1837:
Banks in New York City suspended specie payments, triggering a
seven-year recession in the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1837>
1857:
The Sepoy Mutiny against the company rule by the British East
India Company began.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rebellion_of_1857>
1940:
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned and
formally recommended Winston Churchill as his successor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Chamberlain>
1994:
American serial killer John Wayne Gacy was executed by lethal
injection for the murders of twelve teenage boys and young men in a
series of killings committed between 1972 and 1978.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Gacy>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cymotrichous:
(anthropology) Having wavy hair.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cymotrichous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.
--Abraham Lincoln
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln>
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