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fred smith's avatar

Anybody who has read a modicum of Aristotle’s writings would find preposterous the assertion that Aristotle made such an obvious blunder as to say that males have a greater number of teeth than females (in men, goats, sheep and swine). It must be the case that the text in which such statement is purportedly made has been corrupted in transmission. Rather than saying that males have “more” teeth, the text should read “larger” teeth. See Aristotle on the History of Animals and on the Parts of Animals.

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Elizabeth's avatar

Vaulting (gymnastics on cantering draft horses) has also been a demo sport. Its not my favorite but on the other hand it's ten times more interesting to me than normal gymnastics with a stationary "horse." I could also do without modern pentathlon, in which the riding portion is disturbing to watch and dangerous. Having done some dressage, show jumping and eventing myself, they are exceedingly technical and athletic disciplines that the top level competitors achieve at a level that probably exceeds anything before in history. Skijoring would be a fine idea if there were more countries likely to be able to field athletes, but even better would be chariot racing, which is legitimately "olympic"! Horse races, bareback, were a staple of the original classical games. If you want another great youtube watch, look up "Indian Relay" featuring actual Native Americans speeding around a racecourse bareback. Barrel racing, sorry, does not deserve to be an olympic sport.

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