title: U.C. Sampdoria

text: Wearing green and black striped shirts, La Dominante Genova were admitted to the first ever season of Serie B, where they finished third, just missing out on promotion. The next season, under the name Foot Ball Club Liguria, they had a disastrous year, finishing bottom of the table and suffering relegation.


title: U.C. Sampdoria

text: Because of this, both Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria reverted to their previous names as separate clubs. Sampierdarenese were back in Serie B for the 1932–33 season and finished in the upper part. The following year, they were crowned champions and were promoted into Serie A for the first time. Andrea Doria, on the other hand, battled out the 1930s down in Serie C.


title: U.C. Sampdoria

text: On 15 July 1937 Sampierdarenese absorbed Corniglianese and Rivarolese, with the club adopting the name Associazione Calcio Liguria. This saw them reach fifth place in Serie A in 1939. In the early 1940s, the club was relegated but bounced straight back up as Serie B champions in 1941.


title: U.C. Sampdoria

text: After World War II, both Andrea Doria and Sampierdarenese (the name Liguria was abolished in 1945) were competing in Serie A, but in a reverse of pre-war situations, Andrea Doria were now the top club out of the two. However, on 12 August 1946, a merger occurred to create Unione Calcio Sampdoria. The first chairman of this new club was Piero Sanguineti, but the ambitious entrepreneur Amedeo Rissotto soon replaced him, while the first team coach during this period was a man from Florence named Giuseppe Galluzzi. To illustrate the clubs would be equally represented in the new, merged club, a new kit was designed featuring the blue shirts of Andrea Doria and the white, red and black midsection of Sampierdarenese. In the same month of the merger, the new club demanded they should share the Stadio Luigi Ferraris ground with Genoa. An agreement was reached, and the stadium began hosting Genoa's and Sampdoria's home matches.


title: U.C. Sampdoria

text: For about thirty years the Genoese played constantly in Serie A, with mixed results, the best of which was in the 1960–1961 season, in which they obtained fourth place in the championship. In the 1965–1966 season Sampdoria finished sixteenth, relegating to Serie B for the first time in its history; however, the following year they won the second-tier championship and immediately returned to Serie A.


title: U.C. Sampdoria

text: In 1979, the club, then playing Serie B, was acquired by oil businessman Paolo Mantovani (1930–1993), who invested in the team to bring Sampdoria to the top flight. In 1982, Sampdoria made their Serie A return and won their first Coppa Italia in 1985. In 1986, Yugoslav Vujadin Boškov was appointed as the new head coach. The club won their second Coppa Italia in 1988, being admitted to the 1988–89 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, where they reached the final, losing 2–0 to Barcelona. A second consecutive triumph in the Coppa Italia gave Sampdoria a spot in the 1989–90 Cup Winners' Cup, which they won after defeating Anderlecht after extra time in the final.


title: U.C. Sampdoria

text: This was followed only one year later by their first and only "Scudetto", being crowned as Serie A champions with a five-point advantage over second-placed Internazionale. The winning team featured several notable players, such as Gianluca Pagliuca, Gianluca Vialli, Roberto Mancini, Toninho Cerezo, Pietro Vierchowod and Attilio Lombardo, with Boškov as head coach. In the following season, Sampdoria reached the European Cup final and were defeated once again by Barcelona, at Wembley Stadium.


title: U.C. Sampdoria

text: Vujadin Boškov is recognised as one of Sampdoria's most successful managers winning a record amount of trophies and thus further establishing the club's reputation in Europe.


title: U.C. Sampdoria

text: On 14 October 1993, Paolo Mantovani died suddenly and was replaced by his son Enrico. During his first season (1993–94), Sampdoria won one more Coppa Italia and placed third in Serie A. During the following four seasons, many players from his father's tenure left the club but many important acquisitions were made which kept Sampdoria in the top tier Serie A. This included the likes of Argentine internationals Juan Sebastián Verón and Ariel Ortega, and international midfielders Clarence Seedorf and Christian Karembeu. In April 1995 Sampdoria reached the semi-final stage of the Cup Winners' Cup, losing out to Arsenal on penalties after two legs.


title: U.C. Sampdoria

text: In May 1999 Sampdoria were relegated from Serie A and did not return to the top flight until 2003. During this time, Sampdoria was acquired by Riccardo Garrone, an Italian oil businessman. Sampdoria returned to Serie A in 2003 led by talisman Francesco Flachi, and ended their first season in eighth place. After several more top-half finishes, manager Walter Novellino gave way to Walter Mazzarri in 2007.


title: U.C. Sampdoria

text: With the signings of forwards Antonio Cassano from Real Madrid, and Giampaolo Pazzini in January 2008, Sampdoria ended the 2007–08 season in sixth position and qualified for the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. The following season, they came fourth and qualified for the UEFA Champions League play-offs under manager Luigi Delneri, who left for Juventus. With the departures also of CEO Giuseppe Marotta, and both Cassano and Pazzini, and the squad being stretched by Champions League football, Sampdoria were relegated to Serie B after a 2–1 loss at home to Palermo in May 2011. In the following season June 2012, Sampdoria won promotion back to Serie A after defeating Varese 4–2 on aggregate in the play-off final.


title: U.C. Sampdoria

text: Following the death of Riccardo Garrone the previous year, the club was purchased from the Garrone family in June 2014 by the film producer . After sixth-placed rivals Genoa in the 2014–15 season failed to obtain a UEFA license for the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, seventh-placed Sampdoria took their spot. The club built a solid foundation in Serie A for the next seven years. Notable managerial appointments were Marco Giampaolo and Claudio Ranieri, as well as the steady flow of goals from talismanic striker Fabio Quagliarella. Growing tensions however surrounded Ferrero's presidency, fuelled by his well-known and public support of A.S. Roma. Several attempts were made to sell the club, including to a consortium led by club legend Gianluca Vialli. On 6 December 2021 Massimo Ferrero was arrested by Italian police as part of ongoing investigations into corporate crimes and bankruptcy. He resigned from his position as President of Sampdoria with immediate effect, whilst a club statement assured fans that the affairs of the football club were not a part of the investigations. On 27 December, former player Marco Lanna was appointed President. In January 2022 the club welcomed back former manager Marco Giampaolo after a disappointing start to the season under Roberto D'Aversa. On 6 February in his first home game back in charge Sampdoria defeated Sassuolo 4-0. Results however began to dwindle, and after eight games and a winless start to the 2022–23 season the club parted company with Giampaolo. On 6 October former Serie A player legend Dejan Stanković was appointed to the role with the task of steering the club clear of the relegation zone.


title: U.C. Sampdoria

text: The club crest features a sailor in profile known by the old Genoese name of Baciccia, which translates to Giovanni Battista in Italian or John-Baptist in English. The image of a sailor is appropriate due to Sampdoria being based in the port city of Genoa. The precise design of the Baciccia came from a Disney-licensed and Panini-published comic, "Topolino", in 1980. Since 1980, the Baciccia has appeared on the shirts of Sampdoria, mostly on the chest but occasionally on the sleeve.


title: U.C. Sampdoria

text: The white, blue, red and black colours represent the club's origins with a merger between two teams, Sampierdarenese and Andrea Doria, who wore respectively red/black and white/blue jerseys with a shield with Saint-George cross.


title: U.C. Sampdoria

text: Sampdoria supporters come mainly from the city of Genoa. The biggest group are Ultras Tito Cucchiaroni, named after an Argentinian left winger who played for Sampdoria. The group were founded in 1969, making it one of the oldest ultra groups in Italy. They are apolitical, although there are smaller groups like Rude Boys Sampdoria, who are left-wing. The main support with flags and flares comes from the southern Curva, Gradinata Sud.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (, ; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian–born American singer, songwriter, and pianist.


title: Regina Spektor

text: After self-releasing her first three records and gaining popularity in New York City's independent music scenes, particularly the anti-folk scene centered on New York City's East Village, Spektor signed with Sire Records in 2004 and began achieving greater mainstream recognition. After giving her third album a major label re-release, Sire released Spektor's fourth album, "Begin to Hope", which achieved a Gold certification by the RIAA. Her following two albums, "Far" and "What We Saw from the Cheap Seats", each debuted at number 3 on the "Billboard" 200. 2016's "Remember Us to Life" peaked at 23 on the "Billboard" 200.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Mayor Bill de Blasio proclaimed June 11, 2019, Regina Spektor Day in New York City. Spektor was also inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame on May 18, 2019, by Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor was born in 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, to a musical Russian-Jewish family. Her father, Ilya Spektor, was a photographer and amateur violinist. Her mother, Bella Spektor, was a music professor in a Soviet college of music and teaches at a public elementary school in Mount Vernon, New York. Spektor has a brother, Boruch (also known as Bear), who was featured in track 7, "* * *", or "Whisper", of her 2004 album "Soviet Kitsch". Growing up in Moscow, Regina started taking piano lessons when she was seven and learned how to play the piano by practicing on a Petrof upright that her grandfather gave her mother. She grew up listening to classical music and Russian bards like Vladimir Vysotsky and Bulat Okudzhava. Her father, who obtained recordings in Eastern Europe and traded cassettes with friends in the Soviet Union, also exposed her to rock and roll bands such as the Beatles, Queen, and the Moody Blues.


title: Regina Spektor

text: The family left the Soviet Union for the Bronx in 1989, when Spektor was nine and a half, during the period of Perestroika, when Soviet citizens were permitted to emigrate. She had to leave her piano behind. The seriousness of her piano studies led her parents to consider not leaving the Soviet Union, but they finally decided to emigrate due to the racial, ethnic, and political discrimination that Jewish people faced.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Traveling first to Austria and then Italy, the Spektor family was admitted to the United States as refugees with the assistance of HIAS (the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society). They settled in the Bronx, where Spektor graduated from SAR Academy, a Jewish day middle school in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. Since the family had been unable to bring their piano from Moscow, Spektor practiced on tabletops and other hard surfaces until she found a piano to play in the basement of her synagogue. In New York City, Spektor studied classical piano with Sonia Vargas, a professor at the Manhattan School of Music, until she was 17; Spektor's father had met Vargas through Vargas' husband, violinist Samuel Marder. Spektor attended high school for two years at the Frisch School, a yeshiva in Paramus, New Jersey, but transferred to a public school, Fair Lawn High School, in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where she finished the last two years of her high school education.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor was originally interested in classical music only, but she later grew interested in hip hop, rock, and punk as well. Although she had always made up songs around the house, she first became interested in more formal songwriting during a visit to Israel with the Nesiya Institute in her teenage years when she attracted attention from the other children on the trip for the songs she made up while hiking.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Following this trip, Spektor was exposed to the works of Joni Mitchell, Ani DiFranco, and other singer-songwriters, which encouraged her belief that she could create her own songs. She wrote her first a cappella songs around the age of 16 and her first songs for voice and piano when she was 17.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor completed the four-year studio composition program of the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College within three years, graduating with honors in 2001. Around this time, she also worked briefly at a butterfly farm in Luck, Wisconsin, and studied in Tottenham (in North London) for one term.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor gradually achieved recognition through performances in the anti-folk scene in downtown New York City, most prominently at the East Village's SideWalk Cafe. She also performed at local colleges (such as Sarah Lawrence College) with other musicians, including the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. She sold self-published CDs at her performances during this period: "" (2001) and "Songs" (2002). Spektor's first nationwide tour was accompanying The Strokes as the opening act on their 2003–2004 "Room on Fire" tour which included performances at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. While on the tour, she and the band performed and recorded "Modern Girls & Old Fashion Men". After the tour, Kings of Leon, who were the second opening act on the tour, invited Spektor to open for them on their own European tour. In 2004, Spektor signed a contract with Warner Brothers' record label Sire Records to publish and distribute her third album "Soviet Kitsch", originally self-released in 2003. In 2005, she began making her first TV appearances including guest spots on various late-night talk shows.


title: Regina Spektor

text: In June 2005, Spektor was the opening act for the English piano rock band Keane on their North American tour, during which she performed at Radio City Music Hall on June 7, 2005.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor went on to release the album "Begin to Hope" on June 13, 2006. The album debuted at number 70 on the Billboard 200, but due to the popularity of the single "Fidelity", it went on to peak at number 20, and was certified Gold by the RIAA. Spektor received increased attention when her video for "Fidelity" was viewed over 200,000 times in two days on YouTube. Spektor's 2006 headlining tour in support of the "Begin to Hope" album included back-to-back hometown shows at Town Hall Theater in New York City on September 27 and September 28, 2006. This tour was Spektor's first to feature a full backing band.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Listeners of Sirius Radio's Left of Center channel voted her single "Fidelity" as the No. 1 song of 2006. Towards the end of 2006, VH1 showcased her as part of its "You Oughta Know: Artists on the Rise" featurettes, playing clips from the "Fidelity" music video and showing parts of an interview with Spektor during commercial breaks on the channel. Spektor's video for "Fidelity" reached No. 3 on VH1's Top 20 Countdown. Spektor reached No. 33 on "Blender" magazine's top 100 of 2006 and was also listed as one of the "Hottest Women of Rock". On January 21, 2007, she was given an extensive feature on "CBS News Sunday Morning" which showcased her musical beginnings and growing popularity.


title: Regina Spektor

text: In 2007, Spektor began performing at several major music festivals including Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Bonnaroo Music Festival, Lollapalooza, Virgin Festival, and Austin City Limits Music Festival. On October 1, 2007, her video for "Better" was released on VH1 and YouTube, where it received more than 100,000 views within the first 24 hours. Spektor performed acoustic at Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit at Shoreline Amphitheatre on October 27, 2007.


title: Regina Spektor

text: On November 14, 2007, at her concert at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Spektor collapsed during the sound check and was taken to a local emergency room. According to the statement given to the audience, Spektor was fine, but doctors said that she could not perform that night. It was later reported that the cause of the collapse was an inner ear infection which caused intense vertigo. The show was initially rescheduled for December 6, 2007, but the date was once again rescheduled, and the concert finally occurred on February 29, 2008. After her initial collapse in Nashville, she was able to perform in concerts at Mountain Stage, in West Virginia, on November 18, 2007 (the concert was aired in September 2008), and at Duke University on November 19, 2007.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor wrote the song "The Call" for the 2008 film "", which appeared prominently in the film's finale sequence. She then appeared as a guest vocalist on "You Don't Know Me", a single from Ben Folds' 2008 album, "Way to Normal". In promotion for the single, the duo performed the song together on several late-night talk shows.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor's fifth album, "Far", was released June 23, 2009. For the record she worked with four producers: David Kahne (who had previously worked with Spektor on "Begin to Hope"), Mike Elizondo, Jacknife Lee, and Jeff Lynne. The record sold 50,000 copies in its first week, entering the US "Billboard" 200 at number three; the record remained on the chart for 19 weeks. The album peaked at number 30 and 16 in the UK and Canada, respectively. She then headlined at Serpentine Sessions, a series of concerts at London's Hyde Park on June 29, 2009. Other European performances in 2009 included Glastonbury Festival, Hultsfred Festival, Oxegen 2009, T in the Park, Paradiso, Latitude Festival, and Rock Werchter. Spektor invited Brooklyn-based rock band Jupiter One to open concerts on her 2009 North American tour. As a part of that tour, on October 14, 2009, Spektor headlined a concert at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. On September 16, 2009, it was announced that Spektor would write the music for the musical "Beauty", a modern adaptation of the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty", which was initially set to open during the 2011–12 Broadway season. Regina made her "Saturday Night Live" debut on October 10, 2009, performing "Eet" and "The Calculation" off of "Far".


title: Regina Spektor

text: In May 2010, Spektor performed for Barack and Michelle Obama along with hundreds of other guests at the White House reception in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month. She performed "Us" and "The Sword & the Pen".


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor's sixth album, "What We Saw from the Cheap Seats", was released May 29, 2012. Like her previous album, it debuted at number three on the Billboard 200. Promotional appearances for the record included Spektor appearing on the June 7, 2012 episode of "The Colbert Report" where she performed "Small Town Moon" as well as "Ballad of a Politician" as online bonus content. Her world tour in support of "What We Saw from the Cheap Seats" included a performance in Moscow; Spektor had not returned since fleeing with her family in 1989.


title: Regina Spektor

text: In 2012, Spektor was named an official "Steinway Artist"; she plays Steinway & Sons pianos almost exclusively.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor wrote and recorded the main title theme song, "You've Got Time", for the Netflix original series "Orange Is the New Black", which premiered in July 2013. It was nominated in the Best Song Written for Visual Media category at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor announced her seventh album, "Remember Us to Life" on July 21, 2016, through her email newsletter. The album was released on September 30, 2016. The first single, "Bleeding Heart", was released July 22, 2016. The follow-up single, "Small Bill$", was released August 11, 2016. Regina Spektor performed George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", released August 5, 2016, for the film "Kubo and the Two Strings".


title: Regina Spektor

text: In 2016, Spektor was one of the artists featured on "The Hamilton Mixtape"; she sings a remix of "Dear Theodosia" with Ben Folds.


title: Regina Spektor

text: In 2017, Spektor was featured as a guest singer on the title track to Gypsy-punk band Gogol Bordello's studio album "Seekers and Finders". Spektor was also featured as a guest vocalist on Odesza's song "Just A Memory" from their album "A Moment Apart".


title: Regina Spektor

text: On November 8, 2018, Spektor released a new song entitled "Birdsong", written specially for an episode of the Amazon Prime series "The Romanoffs".


title: Regina Spektor

text: On March 25, 2019, Spektor announced she would be bringing her music to Broadway as the Artist in Residency at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre for five performances June 20–26, 2019.


title: Regina Spektor

text: On July 26, 2019, Spektor released an acoustic version of her own song "You've Got Time", coinciding with the release of the seventh and final season of "Orange Is the New Black". The song is featured in the final episode of the series.


title: Regina Spektor

text: In late 2019, Spektor released a new song, "Walking Away", for Amazon Prime Original Series "Modern Love".


title: Regina Spektor

text: On February 22, 2022, Spektor announced her eighth studio album "Home, before and after" with a June 24 release date, alongside the release of the album's lead single "Becoming All Alone". Recorded in upstate New York, the album was produced by Spektor and John Congleton.


title: Regina Spektor

text: She performed an NPR Tiny Desk Concert on 5 August 2022, including "Becoming All Alone" from her new album as well as tunes from past releases such as "Fidelity" and "Samson".


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor's primary instrument is the piano, and she plays the guitar as a secondary instrument, primarily playing on a seafoam Epiphone Wildkat archtop hollow-body electric guitar for live performances.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor has said that she has created a great number of songs but rarely writes any of them down. Spektor's songs are not usually autobiographical but are based on scenarios and characters drawn from her imagination. Her songs show influences from folk, punk, rock, Jewish, Russian, hip hop, jazz, and classical music. Spektor has said that she works hard to ensure that each of her songs has its own musical style, rather than trying to develop a distinctive style for her music as a whole: "It doesn't feel natural for me to write some diary type song. I want to write a classic like "Yesterday" but weird songs about meatballs in refrigerators come into my head – I can't help it."


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor performs using a broad vocal range, with a falsetto extension, but without any apparent break. She explores a variety of different and somewhat unorthodox vocal techniques, such as verses composed entirely of buzzing noises made with the lips and beatbox-style flourishes in the middle of ballads, and also makes use of such unusual musical techniques as using a drum stick to tap rhythms on the body of a chair. Part of her style also results from the exaggeration of certain aspects of vocalization, most notably the glottal stop, prominent in the single "Fidelity". She also uses a strong New York accent on some words, which she has said is due to her love of New York and its culture.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor usually sings in English, though she sometimes includes a few words or verses of Latin, Russian, French, or other languages. She plays with pronunciations, which she told NPR was a remnant of her early years when she listened to pop in English without understanding the lyrics.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Her lyrics are equally eclectic, often taking the form of abstract narratives or first-person character studies, similar to short stories or vignettes put to song. Some of Spektor's lyrics include literary allusions, such as: F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway in "Poor Little Rich Boy"; "The Little Prince" in "Baobabs"; Virginia Woolf and Margaret Atwood in "Paris"; Ezra Pound and "The Merchant of Venice" in "Pound of Flesh"; Boris Pasternak in "Après Moi"; Samson and Delilah in "Samson"; "Oedipus Rex" in "Oedipus"; Edith Wharton's "Ethan Frome" in "2.99¢ Blues". Recurring themes and topics in Spektor's lyrics include love, death, religion (particularly biblical and Jewish references), city life (particularly New York references), and certain key phrases which recur in different songs, such as references to gravediggers, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the name "Mary Ann". Spektor's use of satire is evident in "Wasteside", which refers to "The Twelve Chairs", the classic satirical novel by the Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov, and describes the town in which people are born, get their hair cut, and then are sent to the cemetery.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor's first album, "", was recorded and self-released while she was still in college. It differs from Spektor's later releases as she was heavily influenced by blues and jazz at the time of its recording. Her second album, "Songs", was recorded on Christmas Day, 2001. Each song was recorded with just one take and is entirely acoustic. The session from which the album was derived was not originally intended as an album recording session. Her third album, "Soviet Kitsch", featured strings on several songs and was her first to feature a full rock band. Upon signing with a major label – which provided a bigger budget for production and studio time – Spektor began to emphasise production and more prominently use traditional pop and rock instruments.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor says the records that most impact her are those of "bands whose music is really involved". She cites the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Nirvana, Madonna, Eminem, Kate Bush, Rufus Wainwright, David Bowie, the Ramones, Patti Smith, Billie Holiday, Radiohead, Tom Waits, and Frédéric Chopin as prime influences.


title: Regina Spektor

text: British singer Kate Nash said, "I related to her because she's a woman who plays the piano and writes imaginative songs. I've played the piano since I was about seven but I'd never seen it as an instrument for pop music. Regina Spektor made the piano cool… I love the fact that her accent shines through. When I started making music, it inspired me to sing the way I talk, because that's what's real."


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor is fluent in Russian and reads Hebrew. She has paid tribute to her Russian heritage, quoting the poem "February" by the Russian poet Boris Pasternak in her song "Après Moi", and stating, "I'm very connected to the language and the culture."


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor and her family did not return home to Moscow until July 2012, when she toured through Russia in support of her sixth album, "What We Saw from the Cheap Seats". She has stated that she used to be vegetarian, though stopped this after touring with The Strokes, who frequently dined on steak.


title: Regina Spektor

text: Spektor married singer-songwriter Jack Dishel in 2011. Formerly a guitarist with the band The Moldy Peaches, Dishel performs as Only Son, and duets with Spektor in the song "Call Them Brothers". They have two children.


title: Regina Spektor

text: In a 2016 interview on NPR, "Regina Spektor: 'I see my family…In Everybody'", Spektor discusses the experiences and struggles as an immigrant youth in New York have had in contributing to the album "Remember Us to Life".


title: Regina Spektor

text: In 2007, Spektor covered John Lennon's "Real Love" for "". The following year, she participated in "Songs for Tibet", an initiative in support of human rights in Tibet and the 14th Dalai Lama. The album was issued on August 5, 2008, via iTunes and on August 19 in music stores around the world. On January 22, 2009, Spektor performed at the third annual Roe on the Rocks gig at the Bowery Ballroom to raise money for Planned Parenthood New York City.


title: Nagasaki

text: It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region have been recognized and included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Part of Nagasaki was home to a major Imperial Japanese Navy base during the First Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War. Near the end of World War II, the American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki made Nagasaki the second and, to date, last city in the world to experience a nuclear attack (at 11:02 am, August 9, 1945 'Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)').


title: Nagasaki

text: , the city has an estimated population of 407,624 and a population density of 1,004 people per km. The total area is .


title: Nagasaki

text: The first contact with Portuguese explorers occurred in 1543. An early visitor was Fernão Mendes Pinto, who came from Sagres on a Portuguese ship which landed nearby in Tanegashima.


title: Nagasaki

text: Soon after, Portuguese ships started sailing to Japan as regular trade freighters, thus increasing the contact and trade relations between Japan and the rest of the world, and particularly with mainland China, with whom Japan had previously severed its commercial and political ties, mainly due to a number of incidents involving wokou piracy in the South China Sea, with the Portuguese now serving as intermediaries between the two East Asian neighbors.


title: Nagasaki

text: Despite the mutual advantages derived from these trading contacts, which would soon be acknowledged by all parties involved, the lack of a proper seaport in Kyūshū for the purpose of harboring foreign ships posed a major problem for both merchants and the Kyushu "daimyōs" (feudal lords) who expected to collect great advantages from the trade with the Portuguese.


title: Nagasaki

text: In the meantime, Spanish Jesuit missionary St. Francis Xavier arrived in Kagoshima, South Kyūshū, in 1549. After a somewhat fruitful two-year sojourn in Japan, he left for China in 1552 but died soon afterwards. His followers who remained behind converted a number of "daimyōs". The most notable among them was Ōmura Sumitada. In 1569, Ōmura granted a permit for the establishment of a port with the purpose of harboring Portuguese ships in Nagasaki, which was finally set up in 1571, under the supervision of the Jesuit missionary Gaspar Vilela and Portuguese Captain-Major Tristão Vaz de Veiga, with Ōmura's personal assistance.


title: Nagasaki

text: The little harbor village quickly grew into a diverse port city, and Portuguese products imported through Nagasaki (such as tobacco, bread, textiles and a Portuguese sponge-cake called "castellas") were assimilated into popular Japanese culture. Tempura derived from a popular Portuguese recipe originally known as "peixinhos da horta", and takes its name from the Portuguese word, 'tempero,' seasoning, and refers to the tempora quadragesima, forty days of Lent during which eating meat was forbidden, another example of the enduring effects of this cultural exchange. The Portuguese also brought with them many goods from other Asian countries such as China. The value of Portuguese exports from Nagasaki during the 16th century were estimated to ascend to over 1,000,000 "cruzados", reaching as many as 3,000,000 in 1637.


title: Nagasaki

text: Due to the instability during the Sengoku period, Sumitada and Jesuit leader Alexandro Valignano conceived a plan to pass administrative control over to the Society of Jesus rather than see the Catholic city taken over by a non-Catholic "daimyō". Thus, for a brief period after 1580, the city of Nagasaki was a Jesuit colony, under their administrative and military control. It became a refuge for Christians escaping maltreatment in other regions of Japan. In 1587, however, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign to unify the country arrived in Kyūshū. Concerned with the large Christian influence in Kyūshū, Hideyoshi ordered the expulsion of all missionaries, and placed the city under his direct control. However, the expulsion order went largely unenforced, and the fact remained that most of Nagasaki's population remained openly practicing Catholic.


title: Nagasaki

text: In 1596, the Spanish ship "San Felipe" was wrecked off the coast of Shikoku, and Hideyoshi learned from its pilot that the Spanish Franciscans were the vanguard of an Iberian invasion of Japan. In response, Hideyoshi ordered the crucifixions of twenty-six Catholics in Nagasaki on February 5 of the next year (i.e. the "Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan"). Portuguese traders were not ostracized, however, and so the city continued to thrive.


title: Nagasaki

text: In 1602, Augustinian missionaries also arrived in Japan, and when Tokugawa Ieyasu took power in 1603, Catholicism was still tolerated. Many Catholic "daimyōs" had been critical allies at the Battle of Sekigahara, and the Tokugawa position was not strong enough to move against them. Once Osaka Castle had been taken and Toyotomi Hideyoshi's offspring killed, though, the Tokugawa dominance was assured. In addition, the Dutch and English presence allowed trade without religious strings attached. Thus, in 1614, Catholicism was officially banned and all missionaries ordered to leave. Most Catholic daimyo apostatized, and forced their subjects to do so, although a few would not renounce the religion and left the country for Macau, Luzon and Japantowns in Southeast Asia. A brutal campaign of persecution followed, with thousands of converts across Kyūshū and other parts of Japan killed, tortured, or forced to renounce their religion. Many Japanese and foreign Christians were executed by public crucifixion and burning at the stake in Nagasaki. They became known as the Martyrs of Japan and were later venerated by several Popes.


title: Nagasaki

text: Catholicism's last gasp as an open religion and the last major military action in Japan until the Meiji Restoration was the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637. While there is no evidence that Europeans directly incited the rebellion, Shimabara Domain had been a Christian "han" for several decades, and the rebels adopted many Portuguese motifs and Christian icons. Consequently, in Tokugawa society the word "Shimabara" solidified the connection between Christianity and disloyalty, constantly used again and again in Tokugawa propaganda. The Shimabara Rebellion also convinced many policy-makers that foreign influences were more trouble than they were worth, leading to the national isolation policy. The Portuguese, who had been previously living on a specially constructed island-prison in Nagasaki harbour called Dejima, were expelled from the archipelago altogether, and the Dutch were moved from their base at Hirado into the trading island.


title: Nagasaki

text: The Great Fire of Nagasaki destroyed much of the city in 1663, including the Mazu shrine at the Kofuku Temple patronized by the Chinese sailors and merchants visiting the port.


title: Nagasaki

text: In 1720 the ban on Dutch books was lifted, causing hundreds of scholars to flood into Nagasaki to study European science and art. Consequently, Nagasaki became a major center of what was called "rangaku", or "Dutch Learning". During the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate governed the city, appointing a "hatamoto", the "Nagasaki bugyō", as its chief administrator. During this period, Nagasaki was designated a "shogunal city". The number of such cities rose from three to eleven under Tokugawa administration.


title: Nagasaki

text: Consensus among historians was once that Nagasaki was Japan's only window on the world during its time as a closed country in the Tokugawa era. However, nowadays it is generally accepted that this was not the case, since Japan interacted and traded with the Ryūkyū Kingdom, Korea and Russia through Satsuma, Tsushima and Matsumae respectively. Nevertheless, Nagasaki was depicted in contemporary art and literature as a cosmopolitan port brimming with exotic curiosities from the Western World.


title: Nagasaki

text: In 1808, during the Napoleonic Wars, the Royal Navy frigate HMS "Phaeton" entered Nagasaki Harbor in search of Dutch trading ships. The local magistrate was unable to resist the crew’s demand for food, fuel, and water, later committing "seppuku" as a result. Laws were passed in the wake of this incident strengthening coastal defenses, threatening death to intruding foreigners, and prompting the training of English and Russian translators.


title: Nagasaki

text: The "Tōjinyashiki" (唐人屋敷) or Chinese Factory in Nagasaki was also an important conduit for Chinese goods and information for the Japanese market. Various Chinese merchants and artists sailed between the Chinese mainland and Nagasaki. Some actually combined the roles of merchant and artist such as 18th century Yi Hai. It is believed that as much as one-third of the population of Nagasaki at this time may have been Chinese. The Chinese traders at Nagasaki were confined to a walled compound () which was located in the same vicinity as Dejima island; and the activities of the Chinese, though less strictly controlled than the Dutch, were closely monitored by the Nagasaki bugyō.


title: Nagasaki

text: With the Meiji Restoration, Japan opened its doors once again to foreign trade and diplomatic relations. Nagasaki became a treaty port in 1859 and modernization began in earnest in 1868. Nagasaki was officially proclaimed a city on April 1, 1889. With Christianity legalized and the Kakure Kirishitan coming out of hiding, Nagasaki regained its earlier role as a center for Roman Catholicism in Japan.


title: Nagasaki

text: During the Meiji period, Nagasaki became a center of heavy industry. Its main industry was ship-building, with the dockyards under control of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries becoming one of the prime contractors for the Imperial Japanese Navy, and with Nagasaki harbor used as an anchorage under the control of nearby Sasebo Naval District. During World War II, at the time of the nuclear attack, Nagasaki was an important industrial city, containing both plants of the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works, the Akunoura Engine Works, Mitsubishi Arms Plant, Mitsubishi Electric Shipyards, Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works, Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works, several other small factories, and most of the ports storage and trans-shipment facilities, which employed about 90% of the city's labor force, and accounted for 90% of the city's industry. These connections with the Japanese war effort made Nagasaki a major target for strategic bombing by the Allies during the war.


title: Nagasaki

text: For 12 months prior to the nuclear attack, Nagasaki had experienced five small-scale air attacks by an aggregate of 136 U.S. planes which dropped a total of 270 tons of high explosive, 53 tons of incendiary, and 20 tons of fragmentation bombs. Of these, a raid of August 1, 1945, was most effective, with a few of the bombs hitting the shipyards and dock areas in the southwest portion of the city, several hitting the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works, and six bombs landing at the Nagasaki Medical School and Hospital, with three direct hits on buildings there. While the damage from these few bombs was relatively small, it created considerable concern in Nagasaki and a number of people, principally school children, were evacuated to rural areas for safety, thus reducing the population in the city at the time of the atomic attack.


title: Nagasaki

text: On the day of the nuclear strike (August 9, 1945) the population in Nagasaki was estimated to be 263,000, which consisted of 240,000 Japanese residents, 10,000 Korean residents, 2,500 conscripted Korean workers, 9,000 Japanese soldiers, 600 conscripted Chinese workers, and 400 Allied POWs. That day, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Bockscar", commanded by Major Charles Sweeney, departed from Tinian's North Field just before dawn, this time carrying a plutonium bomb, code named "Fat Man". The primary target for the bomb was Kokura, with the secondary target being Nagasaki, if the primary target was too cloudy to make a visual sighting. When the plane reached Kokura at 9:44 a.m. (10:44 am. Tinian Time), the city was obscured by clouds and smoke, as the nearby city of Yahata had been firebombed on the previous day – the steel plant in Yahata also had their workforce intentionally set fire to containers of coal tar, to produce target-obscuring black smoke. Unable to make a bombing attack on visual due to the clouds and smoke and with limited fuel, the plane left the city at 10:30 a.m. for the secondary target. After 20 minutes, the plane arrived at 10:50 a.m. over Nagasaki, but the city was also concealed by clouds. Desperately short of fuel and after making a couple of bombing runs without obtaining any visual target, the crew was forced to use radar to drop the bomb. At the last minute, the opening of the clouds allowed them to make visual contact with a racetrack in Nagasaki, and they dropped the bomb on the city's Urakami Valley midway between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works in the south, and the Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works in the north. 53 seconds after its release, the bomb exploded at 11:02 a.m. at an approximate altitude of 1,800 feet.


title: Nagasaki

text: Less than a second after the detonation, the north of the city was destroyed and 35,000 people were killed. Among the deaths were 6,200 out of the 7,500 employees of the Mitsubishi Munitions plant, and 24,000 others (including 2,000 Koreans) who worked in other war plants and factories in the city, as well as 150 Japanese soldiers. The industrial damage in Nagasaki was high, leaving 68–80% of the non-dock industrial production destroyed. It was the second and, to date, the last use of a nuclear weapon in combat, and also the second detonation of a plutonium bomb. The first combat use of a nuclear weapon was the "Little Boy" bomb, which was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The first plutonium bomb was tested in central New Mexico, United States, on July 16, 1945. The Fat Man bomb was somewhat more powerful than the one dropped over Hiroshima, but because of Nagasaki's more uneven terrain, there was less damage.


title: Nagasaki

text: The city was rebuilt after the war, albeit dramatically changed. The pace of reconstruction was slow. The first simple emergency dwellings were not provided until 1946. The focus of redevelopment was the replacement of war industries with foreign trade, shipbuilding and fishing. This was formally declared when the Nagasaki International Culture City Reconstruction Law was passed in May 1949. New temples were built, as well as new churches, owing to an increase in the presence of Christianity. Some of the rubble was left as a memorial, such as a one-legged "torii" at Sannō Shrine and an arch near ground zero. New structures were also raised as memorials, such as the Atomic Bomb Museum. Nagasaki remains primarily a port city, supporting a rich shipbuilding industry.


title: Nagasaki

text: On January 4, 2005, the towns of Iōjima, Kōyagi, Nomozaki, Sanwa, Sotome and Takashima (all from Nishisonogi District) were officially merged into Nagasaki along with the town of Kinkai the following year.


title: Nagasaki

text: Nagasaki and Nishisonogi Peninsulas are located within the city limits. The city is surrounded by the cities of Isahaya and Saikai, and the towns of Togitsu and Nagayo in Nishisonogi District.


title: Nagasaki

text: Nagasaki lies at the head of a long bay that forms the best natural harbor on the island of Kyūshū. The main commercial and residential area of the city lies on a small plain near the end of the bay. Two rivers divided by a mountain spur form the two main valleys in which the city lies. The heavily built-up area of the city is confined by the terrain to less than .


title: Nagasaki

text: Nagasaki has the typical humid subtropical climate of Kyūshū and Honshū, characterized by mild winters and long, hot, and humid summers. Apart from Kanazawa and Shizuoka it is the wettest sizeable city in Japan. In the summer, the combination of persistent heat and high humidity results in unpleasant conditions, with wet-bulb temperatures sometimes reaching . In the winter, however, Nagasaki is drier and sunnier than Gotō to the west, and temperatures are slightly milder than further inland in Kyūshū. Since records began in 1878, the wettest month has been July 1982, with including in a single day, whilst the driest month has been September 1967, with . Precipitation occurs year-round, though winter is the driest season; rainfall peaks sharply in June and July. August is the warmest month of the year. On January 24, 2016, a snowfall of was recorded.


title: Nagasaki

text: The nearest airport is Nagasaki Airport in the nearby city of Ōmura. The Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) provides rail transportation on the Nagasaki Main Line, whose terminal is at Nagasaki Station. In addition, the Nagasaki Electric Tramway operates five routes in the city. The Nagasaki Expressway serves vehicular traffic with interchanges at Nagasaki and Susukizuka. In addition, six national highways crisscross the city: Route 34, 202, 206, 251, 324, and 499.


title: Nagasaki

text: On August 9, 1945, the population was estimated to be 263,000. As of March 1, 2017, the city had population of 505,723 and a population density of 1,000 persons per km.


title: Nagasaki

text: The Prince Takamatsu Cup Nishinippon Round-Kyūshū Ekiden, the world's longest relay race, begins in Nagasaki each November.


title: Nagasaki

text: The Nagasaki Lantern Festival, celebrating the Chinese New Year, is celebrated from February 18 to March 4.


title: Vesna Vulović

text: Vesna Vulović (, ; 3 January 1950 23 December 2016) was a Serbian flight attendant who held the Guinness world record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute: . She was the sole survivor after a briefcase bomb exploded in the baggage compartment of JAT Flight 367 on 26 January 1972, causing it to crash near Srbská Kamenice, Czechoslovakia. Yugoslav authorities suspected that Croatian nationalists were to blame, but no one was ever arrested.


title: Vesna Vulović

text: Following the bombing, Vulović spent days in a coma and was hospitalised for several months. She suffered a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae, broken legs, broken ribs, and a fractured pelvis. These injuries resulted in her being temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. Vulović made an almost complete recovery but continued to walk with a limp. She had no memory of the incident and had no qualms about flying in the aftermath of the crash. Despite her willingness to resume work as a flight attendant, Jat Airways (JAT) gave her a desk job negotiating freight contracts, feeling her presence on flights would attract too much publicity. Vulović became a celebrity in Yugoslavia and was deemed a national hero.


title: Vesna Vulović

text: Vulović was fired from JAT in the early 1990s after taking part in anti-government protests during the breakup of Yugoslavia, but avoided arrest as the government was concerned about the negative publicity that her imprisonment would bring. She continued her work as a pro-democracy activist until the Socialist Party of Serbia was ousted from power during the Bulldozer Revolution of October 2000. Vulović later campaigned on behalf of the Democratic Party, advocating for Serbia's entry into the European Union. Her final years were spent in seclusion and she struggled with survivor guilt. Having divorced, Vulović lived alone in her Belgrade apartment on a small pension until her death in 2016.


title: Vesna Vulović

text: Vesna Vulović was born in Belgrade on 3 January 1950. Her father was a businessman and her mother was a fitness instructor. Driven by her love of the Beatles, Vulović travelled to the United Kingdom after completing her first year of university, hoping to improve her English-language skills. "I initially stayed with my parents' friends in Newbury," she recalled, "but wanted to move to London. It was there that I met up with a friend who suggested we go to Stockholm. When I told my parents I was living in the Swedish capital, they thought of the drugs and the sex and told me to come home at once." Upon returning to Belgrade, Vulović decided to become a flight attendant after seeing one of her friends in a flight attendant's uniform. "She looked so nice and had just been to London for the day," Vulović recalled. "I thought, 'Why shouldn't I be an air hostess? I could go to London once a month'." She joined JAT, the national flag carrier and dominant airline of Yugoslavia, in 1971.


title: Vesna Vulović

text: The secondary crew of JAT Flight 367, flying from Stockholm to Belgrade with stopovers in Copenhagen and Zagreb, arrived in Denmark on the morning of 25 January 1972. According to Vulović, she was not scheduled to be on Flight 367, and JAT had confused her for another flight attendant also named Vesna. Nevertheless, Vulović said that she was excited to travel to Denmark because it was her first time visiting the country. The crew had the entire afternoon and the following morning to themselves. Vulović wished to go sightseeing but her colleagues insisted that they go shopping. "Everybody wanted to buy something for his or her family," she recalled. "So I had to go shopping with them. They seemed to know that they would die. They didn't talk about it, but I saw ... I felt for them. And the captain was locked in his room for 24 hours. He didn't want to go out at all. In the morning, during breakfast, the co-pilot was talking about his son and daughter as if nobody else had a son or daughter."


title: Vesna Vulović

text: Flight 367 departed from Stockholm Arlanda Airport at 1:30 p.m. on 26 January. The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, landed at Copenhagen Airport at 2:30 p.m., whereupon Vulović and her colleagues boarded the plane. "As it was late, we were in the terminal and saw it park," Vulović said. "I saw all the passengers and crew deplane. One man seemed terribly annoyed. It was not only me that noticed him either. Other crew members saw him, as did the station manager in Copenhagen. I think it was the man who put the bomb in the baggage. I think he had checked in a bag in Stockholm, got off in Copenhagen and never re-boarded the flight."


title: Vesna Vulović

text: Flight 367 departed from Copenhagen Airport at 3:15 p.m. At 4:01 p.m., an explosion tore through the DC-9's baggage compartment. The explosion caused the aircraft to break apart over the Czechoslovak village of Srbská Kamenice. Vulović was the only survivor of the 28 passengers and crew. She was discovered by villager Bruno Honke, who heard her screaming amid the wreckage. Her turquoise uniform was covered in blood and her stiletto heels had been torn off by the force of the impact. Honke had been a medic during the Second World War and was able to keep Vulović alive until rescuers arrived.


title: Vesna Vulović

text: Air safety investigators attributed Vulović's survival to her being trapped by a food cart in the DC-9's fuselage as it broke away from the rest of the aircraft and plummeted towards the ground. When the cabin depressurized, the passengers and other flight crew were blown out of the aircraft and fell to their deaths. Investigators believed that the fuselage, with Vulović pinned inside, landed at an angle in a heavily wooded and snow-covered mountainside, which cushioned the impact. Vulović's physicians concluded that her history of low blood pressure caused her to pass out quickly after the cabin depressurized and kept her heart from bursting on impact. Vulović said that she was aware of her low blood pressure before applying to become a flight attendant and knew that it would result in her failing her medical examination, but she drank an excessive amount of coffee beforehand and was accepted.


title: Vesna Vulović

text: Between 1962 and 1982, Croatian nationalists carried out 128 terrorist attacks against Yugoslav civilian and military targets. Yugoslav authorities suspected that they were to blame for bringing down Flight 367. On the day of the crash, a bomb exploded aboard a train travelling from Vienna to Zagreb, injuring six. A man, describing himself as a Croatian nationalist, called the Swedish newspaper "Kvällsposten" the following day and claimed responsibility for the bombing of Flight 367. No arrests were ever made. The Czechoslovak Civil Aviation Authority later attributed the explosion to a briefcase bomb.


title: Vesna Vulović

text: Following the crash, Vulović spent days in a coma, having fractured her skull and then hemorrhaged. She also suffered two broken legs and three broken vertebrae, one of which was crushed completely. Her pelvis was fractured and several ribs broken. Her injuries resulted in her being temporarily paralyzed below the waist. She had total amnesia from the hour preceding her fall until one month afterwards. Vulović's parents told her that she first learned of the crash about two weeks after it occurred. She fainted upon being shown a newspaper headline by her doctor and had to be tranquilized. The last thing that Vulović could remember from before the crash was greeting passengers as they boarded. The next thing she remembered was seeing her parents in her hospital room about one month later.


title: Vesna Vulović

text: Vulović underwent treatment in a Prague hospital until 12 March 1972, after which she was flown to Belgrade. She was offered a hypnotic injection to help her sleep during the flight back to Yugoslavia, but declined, explaining that she was not afraid of flying because she had no memory of the crash. In Belgrade, Vulović's hospital room was placed under 24-hour police protection because authorities feared that the perpetrators of the bombing would wish to kill her. The guards changed shifts every six hours, and no one was allowed in to see her except for her parents and doctors. Vulović's hospitalization lasted until June 1972, after which she travelled to Montenegro to recuperate at a seaside resort, where her doctors visited her every two or three days.


title: Vesna Vulović

text: Vulović underwent several operations to restore her movement. At first, she could only move her left leg, and one month thereafter, she was able to move her right. Vulović's parents had to sell both of their cars to pay for her treatment. Within ten months of her fall, Vulović had regained the ability to walk, but limped for the rest of her life, her spine permanently twisted. In total, she spent sixteen months recuperating. "Nobody ever expected me to live this long," she recounted in 2008. Vulović attributed her recovery to her "Serbian stubbornness" and "a childhood diet that included chocolate, spinach, and fish oil".


title: Vesna Vulović

text: In September 1972, Vulović expressed willingness to resume working as a flight attendant. JAT felt that her presence on flights would attract too much publicity and instead gave her a desk job negotiating freight contracts. In Yugoslavia she was celebrated as a national hero. Her reputation as a "Cold War heroine" also extended to the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries. After the crash, Vulović received a decoration from Yugoslav President Josip Tito, and the Serbian folk singer Miroslav Ilić recorded a song titled "Vesna stjuardesa" ("Vesna the Stewardess"). She was soon made an honorary citizen of Srbská Kamenice. Honke, the man who found Vulović alive after the crash, had a granddaughter born six weeks after her fall; she was named Vesna in Vulović's honour. Vulović continued to fly regularly, stating that other passengers were surprised to see her on flights and wanted to sit next to her.


title: Vesna Vulović

text: Vulović's parents both died within a few years of the crash. In 1977, she married mechanical engineer Nikola Breka after a year of dating. Although she was advised by physicians that her injuries would not have an adverse effect on her reproductive function, Vulović experienced an ectopic pregnancy that nearly proved fatal and was never able to have children. In 1985, "The Guinness Book of World Records" recognized Vulović as the world record holder for surviving the highest fall without a parachute: . She was thus officially acknowledged as having surpassed the records of other fall survivors, such as Alan Magee, Juliane Koepcke, Nicholas Alkemade, and Ivan Chisov. She received the recognition at a London gala from musician Paul McCartney.


title: Vesna Vulović

text: In the early 1990s, Vulović and her husband divorced. She attributed the divorce to her chain smoking, which her husband disapproved of. Around the same time, Vulović was fired from JAT for speaking out against Serbian statesman Slobodan Milošević and taking part in anti-government protests. She avoided arrest because the government was concerned about the negative publicity that her imprisonment would bring. In response to her activism, pro-Milošević tabloids launched a smear campaign against her, claiming that Flight 367 had been shot down by a Czechoslovak surface-to-air missile and that she had fallen from a lesser height than previously believed. Vulović continued taking part in anti-government demonstrations throughout the 1990s. When Milošević and his Socialist Party of Serbia were ousted in the Bulldozer Revolution of October 2000, Vulović was among several celebrities who took to the balcony of Belgrade's city hall to make victory addresses. She later campaigned on behalf of the Democratic Party and advocated for Serbia's entry into the European Union, which she believed would bring economic prosperity.


title: Vesna Vulović

text: Vulović told reporters that she did not think of her fall every day, but admitted to struggling with survivor's guilt. "Whenever I think of the accident, I have a prevailing, grave feeling of guilt for surviving it and I cry ... Then I think maybe I should not have survived at all." Vulović declined therapy to help cope with her experiences and instead turned to religion, becoming a devout Orthodox Christian. She stated that her ordeal had turned her into an optimist. "If you can survive what I survived," she said, "you can survive anything."


title: Vesna Vulović

text: In 2009, Peter Hornung-Andersen and Pavel Theiner, two Prague-based journalists, claimed that Flight 367 had been mistaken for an enemy aircraft and shot down by the Czechoslovak Air Force at an altitude of , far lower than the official altitude of . The two claimed that the Czechoslovak State Security had conjured up Vulović's record fall as part of a cover-up. They also hypothesized that the call received by "Kvällsposten", claiming responsibility for the aircraft's downing, was a hoax. The Czech Civil Aviation Authority dismissed the journalists' claim, calling it a conspiracy theory. Hornung-Andersen conceded that the pair's evidence was only circumstantial. Vulović said that she was aware of the journalists' claims, but stated that because she had no memory of the event, she could not confirm or deny the allegations. "Guinness World Records" continues to list her as the record-holder for surviving the highest fall without a parachute.


title: Vesna Vulović

text: In the last years of her life, Vulović lived on a pension of €300 per month in her dilapidated Belgrade apartment. "I don't know what to say when people say I was lucky," she remarked. "Life is so hard today." Vulović lamented that her mother and father might not have died prematurely had she not been aboard Flight 367, stating that the incident not only ruined her life, but also those of her parents. She only occasionally granted interviews and declined numerous requests, most notably from Oprah Winfrey and the BBC, saying that she was "tired" of discussing her fall. By the time she had reached her sixties, Vulović's deteriorating health prevented her from taking part in annual commemorations at Srbská Kamenice, which she had previously attended for many years.


title: Vesna Vulović

text: In December 2016, Vulović's friends became concerned for her well-being after she abruptly stopped answering telephone calls. On 23 December, locksmiths discovered her body in her apartment after forcing open the door. Vulović's friends said that she had struggled with heart ailments in the years leading up to her death. She was buried in Belgrade's New Cemetery on 27 December.


Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (or simply Austin Powers) is a 1997 American spy comedy film directed by Jay Roach. It is the first installment in the "Austin Powers" series. It stars franchise co-producer and writer Mike Myers, playing the roles of Austin Powers and Dr. Evil, Powers' arch-enemy. Supporting roles are played by Elizabeth Hurley, Robert Wagner, Seth Green, and Michael York. The film is a parody of the James Bond films and other popular culture from the 1960s, centering on a flamboyant, promiscuous secret agent and a criminal mastermind, arch-nemeses who go into and come out of cryostasis at the same time as each other as their conflict spans decades.


title: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

text: The film, which cost US$16.5 million, opened on May 2, 1997, grossing US$53 million from its North American release and over $67 million worldwide. The film spawned two sequels, "" (1999) and "Austin Powers in Goldmember" (2002).


text: In the years following "Austin Powers in Goldmember", Myers has discussed the possibility of a fourth film.


text: In 1967, British spy Austin Powers thwarts an assassination attempt by his nemesis Dr. Evil in a London nightclub. Dr. Evil escapes to space in a rocket and cryogenically freezes himself. Austin volunteers to be placed into cryostasis in case Dr. Evil returns in the future.


text: Thirty years later, Dr. Evil returns to discover his henchman Number 2 has developed Virtucon, the legitimate front of Evil's empire, into a multibillion-dollar enterprise. Uninterested in business, Dr. Evil conspires to steal nuclear weapons and hold the world hostage for $1 million. He increases his demand to $100 billion when he learns that the value of the dollar has fallen due to inflation. Dr. Evil also learns that, during his absence, his associates have artificially created his son, Scott Evil, using his frozen semen. Now a Generation X teenager, Scott is resentful of his father's absence and resists his attempts to get closer to him.


text: Having learned of Dr. Evil's return, the British Ministry of Defence unfreezes Austin, acclimatizing him to the 1990s with the help of agent Vanessa Kensington, the daughter of his 1960s sidekick Mrs. Kensington. Posing as a married couple, Austin and Vanessa track Number 2 to Las Vegas and meet his Italian secretary, Alotta Fagina. Austin infiltrates Fagina's penthouse suite and discovers Dr. Evil's plans to drill a nuclear warhead into the Earth's core and trigger volcanic eruptions worldwide. Fagina discovers Austin and seduces him to learn his identity. Dr. Evil and his entourage conspire to defeat Austin by creating a series of fembots: beautiful female androids equipped with machine guns concealed in their breasts.


text: Austin and Vanessa infiltrate the Virtucon headquarters but are apprehended by Dr. Evil's henchman, Random Task. Meanwhile, the United Nations accede to the demands of Dr. Evil, who proceeds with his plan nonetheless. Austin and Vanessa escape Dr. Evil's death trap and Vanessa is sent for help. While searching for Dr. Evil, Austin is confronted by the fembots; Powers seduces them with a striptease that makes them explode.


text: British forces raid the underground lair, while Austin deactivates the doomsday device. He confronts Dr. Evil, but Fagina arrives holding Vanessa hostage. They are interrupted by Number 2, who attempts to betray Dr. Evil by making a deal with Powers. Dr. Evil uses a trap door to eliminate Number 2, then activates the base's self-destruct mechanism and escapes. Austin and Vanessa evacuate the lair before it explodes.


text: Three months later, Austin and Vanessa are married. During their honeymoon, Austin is attacked by Random Task. He subdues him using a penis pump, which he before claimed was not his, allowing Vanessa to knock him out. The newlyweds adjourn to the balcony. Among the stars, Austin spots the cryogenic chamber of Dr. Evil, who vows revenge.


text: Mike Myers created the character of Austin Powers for the faux 1960s rock band Ming Tea that Myers started with Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs following his "Saturday Night Live" stint in the early 1990s. Myers said that the movie and the character were inspired by the British films, music and comedy of the 1960s and 70s his father had introduced him to as a child. "After my dad died in 1991, I was taking stock of his influence on me as a person and his influence on me with comedy in general. So Austin Powers was a tribute to my father, who [introduced me to] James Bond, Peter Sellers, the Beatles, The Goodies, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore". Dana Carvey, Myers' long-time collaborator on Saturday Night Live and the Wayne's World movies, felt that the character of Dr. Evil was copied from Carvey's impression of long-time SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels and was unhappy about it.


text: Myers sought Jim Carrey to play Dr. Evil, as his initial plan was not to play multiple characters in the series. Carrey was interested in the part, but had to turn the role down due to scheduling conflicts with "Liar Liar".


text: Since the 1960s had a big influence on his childhood, Myers cast Robert Wagner and Michael York, two household names from the late 1960s, in key supporting roles. The popularity of the film revived both Wagner's and York's careers. Myers has referred to Wagner as "the coolest guy I know" and York as "the classiest guy I know." Rhea Perlman was in talks to play Frau Farbissina, but had scheduling conflicts. She has always regretted turning the movie down. Colin Quinn turned down the role of Scott Evil and expressed regret for declining the part.


text: Myers estimated that 30–40% of film was improvised. Filming locations included Millennium Biltmore Hotel and Stardust Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.


text: "Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery" opened on May 2, 1997 to $9.5 million in North American theaters, coming in second that weekend to the thriller film "Breakdown", a Paramount release which opened with $12.3 million. In its second weekend, "Austin Powers" fell to $7 million. Its overall take after it left theaters was $53.8m domestically and $13.8m overseas for a worldwide total of $67.8 million, four times the amount of its production budget.


text: The low grosses in the UK have been partly attributed to the death of Princess Diana, which occurred in August 1997 just prior to the film's UK September release date. The film grew a steady following due to strong word-of-mouth and its release on VHS and DVD.


text: "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" received positive reviews. The film has acquired a 73% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 71 reviews, with an average rating on 6.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A light and goofy comedy which provides laughs, largely due to performances and screenwriting by Myers."


text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film three stars out of four, calling it "a funny movie that only gets funnier the more familiar you are with the James Bond movies, all the Bond clones and countless other 1960s films." "Time Out New York" critic Andrew Johnston observed: "The film's greatest asset is its gentle tone: rejecting the smug cynicism of "Naked Gun-"style parodies, it never loses the earnest naiveté of the psychedelic era."


text: Malcolm Johnson of the "Hartford Courant" praised Myers' turn in multiple roles, writing "Myers, flashing his cruddy grin as Austin and doing implacable slow burns as Evil, again proves himself a gifted comic with a knack for transformation. But he needs to find a director who will spin out his best ideas and toss out the worst ones. With [Jay] Roach at the helm, "'Austin Powers"' is less than groovy."


text: "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" was released to region 1 double-sided DVD on October 22, 1997, with widescreen and full screen versions on opposing sides of the disc. It was one of the first movies to be released in the DVD market. The widescreen transfer is unusual in that it is a modified version of the theatrical ratio: despite being filmed in 2.39:1 aspect ratio, on DVD it is presented as 2:1 ratio, "as specified by the director" according to the disc packaging. The film was featured in the correct theatrical aspect ratio for the first time when it was released on Blu-ray in the Austin Powers Collection.


text: All versions of the film released on home video (including VHS) have two alternate endings and a set of deleted scenes, which were then rare to include on VHS. The DVD and Blu-ray versions also feature a commentary. However, all US versions of the film are the 1:29 PG-13 cut, with edits to sexual humor/language. International versions are uncut and run 1:34 (assuming the correct frame rate).


text: Daniel Craig, who portrayed James Bond on screen from 2006 to 2021, credited the Austin Powers franchise with the relatively serious tone of later Bond films. In a 2014 interview, Craig said, "We had to destroy the myth because Mike Myers fucked us", making it "impossible" to do the gags of earlier Bond films which Austin Powers satirized.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: Emanuel David Ginóbili Maccari (, , ; born 28 July 1977) is an Argentine former professional basketball player. Over a 23-year professional career, he became one of only two players (along with Bill Bradley) to have won a EuroLeague title, an NBA championship, and an Olympic gold medal. A four-time NBA champion, Ginóbili was a member of the San Antonio Spurs for his entire 16-year NBA career. Along with Spurs teammates Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, he was known as one of the "Big Three". He is often credited for popularizing the Euro step in the NBA. Since September 2021, Ginóbili had been appointed as special advisor to Basketball Operations for the San Antonio Spurs.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: Ginóbili comes from a family of professional basketball players. He spent the early part of his career in Argentina and Italy, winning several individual and team honors. His stint with Italian club Kinder Bologna was particularly successful; he won two Italian League MVP awards, the EuroLeague Finals MVP, and the 2001 EuroLeague championship and Triple Crown.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: Selected as the 57th overall pick in the 1999 NBA draft, Ginóbili joined the Spurs in 2002 and soon became a key player for the team. In addition to his four NBA championships, Ginóbili was named an All-Star in 2005 and 2011 and was selected twice for the All-NBA Third Team. In 2007–08, he was named the NBA Sixth Man of the Year. Ginóbili announced his retirement from the NBA in August 2018. In April 2022, he was announced as a first ballot inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Ginobili is regarded as one of the greatest shooting guards and sixth men in NBA history.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: Ginóbili comes from a family of basketball players. His oldest brother, Leandro, retired in 2003 after seven years in the Argentine basketball league, while brother Sebastián has played in both the Argentine local league and in the Spanish 2nd-tier level Liga Española de Baloncesto. Their father Jorge was a coach at a club in Bahía Blanca, Argentina, where Ginóbili learned to play the game. Given the proliferation of basketball clubs in Bahía Blanca and his idolization of Michael Jordan, Ginóbili's love for basketball grew rapidly.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: Ginóbili has dual citizenship in Argentina and Italy, thanks to his Marchesan descent. He speaks Italian and English fluently in addition to his native Spanish. In his free time, Ginóbili enjoys listening to Latin music, watching movies and traveling. In 2004, he married fellow Argentine Marianela Oroño. On 16 May 2010, his wife gave birth to twin boys, Dante and Nicola. On 21 April 2014, his wife gave birth to their third son, Luca.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: In the immediate aftermath of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Argentina in 2010, Ginóbili expressed his support for the bill, and added that while supportive of same-sex marriage, he did not "consider himself qualified" to speak about same-sex adoption. He said that he would prefer to see a child being raised by two men or two women rather than to see that child in an orphanage. In March 2020, Ginóbili also expressed support for gay people playing basketball and expressed hope that the issue of sexual orientation will no longer be important soon.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: Ginóbili made his professional debut in the Argentine basketball league for the Andino Sport Club of La Rioja in the 1995–96 season.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: Ginóbili was traded to Estudiantes de Bahía Blanca in 1996. He played with his hometown team until 1998.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: Ginóbili went to Europe to spend the 1998–99 and 1999–2000 seasons with Italian team Basket Viola Reggio Calabria. In 1999, he teamed with Brent Scott, Brian Oliver and Sydney Johnson to earn promotion from the Italian 2nd Division to the Italian 1st Division.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: Ginóbili then entered the 1999 NBA draft and the San Antonio Spurs selected him late in the second round with the 57th overall pick. However, he did not sign with the Spurs at this point. Instead, he returned to Italy to play for Kinder Bologna, which he helped win the 2001 Italian League Championship, the 2001 and 2002 Italian Cups, and the 2001 EuroLeague, where he was named the 2001 EuroLeague's Finals MVP. He was also named the Italian League MVP in 2000–01 and 2001–02, and made the Italian League's All-Star Game three times during this period.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: While playing with the Argentina national team at the 2002 FIBA World Championship in Indianapolis, Ginóbili made the All-Tournament Team, alongside future NBA star Yao Ming and established NBA stars Dirk Nowitzki and Peja Stojaković, and helped lead Argentina to a second-place finish.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: Ginóbili joined the Spurs for the 2002–03 NBA season, where he played backup for veteran guard Steve Smith. He spent much of the early season injured, and found it hard to adjust to the NBA's style of play. As his injury improved, so did Ginóbili, winning the Western Conference Rookie of the Month in March, and being named to the All-Rookie Second Team at the end of the season. Still, he only started in five games as the Spurs chalked up a 60–22 regular season win–loss record. The Spurs then entered the playoffs eager to upend the defending champions Los Angeles Lakers, at which point Ginóbili rose to prominence.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: In contrast to his regular season, Ginóbili became an integral part of Gregg Popovich's rotation in the playoffs, playing in every game. The Spurs eliminated Phoenix and Los Angeles and in those games his scoring threat took opponents by surprise, giving them one more thing to cope with against the now highly favored Spurs. He helped guide them past the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals and then the New Jersey Nets in the Finals, securing San Antonio's second championship. After the win, Ginóbili won his first "Olimpia de Oro" ("Golden Olympia") as Argentina's sportsperson of the year, and met Argentine president Néstor Kirchner. A gym in Bahía Blanca was dedicated in Ginóbili's honor as well.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: In the 2003–04 season, the Spurs began featuring Ginóbili more prominently, starting him in half of the 77 regular season games in which he played. His statistics improved in all major categories, as he averaged 12.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game. During the 2004 playoffs, the Spurs lost again to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Semifinals. Following Game 5 where Derek Fisher scored a buzzer-beating jump shot, the Spurs lost Game 6 and the series 4–2. While Ginóbili did not start in a single playoff game as he did in 2003, his playoff statistics improved significantly, with 13.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: After some initial issues with San Antonio over his contract, Ginóbili re-signed with the Spurs and started every game during the 2004–05 season. This was his best season yet as he was selected as a reserve by NBA coaches to the 2005 Western Conference All-Star team, marking his debut in the elite mid-season showcase. During the playoffs, Ginóbili's play was pivotal to winning San Antonio's third championship. The Spurs first defeated Phoenix 4–1 in the Conference Finals, before prevailing in a very defense-oriented seven-game series against the Detroit Pistons. Ginóbili recorded career-highs in his playoff numbers, most notably 20.8 ppg and 5.8 rpg, and had the third-highest point total in the entire playoffs. In the NBA Finals MVP Award voting, the shooting guard was a candidate but was edged out by teammate and captain Tim Duncan. The former finished the 2004–05 season as the second-leading scorer on the team. During the season, he became only the fourth person to win consecutive "Olimpias de Oro", this time sharing the award with soccer star Carlos Tevez.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: The 2005–06 season was an injury-plagued one for Ginóbili, who suffered foot and ankle injuries that hindered his ability to play. He managed 65 games in the regular season, but saw a dip in major statistics as compared to the previous season. During the playoffs, he returned to form, but was unable to prevent the Spurs from being eliminated by the Dallas Mavericks in the Conference Semifinals.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: In the 2006–07 season, the Spurs lacked energy from their reserves. Ginóbili came off the bench for most of the second half of the season, helping the Spurs attain the league's best record during that portion of the season. Ginóbili produced numbers closely identical to his successful 2004–05 campaign despite starting in only 36 of 75 games, his second-lowest number of starts since arriving at San Antonio. The 2007 NBA Playoffs saw him help the Spurs to defeat the Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz; the team then swept the Cleveland Cavaliers for Ginobili's third and San Antonio's fourth championship.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: Ginóbili was to play an even bigger role for the Spurs the following season, reaching career high averages in points, rebounds, assists, and three-point field goal percentage. On 11 February 2008, Ginóbili scored 34 points and recorded 15 rebounds in a 93–88 win over the Toronto Raptors, becoming the first guard in Spurs' history to have at least 15 points and 15 rebounds in a game. On 21 April 2008, the NBA announced that Ginóbili had won the 2008 Sixth Man Award, winning 123 out of the 124 first place votes. Ginobili had a statline of 19.5 points, 4.5 assists, and 4.8 rebounds on .460 shooting averaging 31.1 minutes. Only a couple of weeks later, the Argentine was also named to the All-NBA Third Team. In the playoffs, the Spurs defeated the Suns 4–1 in the first round, Ginóbili was moved to the starting lineup in the second round against the New Orleans Hornets after the Spurs lost the first two road games. San Antonio eventually prevailed in seven games, the Argentine played another strong series, leading the Spurs in points and assists per game (21.3 and 6.0 respectively). However, San Antonio lost to arch-rivals Los Angeles Lakers in the Conference Finals in five games, and once again failed to capture back-to-back NBA championships.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: The following season, Ginóbili was injured for most of the campaign, managing only 44 regular-season games and missing the 2009 NBA Playoffs entirely. San Antonio qualified for the playoffs as the third seed with a 54–28 record, but with an aging supporting cast (Bowen, Michael Finley and Kurt Thomas were all in their late 30s), the Spurs were only considered fringe contenders for the championship. As it turned out, the strong play of Duncan and Tony Parker were not enough to help the Spurs avoid a 4–1 defeat by Dallas, and the Spurs were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2000.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: On 31 October 2009, in a game against the Sacramento Kings, a bat descended onto the court at the AT&T Center, causing a stoppage of play. As the bat flew past, Ginóbili swatted the bat to the ground with his hand. He then carried the creature off the court, earning the applause of the crowd. On 9 April 2010, the Spurs and Ginóbili agreed to a three-year, $39 million contract extension through the 2012–13 season.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: In 2010–11, Ginobili was regarded as the key player on his team, and he finished eighth on the NBA MVP ballot following the season. Ginobili was injured in the last game of the regular season. Despite the injury, Manu averaged 20.6 points and 4.2 assists during the team's first-round series against Memphis Grizzlies; however, the Spurs lost the series in six games. Ginóbili was named an NBA All-Star for the second time in his career and also was named to the All-NBA third team.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: In the lockout-shortened 2011–12 season, Ginóbili helped the Spurs go 50–16. The team advanced to the Western Conference Finals, where they were defeated 4–2 by the Oklahoma City Thunder. In Game Five of the series, Ginóbili scored 34 points.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: In 2012–13, the Spurs advanced to the NBA Finals, where they faced the Miami Heat. In the Spurs' Game Five win, Ginóbili scored a season-high 24 points and helped his team take a 3–2 series lead. However, the Spurs went on to lose Games Six and Seven.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: On 11 July 2013, Ginóbili re-signed with the Spurs on a two-year deal. In 2013–14, the Spurs had a league-best 62–20 record. Ginóbili finished third in the voting for Sixth Man of the Year. In game 1 of the Western Conference Finals against the Thunder, the Big Three of Duncan, Parker and Ginóbili notched their 110th career playoff win, matching the number of playoff wins attained by Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Cooper of the Los Angeles Lakers. The Spurs reached the NBA Finals again, where they faced the Heat for the second year in a row. This time, they dominated the series, winning 4–1 to claim that franchise's fifth championship; Ginóbili won his fourth championship as a Spur.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: On 20 July 2015, Ginóbili re-signed with the Spurs. On 14 January 2016, in a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Ginóbili played his 900th NBA game, all with the Spurs. On 4 February, he underwent surgery after suffering a testicular injury in the Spurs' win over the New Orleans Pelicans the previous night. He was subsequently sidelined for one month. He returned to the action on 5 March after missing 12 games with the injury, scoring 22 points in 15 minutes against the Sacramento Kings.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: On 14 July 2016, Ginóbili re-signed with the Spurs. On 9 November 2016, in a loss to the Houston Rockets, Ginóbili became the 15th second-rounder to reach 13,000 points and joined Rashard Lewis as the only second round draft picks in NBA history with 13,000 career points and at least 1,300 three-pointers.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: In game 5 of the 2017 Western Conference Semifinals against Houston, Ginóbili blocked James Harden's shot in the closing seconds to help San Antonio to a 110–107 victory. In game 3 of the Western Conference Finals against Golden State Warriors, Ginóbili became the first player at the age of 39 to score 20 or more points off the bench in a playoff game since the NBA began recording starts in the 1970–71 NBA season.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: On 24 August 2017, Ginóbili re-signed with the Spurs. In January 2018, he became the only player in NBA history to have multiple 20-point games off the bench at age 40 or older. He also became the first player in his 40s to score 15-plus points in back-to-back games since Michael Jordan in 2002–03. On 28 January against the Sacramento Kings, Ginóbili and Vince Carter scored 21 and 15 points respectively; it was the first game in NBA history where two players over the age of 40 scored 15 points or more. On 29 March 2018, in a 103–99 win over the Thunder, Ginobili became the Spurs' career leader in steals, passing David Robinson (1,388) for the franchise record. In game 4 of the Spurs' first round playoff series against the Warriors, Ginóbili played in his 217th playoff game, breaking a tie with Shaquille O'Neal for sixth in league history. Ginóbili also passed Reggie Miller for third in career 3-pointers in playoff history. The Spurs lost to the Warriors in five games.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: On 27 August 2018, Ginóbili announced his retirement from professional basketball, making him the second player that season to complete a career with one team, after Nick Collison of the Oklahoma City Thunder. On 28 March 2019, the Spurs retired Ginóbili's No. 20 jersey, right next to the No. 21 jersey of Tim Duncan.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: On 24 September 2021, the San Antonio Spurs announced that they had appointed Ginóbili as Special advisor to basketball operations.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: On the 10th of September 2022 Ginóbili became the 12th player to have played for the San Antonio Spurs franchise to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Ginóbili however is one of only four Spurs players to be inducted who played exclusively for San Antonio for their entire NBA career the others being fellow 2022 inductee George Karl, David Robinson and Tim Duncan. Former teammate Tim Duncan presented Ginóbili at the HoF ceremony. Ginóbili joins fellow 2022 inductee George Karl as being one of only five players of the twelve elected to the Hall of Fame to play five or more seasons with The Spurs the others being George Gervin, Tim Duncan, and David Robinson.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: Ginóbili was a core member of a hugely successful Argentina national basketball team, which is sometimes referred to as the Golden Generation.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: Ginóbili played with the junior Argentina national team at the 1997 FIBA Under-21 World Championship, where his team finished in 4th place. Ginóbili was a member of the senior Argentina national basketball team, and made his senior debut during the 1998 FIBA World Championship in Athens. He also played at the 2002 FIBA World Championship, where he won a silver medal. His best accomplishment as a member of the national team came at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics when Argentina became the first team other than Team USA to win the gold medal in 16 years. The highlight of the tournament was his game-winning buzzer beater with 0.7 seconds remaining, on the opening day of the Olympics, in a game versus Serbia and Montenegro. Ginóbili led the team in both scoring (19.3 points per game) and assists (3.3 assists per game).


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: He played with Argentina at the 2006 FIBA World Championship, where his team finished in 4th place. Ginóbili was the flag bearer for Argentina at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics, which was held in Beijing, China. At the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics basketball tournament, Ginóbili's Argentina defeated Lithuania to win the bronze medal game, although the shooting guard did not play in that match, after sustaining an injury in the tournament's semifinals. In April 2010, Ginóbili announced that he would not participate in the 2010 FIBA World Championship, due to family reasons. He did however compete for the team at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, where Argentina narrowly missed out on winning the bronze medal, in the bronze medal game versus Russia. He played his last international games at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, where Argentina finished in 8th place.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: Ginóbili was listed as 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) in shoes, weighed 205 lb (93 kg) and played left-handed. He established himself as a star shooting guard and became known as one of the greatest sixth men in NBA history. He was a relatively late bloomer, entering the NBA at age 25 in a period when entering the NBA as a teenager was very common. He was known as a reliable and versatile backcourt player.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: Apart from his up-tempo and aggressive style, Ginóbili was known for his clutch play. Ginóbili's go-to move was either a 3-pointer or a fierce drive to the basket. He often lowered his head when driving to the basket to collapse defenses and create shots or passes to his teammates. Ginobili popularized the Euro step in the NBA, although he was not the first to use the move in the league.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: Ginobili was known as a team player. He accepted the Spurs coaches' decision to bring him off the bench for most of his career. He was also known for his difficult-to-defend passes, including the no-look pass. Ginobili was also willing to draw charges on defense. In 2007, he was listed by ESPN writer Thomas Neumann at No. 6 on the list of greatest floppers in NBA history. Five years later, Ian Thomsen, a "Sports Illustrated" columnist, grouped Ginóbili with fellow European league players Anderson Varejão and Vlade Divac as the players who "made [flopping] famous", by exaggerating contact on the court in a manner analogous to diving in soccer games.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: Having traversed the major basketball continents during his career, Ginóbili is one of the few players who enjoyed success under both the physical, one-on-one play of the NBA and the more technical, jump-shooting rule set of FIBA. He is one of only two players in basketball history (along with Bill Bradley) to win the EuroLeague, an Olympic gold medal, and an NBA championship ring. He is also the first non-U.S. player to win both the NBA championship ring and the Olympic gold medal, and the second Latin American to be selected to play in an NBA All-Star game (after Panama's Rolando Blackman). The Spurs made the NBA playoffs in each of Ginobili's 16 NBA seasons.


title: Manu Ginóbili

text: In 2007, ESPN sportswriter John Hollinger ranked Ginóbili as the sixth-best international player then active in the NBA, describing Ginobili as "one of the great draft heists of all time" and attributing the trend of NBA teams drafting developing European players to the success of the Argentine. The following year, Ginóbili was named by ESPN as one of the best EuroLeague players to have graced the NBA.


title: Ron Goldman

text: Ronald Lyle Goldman (July 2, 1968 – June 12, 1994) was an American restaurant waiter and a friend of Nicole Brown Simpson, the ex-wife of the American football player O.J. Simpson. He was murdered, along with Brown, at her home in Los Angeles, California, on June 12, 1994. Simpson was acquitted of their killings in 1995 but found liable for both deaths in a 1997 civil lawsuit.


title: Ron Goldman

text: Goldman was born on July 2, 1968. He grew up in the community of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, near Chicago. His parents divorced in 1974, however, when he was six years old, and after spending a brief time in the custody of his mother, Sharon Rufo (née Fohrman), he was raised by his father, Frederic Goldman (born December 6, 1940). Goldman lived with his father and his younger sister.


title: Ron Goldman

text: Goldman was raised Jewish. He attended high school at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. He was a student at Illinois State University for one semester, where he planned to major in psychology, and he also had an interest in becoming a pledge in Sigma Nu fraternity. After his family relocated to Southern California when he was 18 years old, however, Goldman discontinued his studies and followed his family.


title: Ron Goldman

text: Prior to relocating with his family, Goldman worked as a camp counselor and had experience volunteering with children suffering from cerebral palsy.


title: Ron Goldman

text: While living in Los Angeles, Goldman took some classes at Pierce College. He learned to surf and enjoyed playing beach volleyball, rollerblading, and nightclubbing.


title: Ron Goldman

text: Upon arriving in California, Goldman lived independently from his family and supported himself by working as an employment headhunter and tennis instructor. He then had a string of waiter jobs. He also occasionally worked as a model for Barry Zeldes, owner of Z90049 (the store next to the California Pizza Kitchen in Brentwood Gardens, where he had worked before Mezzaluna). Not long before his death, he had earned an Emergency Medical Technician's license, but he did not pursue that career.


title: Ron Goldman

text: Instead, Goldman told friends that he wanted to open a bar or restaurant in the Brentwood area. He had shared with friends his vision of opening a future restaurant or bar characterized not by a name, but by the ankh, an Egyptian religious symbol of life that matched the tattoo on his shoulder. According to his friend, Jeff Keller, he wanted to learn all facets of the restaurant-bar business, and occasionally worked as a promoter at a Century City dance club called Tripps. For Memorial Day, he participated with a group of event promoters in organizing a party at Renaissance, a club and restaurant on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.


title: Ron Goldman

text: Goldman had also expressed aspirations to act and to be on a show, and he appeared as a contestant on the short-lived game show "Studs" in 1992. He had dated Jacqui Bell for nearly two years before she broke off their relationship three months before his death.


title: Ron Goldman

text: According to a June 15, 1994 "Los Angeles Times" article published three days after his death, Goldman met Brown only six weeks prior to the date they were murdered, when he borrowed her Ferrari. The two grew increasingly friendly, occasionally meeting for coffee and dinner in the weeks before their deaths. According to police and friends, however, the relationship between the two was platonic. One article noted that he had borrowed her car when he met his friend, Craig Clark, for lunch. According to Clark, he told him it was her car, but that he did not say she was his girlfriend. Instead, Goldman said they were friends.


title: Ron Goldman

text: On the evening of Sunday, June 12, 1994, Goldman worked a server shift at Mezzaluna Trattoria, a restaurant located at 11750 San Vicente Boulevard in Brentwood, California. Brown called to report that her mother accidentally left her sunglasses on the table when they dined there earlier in the evening. Goldman was not their server. After a search turned up the glasses in a street gutter outside the restaurant, Goldman agreed to drop them at her home after work.


title: Ron Goldman

text: The "Los Angeles Times" reported that Goldman "punched out at 9:33 pm and stayed another 15 minutes to have bottled water at the bar." Before returning the sunglasses, he stopped by his Brentwood apartment at 11663 Gorham Avenue and spoke briefly to his roommate, Mezzaluna's bartender Stewart Tanner, before he left. The two had plans to go out later that evening.


title: Ron Goldman

text: Goldman and Brown were stabbed to death on the walkway leading to the condominium at 875 South Bundy Drive. Police found their bodies shortly after midnight. During a reconstruction of the events, the police came to believe he had arrived during or shortly after Nicole's death. Goldman's family believe that Goldman died trying to save Brown from her attacker and that he was the man eyewitnesses heard shouting that night.


title: Ron Goldman

text: Goldman was killed 20 days before his 26th birthday. He is buried at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, California.


title: Ron Goldman

text: Simpson was tried for the killings of both Brown and Goldman. In October 1995, after a public trial that lasted nearly nine months, he was acquitted. In 1997, Fred Goldman (Ron's father) filed a civil lawsuit against Simpson. The jury found him liable for the wrongful death of Goldman and awarded the Goldman family $33 million. Simpson was subsequently jailed for an unrelated armed robbery at a Las Vegas hotel in 2008. Both Fred and Kim Goldman were present at the robbery trial, and after Simpson's conviction, Fred Goldman expressed his satisfaction and referred to it as a "bittersweet" moment.


title: Ron Goldman

text: The rights to Simpson's book, "If I Did It", a first-person account of how he would have committed the murders "had" he committed them, were awarded to the Goldman family in August 2007. They were granted the proceeds from the book in 2007 as part of the multi-million dollar civil jury award against him they had been trying to collect for over a decade. They own the copyright, media rights, and movie rights. They also acquired Simpson's name, likeness, life story, and right of publicity in connection with the book, according to court documents, ensuring he would not be able to profit from the book. After renaming the book "If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer", the Goldman family published it in September 2007 through Beaufort Books. Denise Brown, Nicole Brown's sister, criticized the Goldmans for publishing the book and accused them of profiting from Nicole and Ron's deaths.


title: Ron Goldman

text: Filmmaker Ezra Edelman, who directed and produced the documentary "", won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, and dedicated the award to both Goldman and Brown in his acceptance speech. Fred Goldman was among those who Edelman interviewed in the documentary.


title: Ron Goldman

text: In an interview with Barbara Walters, Fred Goldman admitted that shortly after Simpson's acquittal, he was approached by a stranger who offered to sell him an untraceable high-powered rifle to kill Simpson or to hire someone to kill Simpson for him, but Goldman refused.


title: Ron Goldman

text: In an interview with "20/20", Kim Goldman said that one day some time after Simpson's acquittal, she was driving in her car when she saw him in a parking lot in Los Angeles. She considered running him over to get vengeance, but didn't do it.


title: Ron Goldman

text: Frederic Goldman sued O.J. Simpson for $96 million over his son’s death. He is applying for a renewal of his old judgment against Simpson, claiming Simpson owes him $96 million over the murder of his son.