title: Shaolin Monastery

text: Shaolin Monastery (少林寺 "Shàolínsì"), also known as Shaolin Temple, is a renowned monastic institution recognized as the birthplace of Chan Buddhism and the cradle of Shaolin Kung Fu. It is located at the foot of Wuru Peak of the Songshan mountain range in Dengfeng County, Henan Province, China. The name reflects its location in the ancient grove (林 lín) of Mount Shaoshi, in the hinterland of the Songshan mountains. Mount Song occupied a prominent position among Chinese sacred mountains as early as the 1st century BC, when it was proclaimed one of the Five Holy Peaks (五岳 wǔyuè). It is located some thirty miles (about forty-eight kilometers) southeast of Luoyang, the former capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386–534), and forty-five miles (about seventy-two kilometers) southwest of Zhengzhou, the modern capital of Henan Province.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: As the first Shaolin abbot, Batuo devoted himself to translating Buddhist scriptures and to preaching doctrines to hundreds of his followers. According to legend, Bodhidharma, the 28th patriarch of Mahayana Buddhism in India, arrived at the Shaolin Temple in 527. He spent nine years meditating in a cave of the Wuru Peak and initiated the Chinese Chan tradition at the Shaolin Temple. Thereafter, Bodhidharma was honored as the first patriarch of Chan Buddhism.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: The Temple's historical architectural complex, standing out for its great aesthetic value and its profound cultural connotations, has been inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Apart from its contribution to the development of Chinese Buddhism, as well as for its historical, cultural, and artistic heritage, the temple is famous for its martial arts tradition. Shaolin monks have been devoted to research, creation, and continuous development and perfecting of Shaolin kung fu.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: The main pillars of Shaolin culture are Chan Buddhism (禅 Chán), martial arts (武 wǔ), Buddhist art (艺 yì), and traditional Chinese medicine (医 yī). This cultural heritage, still constituting the daily temple life, is representative of Chinese civilization. A large number of celebrities, political figures, eminent monks, Buddhist disciples, and many other people, come to the temple to visit, make pilgrimages, and hold cultural exchanges. In addition, owing to the work of official Shaolin overseas cultural centers and foreign disciples, Shaolin culture has spread around the world as a distinctive symbol of Chinese culture and a means of foreign cultural exchange.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: At present, Shaolin Temple is a Global Low-carbon Ecological Scenic Spot and a National 5A-level Tourist Attraction in China. It has been awarded the highest-level category used by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and attributed to the most important and best-maintained tourist attractions in the People's Republic of China.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: According to the "Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks" (AD 645) by Daoxuan, Shaolin Monastery was built on the north side of Shaoshi, the central peak of Mount Song, one of the Sacred Mountains of China, by Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei dynasty in AD 477, to accommodate the Indian teacher Batuo, a dhyāna master who came to China to spread Buddhist teachings beside the capital Luoyang. Batuo, also referred to in the Chinese sources as Fotuo (in Sanskrit: Buddhabhadra), had met the emperor several years before. He had enjoyed Emperor Xiaowen's sponsorship ever since he arrived in Pingcheng via the silk route around 490. Yang Xuanzhi, in the "Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang" (AD 547), and Li Xian, in the "Ming Yitongzhi" (1461), concur with Daoxuan's location and attribution. The "Jiaqing Chongxiu Yitongzhi" (1843) specifies that this monastery, located in the province of Henan, was built in the twentieth year of the "Taihe" era of the Northern Wei dynasty, that is, the monastery was built in AD 495.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: Thanks to Batuo, Shaolin became an important center for the study and translation of original Buddhist scriptures. It also became a place of gathering for esteemed Buddhist masters. Historical sources on the early origins of Shaolin kung fu show that at this time, martial arts practice was existent in the temple. Batuo's teaching was continued by his two disciples, Sengchou (僧稠Sēngchóu, 480–560) and Huiguang (慧光Huìguāng, 487–536).


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: In the first year of the Yongping era (506), Indian monks Lenamoti 勒那摩提 (in Sanskrit: Ratnamati) and Putiliuzhi 菩提流支 (in Sanskrit: Bodhiruci) came to Shaolin to set up a scripture translation hall. Together with Huiguang, they translated master Shiqin's (世親 Shìqīn; in Sanskrit: Vasubandhu) commentary on the Ten Stages Sutra (Sanskrit: Daśabhūmika Sūtra; simplified Chinese: 十地经), an early, influential Mahayana Buddhist scripture. After that, Huiguang promoted the Vinaya in Four Parts (四分律Sì fēn lǜ; Sanskrit: Dharmagupta-Vinaya), which formed the theoretical basis of the Luzong (律宗 Lǜzōng) School of Buddhism, formed during the Tang Dynasty by Dao Xuan (596–667).


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: In the third year of the Xiaochang era (527) of Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei, Bodhidharma (达摩 Dá mó), the 28th patriarch of Mahayana Buddhism in India, came to the Shaolin Temple. The Indian arrived as a Chan Buddhist missionary and traveled for decades throughout China before, settling on Mount Song in the 520s. Bodhidharma's teachings were primarily based on Lankavatara Sutra, which contains the conversation between Gautama Buddha and Bodhisattva Mahamatti, who is considered the first patriarch of Chan tradition.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: Using the teachings of Batuo and his disciples as a foundation, Bodhidharma introduced Chan Buddhism, and the Shaolin Temple community gradually grew to become the center of Chinese Chan Buddhism. Bodhidharma's teaching was transmitted to his disciple Huike, who the legend says cut off his arm to show his determination and devotion to the teachings of his master. Huike was forced to leave the temple during the persecution of Buddhism and Daoism (574–580) by Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou. In 580, Emperor Jing of Northern Zhou restored the temple and renamed it Zhi‘ao Temple (陟岵寺 Zhìhù sì).


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: The idea that Bodhidharma founded martial arts at the Shaolin Temple was spread in the 20th century. However, martial arts historians have shown this legend stems from a 17th-century qigong manual known as the "Yijin Jing". The oldest available copy was published in 1827. The composition of the text itself has been dated to 1624. Even then, the association of Bodhidharma with martial arts only became widespread as a result of the 1904–1907 serialization of the novel "The Travels of Lao Ts'an" in "Illustrated Fiction Magazine":


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: Other scholars see an earlier connection between Da Mo and the Shaolin Monastery. The monk and his disciples are said to have lived at a spot about a mile from the Shaolin Temple that is now a small nunnery.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: In the 6th century, around AD 547, The Record of the Buddhist Monasteries says Da Mo visited the area near Mount Song. In AD 645, The Continuation of the Biographies of Eminent Monks describes him as being active in the Mount Song region. Around AD 710, Da Mo is identified specifically with the Shaolin Temple (Precious Record of Dharma's Transmission or Chuanfa Baoji) and writes of his sitting facing a wall in meditation for many years. It also speaks of Huike's many trials in his efforts to receive instruction from Da Mo. In the 11th century (1004), a work embellishes the Da Mo legends with great detail. A stele inscription at the Shaolin Monastery dated to 728 Ad reveals Da Mo residing on Mount Song. Another stele from AD 798 speaks of Huike seeking instruction from Da Mo. Another engraving dated to 1209 depicts the barefoot saint holding a shoe, according to the ancient legend of Da Mo. A plethora of 13th- and 14th-century steles feature Da Mo in various roles. One 13th-century image shows him riding a fragile stalk across the Yangtze River. In 1125, a special temple was constructed in his honor at the Shaolin Monastery.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: Emperor Wen of Sui, who was a Buddhist himself, returned the temple's original name and offered to its community 100 hectares of land. Shaolin thus became a large temple with hundreds of hectares of fertile land and large properties. It was once again the center of Chan Buddhism, with eminent monks from all over China visiting on a regular basis.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: At the end of the Sui dynasty, the Shaolin Temple, with its huge monastery properties, became the target of thieves and bandits. The monks organized forces within their community to protect the temple and fight against the intruders. At the beginning of the Tang dynasty, thirteen Shaolin monks helped Li Shimin, the future second emperor of the Tang dynasty, in his fight against Wang Shichong. They captured Shichong's nephew Wang Renze, whose army was stationed in the Cypress Valley. In 626, Li Shimin, later known as Emperor Taizong, sent an official letter of gratitude to the Shaolin community for the help they provided in his fight against Shichong and thus the establishment of the Tang Dynasty. According to legend, Emperor Taizong granted the Shaolin Temple extra land and a special "imperial dispensation" to consume meat and alcohol during reign of the Tang dynasty. If true, this would have made Shaolin the only temple in China that did not prohibit alcohol. Regardless of historical veracity, these rituals are not practiced today. This legend is not corroborated in any period documents, such as the Shaolin Stele, erected in AD 728. The stele does not list any such imperial dispensation as reward for the monks' assistance during the campaign against Wang Shichong; only land and a water mill are granted. The Tang dynasty also established several Shaolin branch monasteries throughout the country and formulated policies for Shaolin monks and soldiers to assist local governments and regular military troops. Shaolin Temple also became a place where emperors and high officials would come for temporary reclusion. Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Empress Wu Zetian often visited the Shaolin Temple for good luck and made large donations. Empress Wu also paid several visits to the Shaolin Temple to discuss Chan philosophy with high monk Tan Zong. During the Tang and Song dynasties, the Shaolin Temple was extremely prosperous. It had more than 14,000 acres of land, 540 acres of temple grounds, more than 5,000 rooms, and more than 2,000 monks. The Chan Buddhist School founded by Bodhidharma flourished during the Tang dynasty and was the largest Buddhist school of that time.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: Information about the first century of the Northern Song dynasty is scarce. The rulers of Song supported the development of Buddhism, and Chan established itself as dominant over other Buddhist schools. Around 1093, Chan master Baoen (报恩Bào'ēn) promoted the Caodong School in the Shaolin Temple and achieved what is known in Buddhist history as "revolutionary turn into Chan". This meant that the Shaolin Temple officially became a Chan Buddhist Temple, while up to that point it was a Lǜzōng temple specialized in Vinaya, with a Chan Hall.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: At the beginning of the Yuan dynasty, Emperor Shizu of Yuan installed the monk Xueting Fuyu (雪庭福裕, 1203–1275) as the abbot of Shaolin and put him in charge of all the temples in the Mount Song area. During this period, the abbot undertook important construction work, including the building of the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower. He also introduced the generational lineage system of the Shaolin disciples through a 70-character poem—each character in line corresponding to the name of the next generation of disciples. In 1260, Fuyu was honored with the title of the Divine Buddhist Master and in 1312 posthumously named Duke of Jin (晉國公 Jìn guó gōng) by the Yuan emperor.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: The fall of the Yuan dynasty and the establishment of the Ming dynasty brought much unrest, in which the temple community needed to defend itself from rebels and bandits. During the Red Turban Rebellion in the 14th century, bandits ransacked the monastery for its real or supposed valuables, destroying much of the temple and driving the monks away. The monastery was likely abandoned from 1351 or 1356 (the most likely dates for the attack) to at least 1359, when government troops retook Henan. The events of this period would later figure heavily in 16th-century legends of the temple's patron saint Vajrapani, with the story being changed to claim a victory for the monks, rather than a defeat.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: With the establishment of the Ming dynasty by mid-14th century, Shaolin recovered, and a large part of the monastic community that fled during the Red Turban attacks returned. At the beginning of the Ming dynasty, the government did not advocate martial arts. During the reign of the Jiajing Emperor, Japanese pirates harassed China's coastal areas, and generals Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang led their troops against the pirates. During his stay in Fujian, Qi Jiguang convened martial artists from all over China, including local Shaolin monks, to develop a set of boxing and staff fighting techniques to be used against Japanese pirates. Owing to the monks' merits in fighting against the Japanese, the government renovated the temple on a large scale, and Shaolin enjoyed certain privileges, such as food tax exemption, granted by the government. Afterward, Shaolin monks were recruited by the Ming government at least six times to participate in wars. Due to their outstanding contribution to Chinese military success, the imperial court built monuments and buildings for Shaolin Temple on numerous occasions. This also contributed to the establishment of the legitimacy of Shaolin kung fu in the national martial arts community. During the Ming Dynasty (in mid-16th century), Shaolin reached its apogee and held its position as the central place of the Caodong School of Chan Buddhism.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: In 1641, rebel forces led by Li Zicheng sacked the monastery due to the monks' support of the Ming dynasty and the possible threat they posed to the rebels. This effectively destroyed the temple's fighting force. The temple fell into ruin and was home to only a few monks until the early 18th century, when the government of the Qing dynasty patronized and restored it.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: During the Qing dynasty, Shaolin Temple was favored by Qing emperors. In the 43rd year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign (1704), the emperor gifted a tablet to the temple, with the characters 少林寺(Shàolín sì) engraved on it in his calligraphy (originally hung in the Heavenly King Hall and later moved by the Mountain Gate). In the 13th year of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign (1735), important reconstructions were financed by the court, including the rebuilding of the gate and the Thousand Buddha's Hall. In the 15th year of his rule (1750), the Qianlong Emperor personally visited Shaolin Temple, stayed at the abbot's room overnight, and wrote poems and tablet inscriptions.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: A well-known story of the temple from this period is that it was destroyed by the Qing government for supposed anti-Qing activities. Variously said to have taken place in 1647 under the Shunzhi Emperor, in 1674, 1677, or 1714 under the Kangxi Emperor, or in 1728 or 1732 under the Yongzheng Emperor, this destruction is also supposed to have helped spread Shaolin martial arts throughout China by means of the five fugitive monks. Some accounts claim that a supposed southern Shaolin Temple was destroyed instead of, or in addition to, the temple in Henan: Ju Ke, in the "Qing bai lei chao" (1917), locates this temple in Fujian. These stories commonly appear in legendary or popular accounts of martial history and in "wuxia" fiction.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: While these latter accounts are popular among martial artists and often serve as origin stories for various martial arts styles, they are viewed by scholars as fictional. The accounts are known through often inconsistent 19th-century secret society histories and popular literature, and also appear to draw on both Fujianese folklore and popular narratives, such as the classical novel "Water Margin". Modern scholarly attention to the tales is mainly concerned with their role as folklore.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: In the early days of the Republic of China, the Shaolin Temple was repeatedly hit by wars. In 1912, monk Yunsong Henglin from the Dengfeng County Monks Association was elected by the local government as the head of the Shaolin Militia (Shaolin Guarding Corps). He organized the guards and trained them in combat skills to maintain local order. In the autumn of 1920, famine and drought hit Henan province, which led to thieves surging throughout the area and endangering the local community. Henglin led the militia to fight the bandits on different occasions, thus enabling dozens of villages in the temple's surroundings to live and work in peace.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: In the late 1920s, Shaolin monks became embroiled in the warlords' feuds that swept the plains of northern China. They sided with General Fan Zhongxiu (1888–1930), who had studied martial arts at Shaolin Temple as a child, against Shi Yousan (1891–1940). Fan was defeated and, in the spring of 1928, Yousan's troops entered Dengfeng and Shaolin Temple, which served as Fan Zongxiu's headquarters. On 15 March, Shi Yousan's subordinate Feng Yuxiang set fire to the monastery, destroying some of its ancient towers and halls. The flames partially damaged the "Shaolin Monastery Stele" (which recorded the politically astute choice made by other Shaolin clerics fifteen hundred years earlier), the Dharma Hall, the Heavenly King Hall, Mahavira Hall, Bell Tower, Drum Tower, Sixth Ancestor Hall, Chan Hall, and other buildings, causing the death of a number of monks. A large number of cultural relics and 5,480 volumes of Buddhist scriptures were destroyed in the fire.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: Japan's activities in Manchuria in the early 1930s made the National Government very worried. The military then launched a strong patriotic movement to defend the country and resist the enemy. The Nanjing Central Martial Arts Center and Wushu Institute, together with other martial arts institutions, were established around the country as part of this movement. The government also organized martial arts events such as "Martial arts returning to Shaolin". This particular event served to encourage people to remember the importance of patriotism by celebrating the contribution of Shaolin martial arts to the country's defense from foreign invasion at numerous occasions throughout history.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the state has recognized five official religions, including Buddhism, and established institutional relationships with them through religious associations. The Buddhist Association of China was founded in 1953 and was disbanded in the late 1960s, during the Cultural Revolution, then reactivated following the end of that period.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: During the Cultural Revolution, the monks of Shaolin Temple were forced to return to secular life, Buddha statues were destroyed, and temple properties were invaded. After this period ended, Shaolin Temple was repaired and rebuilt. The buildings and other material heritage that was destroyed, including the Mahavira Hall and the stone portraying "Bodhidharma facing the wall", were reconstructed according to their originals. Others, such as the ancient martial arts training ground, the Pagoda Forest, and some stone carvings that survived, still remain in their original state. In December 1996, Chuzu Temple and Shaolin Temple Pagoda Forest (No. 4-89) were listed as national key cultural relic protection units. Shaolin Temple leadership aimed for its historical architectural complex to become a United Nations World Heritage site in order to obtain annual funding for maintenance and development from the UN. After repeated submissions, their application was finally accepted by the 34th World Heritage Committee on 1 August 2010. UNESCO reviewed and approved eight sites and eleven architectural complexes, including Shaolin's Resident Hall, Pagoda Forest, and Chuzu Temple as World Cultural Heritage.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: In 1994, the temple registered its name as a trademark. In the late 2000s, Shi Yongxin began authorizing Shaolin branches outside of mainland China in what has been called a franchise scheme. The branches are run by current and former monks and allow dispersion of Shaolin culture and study of Shaolin kung fu around the world. As of January 2011, Yongxin and the temple operated over forty companies in cities across the world, including London and Berlin, which have purchased land and property.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: On 22 March 2006, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, visited Shaolin Temple and watched a kung fu performance. He was the first foreign head of state to visit Shaolin Temple in its history.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: In May 2007, Shaolin Temple was named a National 5A Scenic Spot by the China National Tourism Administration.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: In 2009, Shaolin Temple established Fengyinghang Co., Ltd. to prepare for the construction of the first Overseas Shaolin Cultural Center Headquarters (Hong Kong Shaolin Temple) outside of mainland China.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: In April 2013, the Shaolin Temple Sutra Pavilion was selected as a National Key Protection Unit for Ancient Books, as its collection of documents and books related to kung fu theory and practice is unique in China.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: In 2018, for the first time in its 1,500-year history, the Shaolin Monastery raised the national flag of China as part of a "patriotism drive" under the new National Religious Affairs Administration, a part of the United Front Work Department, which "oversees propaganda efforts as well as relations with the global Chinese diaspora". Senior theology lecturer Sze Chi Chan of Hong Kong Baptist University interpreted this move as Xi Jinping making an example of the Shaolin Monastery to send a message to other temples and the Chinese Catholic Church.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: The monastery was historically led by an abbot. However, Communist restrictions on religious expression and independence have changed this ancient system. The monastery is currently led by a committee composed primarily of government officials. The treasurer is appointed by the government and as such, the abbot has little control over monastery finances. The monastery splits its profits with Dengfeng: the municipality takes two thirds of the profits, and the monastery retains one third.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: Shaolin Temple is an important religious and cultural institution, both in China and internationally. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and especially since the 1970s, cultural exchanges between Shaolin Temple and the rest of the world have continuously improved in terms of content, scale, frequency, and scope. The temple has been visited by European and American dancers, martial artists, NBA players, Hollywood movie stars, but also renowned monks from traditional Buddhist countries such as Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Also, a number of political leaders, such as Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf, British Queen Elizabeth II, Spanish King Juan Carlos I, Australia's former prime minister John Howard, South Africa former president Nelson Mandela, Russian president Vladimir Putin, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, and Taiwanese politician James Soong have met with the temple's abbot.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: Currently, there are more than forty overseas cultural institutions established by the temple's leadership and its disciples in dozens of countries around the world. Shaolin monks come to the centers to teach Buddhist classics, martial arts, meditation, etc. Another way of promoting Shaolin's intangible cultural heritage in the world is through Shaolin Cultural Festivals, the first of which was held in North America. These festivals and similar events convey the spiritual connotation of Chinese culture and Eastern values to societies internationally.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: Shaolin Temple has developed numerous complementary cultural aspects that permeate and mutually reinforce each other and are inseparable, when it comes to presenting the temple's material and intangible cultural heritage. The most prominent aspects are those of Chan (禅 Chán), martial arts (武 wǔ), traditional medicine (中医 zhōngyī), and art (艺 yì). Shaolin culture is rooted in Mahayana Buddhism, while the practice of Chan is its nucleus and finally, the martial arts, traditional medicine, and art are its manifestations. Thanks to the efforts of the abbot Shi Yongxin, the monastic community, and the temple's disciples from all over the world, Shaolin culture continues to grow. During its historical development, Shaolin culture has also integrated the essential values of Confucianism and Taoism.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: The contemporary temple establishment offers to all interested individuals and groups, regardless of cultural, social, and religious values, the chance to experience Shaolin culture through the Shaolin cultural exchange program. This program offers an introduction to Chan meditation, Shaolin kung fu, Chan medicine, calligraphy, art, archery, etc. Chan practice is supposed to help the individual in attaining calm and patience necessary for living optimistically, meaningfully, wisely, and with compassion. Ways of practicing Chan are numerous, and they range from everyday activities such as eating, drinking, walking, or sleeping, to specialized practices such as meditation, martial arts, and calligraphy.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: Shaolin kung fu is manifested through a system of different skills that are based on attack and defense movements with the form (套路 tàolù) as its unit. One form is a combination of different movements. The structure of movements is founded on ancient Chinese medical knowledge, which is compatible with the laws of body movement. Within the temple, the forms are taught with a focus on integration of the principles of complementarity and opposition. This means that Shaolin kung fu integrates dynamic and static components, yin and yang, hardness and softness, etc.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: The Shaolin community invests great effort in safeguarding, developing, and innovating its heritage. Following the ancient Chinese principle of harmony between heaven and humans, temple masters work on the development of the most natural body movement in order to achieve the full potential of human expression.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: Shaolin has developed activities related to the international promotion of its cultural heritage. In 2012, the first international Shaolin cultural festival was organized in Germany, followed by festivals in the US and England. Official Shaolin cultural centers exist in numerous countries in Europe, the US, Canada, and Russia. Every year, the temple hosts more than thirty international events with the aim to promote cultural exchange.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: Asian monks are typically portrayed in Western culture as being knowledgeable, at peace, as well as spiritual individuals. Additionally, they are depicted as wise mystics who offer spiritual advice. This stereotype's beginnings can be traced to the 19th century, when Western explorers and missionaries first started to come into contact with Buddhist monks in Asia. The monks were typically romanticized as otherworldly, enigmatic individuals who had achieved a profound spiritual perception of reality. Despite being a poor oversimplification of the variety of beliefs, practices, and experiences among Buddhist monks, the stereotype has persisted. Jane Iwamura calls this phenomenon "virtual Orientalism" and states that it "declares an independence from the real but also co-opts or colonizes the real".


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: The original Shaolin Temple was burned to the ground in 1928 by a renegade Nationalist warlord. The monks were either killed or departed. The ground lay more or less abandoned, and under Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution, it suffered even more damage. However, in 1982 (Mao died in 1976), the Law on the Protection of Cultural Heritage of the People's Republic of China was passed.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: The Songshan Scenic Area, established that year, came to include the Shaolin Temple Scenic Spot. "Scenic areas" were created by the 1982 law as protected regions valuable to the public for their natural or cultural assets. The Songshan Scenic Area covered the mountains around Denfeng. In 1990, the Ministry of Construction and Tongji University proposed that scenic areas be divided into subregions called "Scenic Spots". When this measure was passed by the state council (central government), the "Songshan National Scenic Area" (SNSA) acquired the "Shaolin Temple Scenic Spot" (STSS), consisting of the Shaosi side of the Scenic Area. Though named after the famous monastery in the south of the spot, it also included the north, where the government established a kung fu academy, the largest in China. The scenic spot consists of the entire park.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: The government promptly allocated funds for the reconstruction of the monastery as a tourist site. They were to rebuild nine halls, restore ten, and construct eight new ones. However, all documentation on the temple had been destroyed. Already familiar with the type of structure, the architects interviewed elders who had been at the monastery before 1928 for details.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: As the temple was being rebuilt, UNESCO took an interest and was invited to participate. In 2010, several ancient sites around Dengfeng were united into a single UNESCO World Heritage Site, with eight distinct scenic spots. The Shaolin Scenic spot contained three of the WHS components, collectively called the "architectural complex". By this, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) of UNESCO means three ancient sites: the Shaolin Temple compound, assigned the name "Kernel Compound"; its cemetery, the Pagoda Forest; and its subsidiary, the Chuzu Temple.


title: Shaolin Monastery

text: The temple's inside area is , or . The buildings are arranged in three lengthwise strips. It has seven main halls on the central axis and seven other halls around, with several yards around the halls. These halls are primarily museums containing Buddhist artifacts. Memorials and monuments are scattered freely around the place, as are ancient ginkgo trees.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) is an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. His career spanned from 1979 to 1996, when he last won an Olympic event. He is one of only six Olympic athletes who won a gold medal in the same individual event in four consecutive Olympic Games.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Lewis was a dominant sprinter and long jumper who topped the world rankings in the 100 m, 200 m and long jump events frequently from 1981 to the early 1990s. He set world records in the 100 m, 4 × 100 m and 4 × 200 m relays, while his world record in the indoor long jump has stood since 1984. His 65 consecutive victories in the long jump achieved over a span of 10 years is one of the sport's longest undefeated streaks. Over the course of his athletics career, Lewis broke 10 seconds for the 100 meters fifteen times and 20 seconds for the 200 meters ten times. Lewis also long jumped over 28 feet seventy-one times.


title: Carl Lewis

text: His accomplishments have led to numerous accolades, including being voted "World Athlete of the Century" by the International Association of Athletics Federations and "Sportsman of the Century" by the International Olympic Committee, "Olympian of the Century" by "Sports Illustrated" and "Athlete of the Year" by "Track & Field News" in 1982, 1983, and 1984.


title: Carl Lewis

text: After retiring from his athletics career, Lewis became an actor and has appeared in a number of films. In 2011, he attempted to run for a seat as a Democrat in the New Jersey Senate, but was removed from the ballot due to the state's residency requirement. Lewis owns a marketing and branding company named C.L.E.G., which markets and brands products and services including his own.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Frederick Carlton Lewis was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on July 1, 1961, the son of William Lewis (1927–1987) and Evelyn née Lawler Lewis. His mother was a hurdler on the 1951 Pan-Am team. His elder brother Cleveland Lewis played professional soccer for the Memphis Rogues. His parents ran a local athletics club that provided a crucial influence on both him and his sister, Carol. She became an elite long jumper, finishing ninth at the 1984 Olympics and taking bronze at the 1983 World Championships.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Lewis was initially coached by his father, who also coached other local athletes to elite status. At age 13, Lewis began competing in the long jump, and he emerged as a promising athlete while coached by Andy Dudek and Paul Minore at Willingboro High School in his hometown of Willingboro Township, New Jersey. He achieved the ranking of fourth on the all-time World Junior list of long jumpers.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Many colleges tried to recruit Lewis, and he chose to enroll at the University of Houston where Tom Tellez was coach. Tellez would thereafter remain Lewis's coach for his entire career. Days after graduating from high school in 1979, Lewis broke the high school long jump record with a leap of . By the end of 1979, Lewis was ranked fifth in the world for the long jump, according to "Track and Field News".


title: Carl Lewis

text: An old knee injury had flared up again at the end of the high school year, and this might have had consequences on his fitness. Lewis worked with Tellez and adapted his technique so that he was able to jump without pain, and he went on to win the 1980 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) title with a wind-assisted jump of .


title: Carl Lewis

text: Though his focus was on the long jump, he was now starting to emerge as a talent in the sprints. Comparisons were beginning to be made with Jesse Owens, who dominated sprint and long jump events in the 1930s. Lewis qualified for the American team for the 1980 Olympics in the long jump and as a member of the 4 × 100 m relay team. The Olympic boycott precluded Lewis from competing in Moscow; he instead participated in the Liberty Bell Classic in July 1980, which was an alternate meet for boycotting nations. He jumped for a bronze medal, and the American 4 × 100 m relay team won gold with a time of 38.61 s. He received one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the athletes precluded from competing in the 1980 Olympics. At year's end, he was ranked sixth in the world in the long jump and seventh in the 100 m.


title: Carl Lewis

text: At the start of 1981, Lewis's best legal long jump was his high school record from 1979. On June 20, Lewis improved his personal best by almost half a meter by leaping at the TAC Championships while still a teenager.


title: Carl Lewis

text: While marks set at the thinner air of high altitude are eligible for world records, Lewis was determined to set his records at sea level. In response to a question about his skipping a 1982 long jump competition at altitude, he said, "I want the record and I plan to get it, but not at altitude. I don't want that '(A)' [for altitude] after the mark." When he gained prominence in the early 1980s, all the extant men's 100 m and 200 m records and the long jump record had been set at the high altitude of Mexico City.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Also in 1981, Lewis became the fastest 100 m sprinter in the world. His relatively modest best from 1979 (10.67 s) improved to a world-class 10.21 the next year. But 1981 saw him run 10.00 s at the Southwest Conference Championships in Dallas on May 16, a time that was the third-fastest in history and stood as the low-altitude record. For the first time, Lewis was ranked number one in the world, in both the 100 m and the long jump. He won his first national titles in the 100 m and long jump. Additionally, he won the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States.


title: Carl Lewis

text: In 1982, Lewis continued his dominance, and for the first time it seemed someone might challenge Bob Beamon's world record of in the long jump set at the 1968 Olympics, a mark often described as one of the greatest athletic achievements ever. Before Lewis, had been exceeded on two occasions by two people: Beamon and 1980 Olympic champion Lutz Dombrowski. During 1982, Lewis cleared five times outdoors, twice more indoors, going as far as at Indianapolis on July 24. He also ran 10.00 s in the 100 m, the world's fastest time, matching his low-altitude record from 1981. He achieved his 10.00 s clocking the same weekend he leapt twice, and the day he recorded his new low-altitude record at Indianapolis, he had three fouls with his toe barely over the board, two of which seemed to exceed Beamon's record, the third which several observers said reached . Lewis said he should have been credited with that jump, claiming the track officials misinterpreted the rules on fouls.


title: Carl Lewis

text: He repeated his number one ranking in the 100 m and long jump, and ranked number six in the 200 m. Additionally, he was named Athlete of the Year by "Track and Field News". From 1981 until 1992, Lewis topped the 100 m ranking six times (seven if Ben Johnson's 1987 top ranking is ignored), and ranked no lower than third. His dominance in the long jump was even greater, as he topped the rankings nine times during the same period, and ranked second in the other years.


title: Carl Lewis

text: The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the governing body of track and field, organized the first World Championships in 1983. Lewis' chief rival in the long jump was predicted to be the man who last beat him: Larry Myricks. But though Myricks had joined Lewis in surpassing the year before, he failed to qualify for the American team, and Lewis won at Helsinki with relative ease. His winning leap of defeated silver medalist Jason Grimes by .


title: Carl Lewis

text: He also won the 100 m with relative ease. There, Calvin Smith who had earlier that year set a new world record in the 100 m at altitude with a 9.93 s performance, was soundly beaten by Lewis 10.07 s to 10.21 s. Smith won the 200 m title, an event which Lewis had not entered, but even there he was partly in Lewis' shadow as Lewis had set an American record in that event earlier that year. He won the 200 m on June 19 at the TAC/Mobil Championships in 19.75 s, the second-fastest time in history and the low-altitude record, only 0.03 s behind Pietro Mennea's 1979 mark. Observers here noted that Lewis probably could have broken the world record if he did not ease off in the final meters to raise his arms in celebration. Finally, Lewis ran the anchor in the 4 × 100 m relay, winning in 37.86 s, a new world record and the first in Lewis' career.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Lewis' year-best performances in the 100 m and long jump were not at the World Championships, but at other meets. He became the first person to run a sub-10 second 100 m at low-altitude with a 9.97 s in Modesto on May 14. His gold at the World Championships and his other fast times earned him the number one ranking in the world that year, despite Calvin Smith's world record. At the TAC Championships on June 19, he set a new low-altitude record in the long jump, and earned the world number one ranking in that event. "Track and Field News" ranked him number two in the 200 m, despite his low-altitude record of 19.75 s, behind Smith, who had won gold at Helsinki. Lewis was again named Athlete of the Year by the magazine.


title: Carl Lewis

text: At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Lewis was entered into four events with realistic prospects of winning each of them and thereby matching the achievement of Jesse Owens at the 1936 Games in Berlin.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Lewis started his quest to match Owens with a convincing win in the 100 m, running 9.99 s to defeat his nearest competitor, fellow American Sam Graddy, by 0.2 s. In his next event, the long jump, Lewis won with relative ease. His behavior in winning this event stoked controversy, even as knowledgeable observers agreed that his tactics were correct. Since Lewis still had heats and finals in the 200 m and the 4 × 100 m relay to compete in, he chose to take as few jumps as necessary to win the event. He risked injury in the cool conditions of the day if he over-extended himself, and his ultimate goal to win four golds might be at risk. He knew that his first jump at was sufficient to win the event. He fouled on his next jump and then passed on his remaining four allotted jumps. Lewis easily won gold, and Gary Honey of Australia settled for the silver medal with a jump of . The public was generally unaware of the intricacies of the sport and had been repeatedly told by the media of Lewis's quest to surpass Bob Beamon's legendary long jump record of . Lewis himself had often stated it was a goal of his to surpass the mark. A television advertisement with Beamon appeared before the final, featuring the record-holder saying, "I hope you make it, kid." So, when Lewis decided not to make any more attempts to try to break the record, he was loudly booed. When asked about those boos, Lewis said, "I was shocked at first. But after I thought about it, I realized that they were booing because they wanted to see more of Carl Lewis. I guess that's flattering."


title: Carl Lewis

text: His third gold medal came in the 200 m, where he won with a time of 19.80 s, a new Olympic record and the third fastest time in history. Finally, he won his fourth gold in the 4 × 100 m relay when he anchored the final leg of the race; he broke the tape with a time of 37.83 s, setting a new world record.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Although Lewis had achieved what he had set out to do—matching Jesse Owens' feat of winning four gold medals in the same events at a single Olympic Games—he did not receive the lucrative endorsement offers that he had expected. The long jump controversy was one reason and his self-congratulatory conduct did not impress several other track stars: "He rubs it in too much", said Edwin Moses, twice Olympic gold medalist in the 400 m hurdles. "A little humility is in order. That's what Carl lacks." Further, Lewis's agent Joe Douglas compared him to pop star Michael Jackson, a comparison which did not go over well. Douglas said he was inaccurately quoted, but the impression that Lewis was aloof and egotistical was firmly planted in the public's perception by the end of the 1984 Olympic Games.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Additionally, rumors circulated at that time that Lewis was gay, and though Lewis denied the rumors, they probably hurt his marketability as well. Lewis' physical appearance at the Games, with a flattop haircut and flamboyant clothing, added fuel to the reports. "It doesn't matter what Carl Lewis' sexuality is", high jumper Dwight Stones said. "Madison Avenue perceives him as homosexual." Coca-Cola had offered a lucrative deal to Lewis before the Olympics, but Lewis and Douglas turned it down, confident that Lewis would be worth more after the Olympics. But Coca-Cola rescinded the offer after the Games. Nike already had Lewis under contract for several years, despite questions about how it affected his amateur status, and he was appearing in Nike television advertisements in print and on billboards. Nike was faced with Lewis's new negative image and dropped him after the Games. "If you're a male athlete, I think the American public wants you to look macho", said Don Coleman, a Nike representative. "They started looking for ways to get rid of me", Lewis said. "Everyone there was so scared and so cynical they did not know what to do." (Lewis and Nike eventually did split, and Lewis signed an endorsement deal with Mizuno.) Lewis himself would lay the blame on some inaccurate reporting, especially the "Carl bashing", as he put it, typified by a "Sports Illustrated" article before the Olympics.


title: Carl Lewis

text: At year's end, Lewis was again awarded the top rankings in the 100 m and the long jump and was additionally ranked number one in the 200 m, and for the third year in a row he was awarded the Athlete of the Year title by "Track & Field News".


title: Carl Lewis

text: The Chicago Bulls drafted Lewis in the 1984 NBA Draft as the 208th overall pick, although he had played neither high school nor college basketball. Lewis never played in the NBA. A poll on the NBA's website ranked Lewis second to Lusia Harris, the only woman to be drafted by the NBA, as the most unusual pick in the history of the NBA Draft. Ron Weiss, the head West Coast scout of the Bulls, and Ken Passon, the assistant West Coast scout, recommended Lewis because he was the best athlete available. Similarly, Lewis was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys as a wide receiver in the 12th round of the 1984 NFL Draft, even though he did not play football in college. He never played in the NFL either.


title: Carl Lewis

text: After the 1984 Olympics, Lewis continued to dominate track and field, especially in the long jump, in which he would remain undefeated for the next seven years, but others started to challenge his dominance in the 100 m sprint. His low-altitude record had been surpassed by fellow American Mel Lattany with a time of 9.96 s shortly before the 1984 Olympics, but his biggest challenger would prove to be Canadian Ben Johnson, the bronze medalist behind Lewis at the 1984 Olympics. Johnson would beat Lewis once in 1985, but Lewis also lost to others, while winning most of his races. Lewis retained his number one rank that year; Johnson would place second. In 1986, Johnson defeated Lewis convincingly at the Goodwill Games in Moscow, clocking a new low-altitude record of 9.95 s. At year's end, Johnson was ranked number one, while Lewis slipped to number three, having lost more races than he won. He even seemed vulnerable in the long jump, an event he did not lose in 1986, or the year before, though he competed sparingly. Lewis ended up ranked second behind Soviet Robert Emmiyan, who had the longest legal jump of the year at .


title: Carl Lewis

text: At the 1987 World Championships in Athletics in Rome, Lewis skipped the 200 m to focus on his strongest event, the long jump, and made sure to take all his attempts. This was not to answer critics from the 1984 long jump controversy; this was because history's second 29 ft long-jumper was in the field: Robert Emmiyan leapt at altitude in May, just 4 cm short of Bob Beamon's record. But Emmiyan's best that day was a leap of , second to Lewis' . Lewis cleared four times.


title: Carl Lewis

text: In the 4 × 100 m relay, Lewis anchored the gold-medal team to a time of 37.90 s, the third-fastest of all time.


title: Carl Lewis

text: The 100 m final was the most talked about event and caused the most drama. Johnson had run under 10.00 s three times in the year before Rome, while Lewis had not managed to get under the 10.00 s barrier at all. Lewis looked strong in the heats of the 100 m, setting a Championship record in the semi-final while running into a wind with a 10.03 s effort. In the final, however, Johnson won with a time that stunned observers: 9.83 s, a new world record. Lewis, second with 9.93 s, had tied the existing world record, but that was insufficient.


title: Carl Lewis

text: While Johnson basked in the glory of his achievement, Lewis started to explain away his defeat. He first claimed that Johnson had false-started, then he alluded to a stomach virus that had weakened him, and finally, without naming names, said "There are a lot of people coming out of nowhere. I don't think they are doing it without drugs." He added, "I could run 9.8 or faster in the 100 if I could jump into drugs right away." This was the start of Lewis's calling on the sport of track and field to eliminate the illegal use of performance-enhancing drugs. His detractors noted that the problem had been in the sport for many years, and it only became a cause for Lewis once he was actually defeated. In response to the accusations, Johnson replied "When Carl Lewis was winning everything, I never said a word against him. And when the next guy comes along and beats me, I won't complain about that either".


title: Carl Lewis

text: Lewis not only lost the most publicized showdown in track and field in 1987, he also lost his father. When William Lewis died of cancer at age 60, Lewis placed the gold medal he won for the 100 m in 1984 in his hand to be buried with him. "Don't worry," he told his mother. "I'll get another one." Lewis repeatedly referred to his father as a motivating factor for the 1988 season. "A lot happened to me last year, especially the death of my father. That caused me to re-educate myself to being the very best I possibly can be this season," he said, after defeating Johnson in Zürich on August 17.


title: Carl Lewis

text: The 100 m final at the 1988 Summer Olympics was one of the most sensational sports stories of the year and its unexpected outcome would rank as one of the most infamous sports stories of the century. Johnson won in 9.79 s, a new world record, while Lewis set a new American record with 9.92 s. Three days later, Johnson tested positive for steroids, his medal was taken away and Lewis was awarded gold and credited with a new Olympic record.


title: Carl Lewis

text: In the long jump, Robert Emmiyan withdrew from the competition citing an injury, and Lewis's main challengers were rising American long jump star Mike Powell and long-time rival Larry Myricks. Lewis leapt , a low-altitude Olympic best, and none of his competitors could match it. The Americans swept the medals in the event for the first time in 84 years. In the 200 m, Lewis dipped under his Olympic record from 1984, running 19.79 s, but did so in second place to Joe DeLoach, who claimed the new record and Olympic gold in 19.75 s. In the final event he entered, the 4 × 100 m relay, Lewis never made it to the track as the Americans fumbled an exchange in a heat and were disqualified.


title: Carl Lewis

text: A subsequent honor would follow: Lewis eventually was credited with the 100 m world record for the 9.92 s he ran in Seoul. Though Ben Johnson's 9.79 s time was never ratified as a world record, the 9.83 s he ran the year before was. However, in the fallout to the steroid scandal, an inquiry was called in Canada wherein Johnson admitted under oath to long-time steroid use. The IAAF subsequently stripped Johnson of his record and gold medal from the World Championships. Lewis was deemed to be the world record holder for his 1988 Olympic performance and declared the 1987 100 m World Champion. The IAAF also declared that Lewis had also, therefore, twice tied the "true" world record (9.93 s) for his 1987 World Championship performance, and again at the 1988 Zürich meet where he defeated Johnson. However, those times were never ratified as records. From January 1, 1990, Lewis was the world record holder in the 100 m. The record did not last long, as fellow American and University of Houston teammate Leroy Burrell ran 9.90 s on June 14, 1991, to break Lewis's mark. Lewis also permanently lost his ranking as number one for the 200 m in 1988 and for the 100 m in 1989. He also lost the top ranking for the long jump in 1990 but was able to regain it in 1992.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Tokyo was the venue for the 1991 World Championships. In the 100 m final, Lewis faced the two men who ranked number one in the world the past two years: Burrell and Jamaican Raymond Stewart. In what would be the deepest 100 meters race ever to that time, with six men finishing in under ten seconds, Lewis not only defeated his opponents, he reclaimed the world record with a clocking of 9.86 s. Though previously a world-record holder in this event, this was the first time he had crossed the line with "WR" beside his name on the giant television screens, and the first time he could savor his achievement at the moment it occurred. He could be seen with tears in his eyes afterwards. "The best race of my life," Lewis said. "The best technique, the fastest. And I did it at thirty." Lewis's world record would stand for nearly three years. Lewis also anchored the 4 × 100 m relay team to another world record, 37.50 s, the third time that year he had anchored a 4 × 100 m squad to a world record.


title: Carl Lewis

text: The 1991 World Championships are perhaps best remembered for the long jump final, considered by some to have been one of greatest competitions ever in any sport. Lewis was up against his main rival of the last few years, Mike Powell, the silver medalist in the event from the 1988 Olympics and the top-ranked long jumper of 1990. Lewis had at that point not lost a long jump competition in a decade, winning the 65 consecutive meets in which he competed. Powell had been unable to defeat Lewis, despite sometimes putting in jumps near world-record territory, only to see them ruled fouls or, as with other competitors such as Larry Myricks, putting in leaps that Lewis himself had only rarely surpassed, only to see Lewis surpass them on his next or final attempt.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Lewis' first jump was , a World Championship record, and a mark bested by only three others beside Lewis all-time. Powell, jumping first, had faltered in the first round, but jumped to claim second place in the second round. Lewis jumped , a wind-aided leap, in the third round, a mark that would have won all but two long jump competitions in history. Powell responded with a long foul, estimated to be around . Lewis's next jump made history: the first leap ever beyond Bob Beamon's record. The wind gauge indicated the jump was wind-aided, so it could not be considered a record, but it would still count in the competition. was the greatest leap ever under any condition.


title: Carl Lewis

text: In the next round, Powell responded. His jump was measured as ; this time, his jump was not a foul, and with a wind gauge measurement of 0.3 m/s, well within the legal allowable for a record. Powell had not only jumped 4 cm further than Lewis, he had eclipsed the 23-year-old mark set by Bob Beamon and done so at low altitude. Lewis still had two jumps left, although he was now no longer chasing Beamon, but Powell. He leaped , which was a new personal best under legal wind conditions, then a final jump of . He thus lost his first long jump competition in a decade. Powell's and Lewis's final two jumps still stand as of May 2021 as the top three low altitude jumps ever. The farthest anyone has jumped since under legal conditions is .


title: Carl Lewis

text: Lewis' reaction to what was one of the greatest competitions ever in the sport was to offer acknowledgment of the achievement of Powell. "He just did it," Lewis said of Powell's winning jump. "It was that close, and it was the best of his life." Powell did jump as far or farther on two subsequent occasions, though both were wind-aided jumps at altitude: in 1992 and in 1994. Lewis's best subsequent results were two wind-aided leaps at , and an under legal conditions while in the qualifying rounds at the Barcelona Olympics.


title: Carl Lewis

text: In reference to his efforts at the 1991 World Championships, Lewis said, "This has been the greatest meet that I've ever had." "Track and Field News" was prepared to go even further than that, suggesting that after these Championships, "It had become hard to argue that he is not the greatest athlete ever to set foot on track or field." Lewis's 1991 outstanding results earned him the ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year, an award he shared with gymnastics star Kim Zmeskal.


title: Carl Lewis

text: After the heights reached in 1991, Lewis started to lose his dominance in both the sprints and the long jump. Though he anchored a world record 1:19.11 in the rarely run 4 × 200 m relay with the Santa Monica Track Club early in 1992, he failed to qualify for the Olympic team in the 100 m or 200 m. In the latter race, he finished fourth at the Olympic trials behind rising star Michael Johnson who set a personal best of 19.79 s. It was the first time the two had ever met on the track. Lewis did, however, qualify for the long jump, finishing second behind Powell, and was eligible for the 4 × 100 m relay team. At the Games in Barcelona, Lewis jumped in the first round of the long jump, beating Powell who did a final-round . In the 4 × 100 m relay, Lewis anchored another world record, in 37.40 s, a time which stood for 16 years. He covered the final leg in 8.85 seconds, the fastest officially recorded anchor leg.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Lewis competed at the 4th World Championships in Stuttgart in 1993, but finished fourth in the 100 m, and did not compete in the long jump. He did, however, earn his first World Championship medal in the 200 m, a bronze with his 19.99 s performance. That medal would prove to be his final Olympic or World Championship medal in a running event. Injuries kept Lewis largely sidelined for the next few years, then he made a comeback for the 1996 season.


title: Carl Lewis

text: In 1996, Lewis qualified for the Olympic team in the long jump for the fifth time, the first time an American man has done so. At the 1996 Olympics, injuries to world-record holder Mike Powell and the leading long-jumper in the world, Iván Pedroso, affected their performances. Lewis, on the other hand, was in good form. Though he did not match past performances, his third-round leap of won gold by over second-place finisher James Beckford of Jamaica. He became the third Olympian to win the same individual event four times, joining Danish sailor Paul Elvstrøm and American discus thrower Al Oerter; the three would be joined by American swimmer Michael Phelps in 2016. Lewis's nine gold medals also tie him for second on the list of multiple Olympic gold medalists with Paavo Nurmi, Larisa Latynina, and Mark Spitz behind Phelps.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Lewis' jump was also officially declared tied with Larry Myricks for the masters record for the 35–39 age group.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Controversy struck when, as "Track and Field News" put it, "Lewis' attitude in the whole relay hoo-hah a few days later served only to take the luster off his final gold." After Lewis's unexpected long jump gold, it was noted that he could become the athlete with the most Olympic gold medals if he entered the 4 × 100 m relay team. Any member of the American Olympic men's track and field team could be used, even if they had not qualified for the relay event. Lewis said, "If they asked me, I'd run it in a second. But they haven't asked me to run it." He further suggested on "Larry King Live" that viewers phone the United States Olympic Committee to weigh in on the situation. Lewis had skipped the mandatory relay training camp and demanded to run the anchor leg, which added to the debate. The final decision was to exclude Lewis from the team. Olympic team coach Erv Hunt said, "The basis of their [the relay team's] opinion was 'We want to run, we worked our butts off and we deserve to be here.'" The American relay team finished second behind Canada.


title: Carl Lewis

text: In 2003, Wade Exum, the United States Olympic Committee's director of drug control administration from 1991 to 2000, gave copies of documents to "Sports Illustrated" that revealed that some 100 American athletes failed drug tests from 1988 to 2000, arguing that they should have been prevented from competing in the Olympics but were nevertheless cleared to compete. Before showing the documents to "Sports Illustrated", Exum tried to use them in a lawsuit against USOC, accusing the organization of racial discrimination and wrongful termination against him and cover-up over the failed tests. His case was summarily dismissed by the Denver federal Court for lack of evidence. The USOC claimed his case "baseless" as he himself was the one in charge of screening the anti-doping test program of the organization and clarifying that the athletes were cleared according to the rules.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Lewis was among the named athletes and Exum's documents revealed that at the 1988 Olympics trials he had three positive results on a combined test for pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine. All were and are banned in sport due to their activity as stimulants, though at the time all three were available over-the-counter as dietary supplements or treatments for cold and allergy symptoms. The combined concentrations of these stimulants detected in the three successive tests were 2 ppm, 4 ppm and 6 ppm.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Lewis defended himself, claiming that he had accidentally consumed the banned substances. After the supplements that he had taken were analyzed to prove his claims, the USOC accepted his claim of inadvertent use, since a dietary supplement he ingested was found to contain "ma huang", the Chinese name for "Ephedra sinica", an ephedrine-bearing plant which was then marketed as a weight loss aid. Fellow Santa Monica Track Club teammates Joe DeLoach and Floyd Heard were also found to have the same banned stimulants in their systems, and were cleared to compete for the same reason.


title: Carl Lewis

text: The highest level of the stimulants Lewis recorded was 6 ppm, which was regarded as a positive test in 1988. Now it would be regarded as a negative test, the acceptable level has been raised to ten parts per million for ephedrine and twenty-five parts per million for other substances. According to the IOC rules at the time, positive tests with levels lower than 10 ppm were cause of further investigation but not immediate ban. Neal Benowitz, a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco who is an expert on ephedrine and other stimulants, agreed in 2003 that "These [levels] are what you'd see from someone taking cold or allergy medicines and are unlikely to have any effect on performance."


title: Carl Lewis

text: Following Exum's revelations the IAAF affirmed that at the 1988 Olympic Trials the USOC indeed followed the correct procedures in dealing with eight positive findings for ephedrine and ephedrine-related compounds in low concentration. The federation also reviewed in 1988 the relevant documents with the athletes' names undisclosed and stated that "the medical committee felt satisfied, however, on the basis of the information received that the cases had been properly concluded by the USOC as 'negative cases' in accordance with the rules and regulations in place at the time and no further action was taken".


title: Carl Lewis

text: "Carl did nothing wrong. There was never intent. He was never told 'you violated the rules'" said Martin D. Singer, Lewis's lawyer, who also said that Lewis had inadvertently taken the banned stimulants in an over-the-counter herbal remedy. In an April 2003 interview, Lewis agreed that he tested positive three times in 1988 but he was let off as that was the normal practice in those times. "The only thing I can say is I think it's unfortunate what Wade Exum is trying to do," said Lewis. "I don't know what people are trying to make out of nothing because everyone was treated the same, so what are we talking about? I don't get it."


title: Carl Lewis

text: In 1999, Lewis was voted "Sportsman of the Century" by the International Olympic Committee, elected "World Athlete of the Century" by the International Association of Athletics Federations and named "Olympian of the Century" by "Sports Illustrated". In 2000 his alma mater University of Houston named the Carl Lewis International Complex after him.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Lewis has appeared in numerous films and television productions. Among them, he played himself in cameos in "Perfect Strangers", "Speed Zone", "Alien Hunter" and "Material Girls". He made an appearance on "The Weakest Link". He also played Stu in the made-for-TV movie "Atomic Twister".


title: Carl Lewis

text: In 2011, Lewis appeared in the short documentary "Challenging Impossibility" which features the feats of strength demonstrated by the late spiritual teacher and peace advocate Sri Chinmoy.


title: Carl Lewis

text: On April 11, 2011, Lewis filed petitions to run as a Democrat for New Jersey Senate in the state's 8th legislative district in Burlington County. Two weeks later he was disqualified by Lieutenant Governor and secretary of state, Kim Guadagno, as he did not meet the state's requirement that Senate candidates live in New Jersey for four years. Lewis appealed his decision to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals; the court initially granted his appeal but a few days later the court reversed itself and Lewis withdrew his name.


title: Carl Lewis

text: Lewis became a vegan in 1990, during his late twenties, and has credited his outstanding 1991 results in part to his vegan diet. He has said that it is better suited to him because he can eat a larger quantity without affecting his athleticism, and he believes that switching to a vegan diet can lead to improved athletic performance.


title: Carl Lewis

text: At a 2019 Pan American Games news conference, and in the aftermath of the deadly El Paso and Dayton shootings, Lewis called then-U.S. President Donald Trump "a racist who is prejudiced, misogynistic, who doesn't value anyone outside of himself".


title: Jennifer O'Neill

text: Jennifer O'Neill (born February 20, 1948) is a Brazilian-born American actress, model, author, and activist. She is known for her modeling and spokesperson work for CoverGirl cosmetics starting in 1963, and her starring role in the Oscar-winning 1971 film "Summer of '42."


title: Jennifer O'Neill

text: She also starred in the Howard Hawks western "Rio Lobo" (1970), and worked in Italian cinema, such as Lucio Fulci's famous giallo horror film "Sette note in nero" and Luchino Visconti's final film "The Innocent" (1976). She starred in the cult horror film "Scanners" (1981), the Rachel Scott biopic "I'm Not Ashamed" (2016), and the short-lived television series "Cover Up" (1984–85). Since the 1990s, O'Neill has been a born-again Christian and active in the pro-life movement, and worked as a motivational speaker.


title: Jennifer O'Neill

text: O'Neill was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her mother was English and her father was a Brazilian of Portuguese, Spanish and Irish ancestry. She and her older brother Michael were raised in New Rochelle, New York, and Wilton, Connecticut. When she was 14, the family moved to New York City. On Easter Sunday, 1962, O'Neill attempted suicide because the move would separate her from her dog Mandy and horse Monty — "her whole world". That same year, she was discovered by the Ford modeling agency. By age 15, while attending the prestigious Dalton School in Manhattan, she was appearing on the covers of "Vogue", "Cosmopolitan", and "Seventeen", earning $80,000 ($ today)


title: Jennifer O'Neill

text: An accomplished equestrienne, O'Neill won upwards of 200 ribbons at horse show competitions in her teens. With her modelling fees, she had purchased a horse, named Alezon. However, it once balked before a wall at a horse show, throwing her, and breaking her neck and back in three places. She attended New York City's Professional Children's School and the Dalton School in Manhattan, but dropped out to wed her first husband, IBM executive Dean Rossiter, at age 17.


title: Jennifer O'Neill

text: In 1968 O'Neill landed a small role in "For Love of Ivy". In 1970 she played her first lead role in the Howard Hawks film "Rio Lobo" with her co-star John Wayne.


title: Jennifer O'Neill

text: In the 1971 film "Summer of '42", O'Neill played Dorothy Walker, the early-20s wife of an airman who has gone off to fight in World War II. She stated in a 2002 interview that her agent had to fight to even get a reading for the part, since the role had been cast for an "older woman" to a "coming of age" 15-year-old boy, and the director was only considering actresses over the age of thirty.


title: Jennifer O'Neill

text: In 1972, she co-starred with Tom Jones in David Winters's television special "The Special London Bridge Special".


title: Jennifer O'Neill

text: O'Neill continued acting for the next two decades. She appeared in Hollywood feature films, made-for-television films, and European films,


title: Jennifer O'Neill

text: She was originally cast in the Disney film "The Black Hole" (1979), but was told she needed to cut her hair because it would be easier to film the zero-G scenes. She gave in, drinking wine during the haircut and leaving noticeably impaired. She lost the part after a serious car crash on the way home.


title: Jennifer O'Neill

text: When her movie career slowed, O'Neill took roles in series television. She starred in NBC's short-lived 1982 prime time soap opera "Bare Essence" and played the lead female role on the 1984 television series "Cover Up". On October 12, 1984, Jon-Erik Hexum, O'Neill's co-star in the "Cover Up" television series, mortally wounded himself on the show's set, unaware that a gun loaded with a blank cartridge could still cause extreme damage from the effect of expanding powder gases. He died six days later.


title: Jennifer O'Neill

text: O'Neill is listed in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History's Center for Advertising History for her long-standing contract with CoverGirl cosmetics as its model and spokesperson in ads and television commercials.


title: Jennifer O'Neill

text: In 2004, O'Neill wrote and published "From Fallen to Forgiven", a book of biographical notes and thoughts about life and existence. O'Neill recounted how she underwent an abortion while dating a Wall Street socialite after the divorce from her first husband. Her regrets over the experience contributed to her becoming an anti-abortion-rights activist and a born-again Christian in 1986 at age 38. She also began counseling abstinence to teens. Concerning her abortion, she writes:


title: Jennifer O'Neill

text: O'Neill continues to be active as a writer working on her second autobiography, "CoverStory", an inspirational speaker, and fundraiser for the benefit of crisis pregnancy centers across the United States. She has also served as the spokesperson for the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, an organization for people who regret that they or their partners had abortions.


title: Jennifer O'Neill

text: O'Neill has been married nine times to eight husbands (she married, divorced, and remarried her sixth husband Richard Alan Brown). She has three children from three husbands.


title: Jennifer O'Neill

text: On October 23, 1982, O'Neill suffered a gunshot wound in her home on McClain Street in Bedford, New York. Police officers who interviewed O'Neill determined that she had accidentally shot herself in the abdomen with a .38 caliber revolver at her 30-acre, 25-room French-style estate while trying to determine if the weapon was loaded. Her husband at the time, John Lederer, was not in the house when the handgun was discharged, but two other people were in the house. Detective Sgt. Thomas Rothwell was quoted as having said that O'Neill "didn't know much about guns."


title: Jennifer O'Neill

text: In her 1999 autobiography "Surviving Myself", O'Neill describes many of her life experiences, including her marriages, career, and her move to her Tennessee farm in the late 1990s. She has said that she wrote the autobiography (her first book) "... at the prompting of her children."


title: Bad Moms

text: Bad Moms is a 2016 American comedy film directed and written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. The film stars an ensemble cast that includes Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Jay Hernandez, Annie Mumolo, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Christina Applegate.


title: Bad Moms

text: Principal photography began on January 11, 2016, in New Orleans. The film premiered on July 19, 2016, in New York City and was theatrically released on July 29, 2016, by STX Entertainment. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed over $183 million worldwide, becoming the first film from STX to gross $100 million domestically.


title: Bad Moms

text: Amy Mitchell is a 32-year-old woman who is married and is living in the Chicago suburbs with her kids, Jane and Dylan, overworked and overcommitted. She is a sales rep for a coffee company, prepares healthful lunches for her children, does their homework, goes to all of their extracurricular activities, and is active in the PTA, run by the domineering Gwendolyn James and her cronies, Stacy and Vicky.


title: Bad Moms

text: When Amy catches her husband Mike cheating on her with a camgirl, she kicks him out and attempts to keep everything together. After a particularly stressful day, Amy publicly quits the PTA due to Gwendolyn's overzealous bake sale. At a nearby bar, she meets Carla, a laid-back, sexually active single mom, and Kiki, a stay-at-home mom of four who admires Amy's dissent. Amy and Carla are irritated to see that Kiki's husband is domineering, expecting her to take care of all the kids and the house without help, while Amy and Kiki are taken aback by Carla's very hands-off approach to parenting.


title: Bad Moms

text: The trio embark on an all-night bender, inspiring Amy to loosen up with her kids: she takes them for rides in Mike's sportscar, gets them lunch from Arby's, forces Dylan to fend himself to prevent being lazy and entitled, and takes the overachieving and constantly stressed Jane for a spa day. Amy herself wants to start dating again but is inexperienced as she had a shotgun marriage at 20. She ultimately strikes up a conversation with Jessie a handsome widower at the school who's had a crush on her, leading to them kissing.


title: Bad Moms

text: When Amy brings store-bought donut holes to the bake sale, she draws the ire of Gwendolyn, who uses her PTA authority to get Jane benched from the soccer team. Angered, Amy decides to run for PTA president against her. A meet-and-greet at Amy's draws only one visitor, who tells them Gwendolyn has launched a rival party at her own house, catered by Martha Stewart. In spite of this, the other moms, and Martha, swiftly abandon Gwendolyn's party when it becomes clear that she intends to lecture them all evening, leading to a successful party at Amy's house. Afterwards it is revealed that Carla had “booty texted” Jessie from Amy’s phone. After explaining she hadn't sent it, he asks Amy if she wants him to leave, which she doesn't, prompting them to sleep together.


title: Bad Moms

text: Meanwhile, Gwendolyn responds to Amy’s antics by putting joints in Jane's locker, framing her and getting her kicked out of all extracurricular activities. Not only do Jane and Dylan both go to stay with Mike, who has agreed to an amicable divorce, but Amy loses her job because she's taken too much time off.


title: Bad Moms

text: A despondent Amy stays home during the PTA election but is fired up by Carla and Kiki (who finally stands up to her husband, ordering him to deal with everything alone until after the election). At the event, Amy gives an inspiring speech about how overworked moms need to take time off, do fewer and less stressful events, and most importantly, allow themselves to make mistakes. She wins by a landslide and winds up comforting a devastated Gwendolyn, who reveals her life is not perfect as she claimed it to be.


title: Bad Moms

text: Weeks later, Amy's approach has led to positive changes: Jane has been reinstated to the soccer team and is stressing out less, Dylan is applying himself, Kiki makes her husband help out with the kids, Carla is more responsible and hands-on, Gwendolyn is kinder with everyone, and all of the other moms are feeling more energized. Amy herself has gotten her job back with much better compensation after her boss sees how much he had taken her for granted, and she continues to see Jessie. Gwendolyn invites Amy, Carla, and Kiki for a day of fun on her husband's private jet.


title: Bad Moms

text: On April 30, 2015, it was announced that Jon Lucas and Scott Moore were set to direct an untitled female-led comedy, based on their own original script. Bill Block of Block Entertainment and Raj Brinder Singh of Merced Media Partners would produce the film, along with Judd Apatow and Josh Church through Apatow Productions, while Merced Media financing the film. Leslie Mann was set to star in the lead role. This was Bill Block's first film produced through Block Entertainment after leaving QED International. Paramount Pictures acquired the film's distribution rights on May 8, 2015. The film was sold to different international distributors at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. On June 1, 2015, Mann and Apatow exited the film because of scheduling conflicts. On October 26, 2015, it was reported that Paramount had left the project, with STX Entertainment coming on board to handle the American distribution. Mila Kunis, Christina Applegate, and Kristen Bell joined the film, starring in its lead roles, while Suzanne Todd produced the film along with Block. On January 11, 2016, Jada Pinkett Smith and Kathryn Hahn joined the film, with Smith playing Applegate's blunt best friend, and Hahn also playing a mother. It was later revealed that Oona Laurence had also joined the cast.


title: Bad Moms

text: Principal photography on the film began on January 11, 2016 in New Orleans and concluded on March 1, 2016.


title: Bad Moms

text: In May 2015, Paramount set the film's release date for April 15, 2016, but later, in July 2015, the studio moved the film out to a new unspecified release date. STX Entertainment later bought the distribution rights to the film and scheduled for August 19, 2016, before eventually releasing it on July 29, 2016, swapping release dates with "The Space Between Us".


title: Bad Moms

text: "Bad Moms" grossed $113.2 million in the United States and Canada and $70.7 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $183.9 million, against a budget of $20 million.


title: Bad Moms

text: "Bad Moms" was released in the United States and Canada on July 29, 2016, alongside "Jason Bourne" and "Nerve", and was projected to gross around $25 million in its opening weekend, from 3,215 theaters. It grossed $2.1 million from Thursday night previews. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $23.8 million, finishing 3rd at the box office. On September 3, the film crossed $100 million domestically, becoming STX Entertainment's first film to do so. "Deadline Hollywood" calculated the net profit of the film to be $50.8 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues.


title: Bad Moms

text: "Bad Moms" was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 1, 2016 by Universal Studios Home Entertainment.


title: Bad Moms

text: "Bad Moms" received mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 58% based on 172 reviews with an average rating of 5.60/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""Bad Moms" boasts a terrific cast and a welcome twist on domestic comedy – and they're often enough to compensate for the movie's unfortunate inability to take full advantage of its assets." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 60 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Bad Moms

text: "IGN" gave the film 7/10, saying, "[t]he uneven "Bad Moms" is an entry in the slobs versus snobs genre that never quite realizes its full comedic potential." Chris Nashawaty of "Entertainment Weekly" gave it an A−, writing: "beneath all of its hard-R partying, rebellious debauchery, and profanity, it taps into something very real and insidious in the zeitgeist. It's one of the funniest movies of the year-and one of the most necessary." Peter Travers and Kyle Smith both gave 2½ stars out of 4, with Travers saying: "the movie cops out by going soft in the end, but it's still hardcore hilarity for stressed moms looking for a girls night out", and Smith saying: ""Bad Moms" is like "Sex and the City: The Sneakers-and-Minivan Years," a good-natured girl-power comedy that balances a bland sitcom structure with some weird and hilarious moments."


title: Bad Moms

text: "The A.V. Club"s Jesse Hassenger opined that "Bad Moms" "sells its characters' struggle short by shuffling their kids off screen whenever it's convenient, and not even in the name of comical neglect; there always seems to be time and money to get a sitter. ... [This] at times turns the movie into a referendum on unhelpful husbands of well-off moms, rather than the absurdities of Perfect Mom culture." Lindsey Bahr of the Associated Press wrote, ""Bad Moms" had so many opportunities to be great, edgy and insightful, but instead settles for the most milquetoast commentary possible on modern motherhood."


title: Bad Moms

text: For the 43rd People's Choice Awards, held January 18, 2017, the film achieved accolades by winning the "Favorite Comedy Movie" and also garnered a nomination for Kristen Bell for "Favorite Comedic Movie Actress".


title: Bad Moms

text: Directors of the first film, Lucas and Moore, have stated that they may get involved with the previously announced spin-off, but that their current focus is to make a sequel to "Bad Moms". On December 23, 2016, it was announced that "A Bad Moms Christmas" would be released on November 1, 2017, and that it would be holiday themed, with Bell, Hahn, and Kunis all returning to reprise their roles. On May 2, 2017, Susan Sarandon, Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines, and Peter Gallagher joined the cast of the film.


title: Bad Moms

text: In October 2016, STX Entertainment announced a spin-off film titled "Bad Dads" and set a release date for July 14, 2017. However, by December 2020, the film seems to have been delayed with a new release date not set.


title: Bad Moms

text: In April 2019, it was announced that Susan Sarandon, Christine Baranski and Cheryl Hines had signed up to appear in a sequel to be called "Bad Moms' Moms".


title: Bad Moms

text: In February 2018, it was reported that Fox is developing an unscripted reality TV series which would take the films' premise of imperfect parents and shift the focus to real-life moms. The series will be co-produced by Fox Alternative Entertainment and STX Television.


title: Clarence Gilyard

text: Clarence Alfred Gilyard Jr. (December 24, 1955 – November 28, 2022) was an American university professor, actor, and author. As a performer, he appeared in film, television, and stage productions; some sources give his middle name as Alfred.


title: Clarence Gilyard

text: Gilyard was known for his roles as second private investigator and right-hand man Conrad McMasters to Ben Matlock (played by Andy Griffith) on the legal drama series "Matlock "from 1989 to 1993; Pastor Bruce Barnes in the first two "Left Behind" movies; Cordell Walker's (played by Chuck Norris) Texas Ranger partner, James "Jimmy" Trivette, in the 1990s crime drama "Walker, Texas Ranger"; Theo, the terrorist computer expert in "Die Hard"; and Lieutenant (junior grade) Evan "Sundown" Gough in "Top Gun".


title: Clarence Gilyard

text: Gilyard was born into a military family in Moses Lake, Washington, on Christmas Eve, in 1955, the son of Barbara and Clarence Alfred Gilyard Sr., a U.S. Air Force officer. Gilyard was the second of six children. His family was originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, but Gilyard grew up on Air Force bases in Hawaii, Texas, and Florida. Raised primarily as a Lutheran, he became Catholic in the 1990s.


title: Clarence Gilyard

text: During his young adulthood, Gilyard lived in the San Bernardino suburb of Rialto, California, and attended Eisenhower High School. He was an excellent student, graduating in 1974, and afterward spent a year as an Air Force Academy cadet before leaving the service to attend Sterling College. In college, he played football, and became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. He also received a tennis scholarship, but dropped out of school before completing his studies.


title: Clarence Gilyard

text: While living with his parents in high school, Gilyard was preoccupied with women, alcohol, and occasionally, drugs. His parents urged him to move out, so he relocated to Long Beach, California, with a friend. He attended California State University, Long Beach, majoring in acting, and worked as a waiter while seeking acting opportunities. He completed his bachelor's degree at California State University, Dominguez Hills.


title: Clarence Gilyard

text: Gilyard worked with a housemate at a clothing store, where he was promoted to manager. He left this to work briefly selling industrial chemicals. In 2003, Gilyard returned to school, receiving a master of fine arts in theatre performance at Southern Methodist University.


title: Clarence Gilyard

text: In 1979, Gilyard moved to Los Angeles to become an actor. Among other work, a role in the play "Bleacher Bums" made him what one magazine called "the first black actor to play a cheerleader", before he segued into television roles. As a character actor, Gilyard made guest appearances on TV shows such as "Diff'rent Strokes", "The Facts of Life", "227", "Simon & Simon", and "Riptide". In 1982–1983, Gilyard was cast in the final season of the NBC TV series "CHiPs" as Officer Benjamin Webster, opposite Erik Estrada. He co-starred with Jim Carrey in the 1984 NBC sitcom "The Duck Factory". He appeared in a commercial for McDonald's in 1987.


title: Clarence Gilyard

text: Gilyard's movie debut in 1986 was as an F-14 Tomcat radar intercept officer, LT.(JG) Marcus "Sundown" Williams, in "Top Gun". He was also a military man in the 1986 film "The Karate Kid Part II". He appeared in the 1988 action film "Die Hard" as Theo, a criminal computer expert. He also appeared as Reverend Bruce Barnes in "" and its sequel, "".


title: Clarence Gilyard

text: Gilyard played the role of Ben Matlock's private investigator, Conrad McMasters, on "Matlock" opposite Andy Griffith from 1989 to 1993. He replaced Kene Holliday, who was fired for his dependency on drugs and alcohol. Gilyard appeared in almost every "Matlock" episode starting in season 3 of the show. When the show moved from NBC to ABC for the series' seventh season, production moved from Los Angeles to Wilmington, North Carolina. Andy Griffith suggested to Gilyard that he move there, too, which he did, before departing to work on a pilot for another series at CBS the following year.


title: Clarence Gilyard

text: In 1993, he began another long-time co-starring role opposite Chuck Norris on "Walker, Texas Ranger". Gilyard portrayed fellow Texas Ranger and best friend of Walker, James "Jimmy" Trivette. Gilyard had a cameo appearance in the 2005 television movie, "Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire".


title: Clarence Gilyard

text: In 2012, after taking time off to teach, Gilyard began appearing onscreen again, mostly in independent projects. In 2014, he appeared in the religious film "A Matter of Faith".


title: Clarence Gilyard

text: On January 17, 2016, Gilyard performed the role of Hoak Colburn onstage at the University of New Mexico's Popejoy Hall in the Neil Simon Festival's "Driving Miss Daisy", opposite his former "Walker, Texas Ranger" co-star, Sheree J. Wilson.


title: Clarence Gilyard

text: In the 2018 edition of the football video game "Madden NFL", Gilyard plays high school coach Devin Wade in the "Longshot" section of the game. Two years later, Gilyard reprised his role as criminal gang member Theo from "Die Hard", alongside star Bruce Willis, in a commercial for Advance Auto Parts' DieHard brand of car batteries.


title: Clarence Gilyard

text: In 2006 Gilyard took a break from acting and became an associate professor in the College of Fine Arts – Department of Theatre at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he taught stage and screen acting. He continued to teach for many years. Following his death, the school's film chair said "Professor Gilyard was a beacon of light and strength for everyone around at UNLV".


title: Clarence Gilyard

text: Gilyard was married twice and had six children. His first marriage, to Catherine Dutko in 1989, ended in divorce, and he married his second wife, Elena Castillo, in 2001. He served as the consultant of the communications committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.


title: Clarence Gilyard

text: After a long illness, Gilyard died at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 28, 2022, at the age of 66.


title: Transgender people in sports

text: The participation of transgender people in competitive sports, a traditionally sex-segregated institution, is a controversial issue, particularly the inclusion of transgender women and girls in women's sports.


title: Transgender people in sports

text: Opponents argue that transgender women have an unfair advantage over, and may endanger, cisgender women in competitive sports due to sex differences in human physiology, and that these differences are not sufficiently reversed by transgender hormone therapies. Supporters of transgender athletes argue that medically prescribed puberty blockers and estrogen suppresses testosterone levels and reduces muscle mass of transgender women, reducing possible competitive advantages. Supporters also argue that sport, particularly youth sports, is also about belonging, well-being, and socialization of young people. The American Medical Association states that legislation barring trans women from women's sports harms the mental health of transgender people.


title: Transgender people in sports

text: The controversy has caused debates regarding sex verification in sports. Since the mid-twentieth century, sports institutions have responded to the participation of transgender women, and women suspected to be transgender, male, or intersex, by adding eligibility requirements to women's sports variously determined by physical examination, sex chromosomes, and sex hormones. Proponents of such regulations regard them as necessary to ensure fair competition and women's safety. Opponents have criticized such regulations as discriminatory against transgender and intersex women, disproportionately affecting women of color, and as causing violations of medical ethics.


title: Transgender people in sports

text: Since the late 2010s and early 2020s, some U.S. states have passed legislation restricting the participation of transgender youth in high school sports, or of trans women and girls in women's sports.


title: Transgender people in sports

text: Historically, sport has been seen as a male domain. The masculine perception of sport was first moderated with the rise of women's sports and further challenged with the gradual acceptance of gay sportsmen. A third departure from tradition occurred with the emergence of trans athletes, many of whom challenge the culturally accepted binary gender norms of male and female.


title: Transgender people in sports

text: One of the earliest high-profile transgender athlete was tennis player Renée Richards. Already a promising tennis player in the men's circuit, Richards underwent gender reassignment therapy in 1975 and started playing in women's tournaments a year later. Her discovery and the resulting media frenzy sparked protests. After she accepted an invitation to a warm-up tournament for the US Open, the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and the United States Tennis Association (USTA) withdrew their support and 25 of the 32 women pulled out of the tournament.


title: Transgender people in sports

text: As a result the USTA and WTA introduced the Barr body test, which identifies a person's sex chromosomes. Richards refused to take the test and was banned from the US Open. She filed a lawsuit in 1977 claiming that her civil rights were violated and that the policy was unfair. The New York Supreme Court ruled in her favor, saying that the Barr body test as the sole determinant of sex was "grossly unfair" and ruled Richards legally female. She then competed in the 1977 US Open at the age of 43, reaching the doubles final; she retired four years later. At the time, the ruling in Richards's case did not lead to major changes outside of tennis.


title: Transgender people in sports

text: In 2003, a committee convened by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Medical Commission drew up new guidelines for participation of athletes who had undergone gender reassignment. The report listed three conditions for participation. First, athletes must have undergone sex reassignment surgery, including changes in the external genitalia and gonadectomy. Second, athletes must show legal recognition of their gender. Third, athletes must have undergone hormone therapy for an appropriate time before participation, with two years being the suggested time.


title: Transgender people in sports

text: In 2015, the IOC modified these guidelines in recognition that legal recognition of gender could be difficult in countries where gender transition is not legal, and that requiring surgery in otherwise healthy individuals "may be inconsistent with developing legislation and notions of human rights". The new guidelines require only that trans woman athletes declare their gender and not change that assertion for four years, as well as demonstrate a testosterone level of less than 10 nanomoles per liter for at least one year prior to competition and throughout the period of eligibility. Athletes who transitioned from female to male were allowed to compete without restriction. These guidelines were in effect for the 2016 Rio Olympics, although no openly transgender athletes competed.


title: Transgender people in sports

text: In 2021, the IOC approved Laurel Hubbard, a trans woman, to compete in the 2020 Summer Olympics in weightlifting. Hubbard became the first out trans woman to compete at the Olympics; she did not complete her lifts and won no medals. Katelyn Burns, an MSNBC Opinion Columnist, suggested Hubbard's performance demonstrates that transgender athletes do not always win. Hubbard competed with the support of her fellow Olympian competitors. Australian weightlifter Charisma Amoe-Tarrant said "I have so much respect for her and wish her and the other lifters the best and hope we can all come together and enjoy the Olympics, because this Olympics right now is quite different compared to others. I’ve competed with her previously and always had good chats with her, I just wish her well."


title: Transgender people in sports

text: On 21 July 2021, at the same Games, Canadian non-binary soccer player Quinn became the first transgender person to compete at the Olympics, playing for the Canadian women's soccer team. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, they became the first out, transgender Olympian to medal and win a gold medal. Alana Smith, a non-binary skateboarder, represented the United States in the women's skateboarding semifinals of the 2020 Summer Olympics.


title: Transgender people in sports

text: In November 2021 the IOC issued a non-legally binding framework that focuses on ten principles of inclusion: "prevention of harm, non-discrimination, fairness, no presumption of advantage, evidence-based approach, primacy of health and bodily autonomy, stakeholder-centered approach, right to privacy and periodic reviews". The new guidelines have been described as loosening rules that impede transgender and intersex athlete's participation in Olympic sports, with enforcement of sport-specific rules governing inclusion.


title: Transgender people in sports

text: On February 18, 2022, Timothy LeDuc became the first openly non-binary athlete to compete in a Winter Olympics in Beijing. They competed in pairs figure skating alongside their skating partner Ashley Cain-Gribble for Team USA.


title: Transgender people in sports

text: In October 2019, World Athletics changed the testosterone limit for transgender competitors, setting it at 5 nmol/L, from the previous 10 nmol/L, in order to bring it in line with the DSD (intersex) regulations. According to regulations from October 2019, in order for a trans woman to compete in the women's category: "3.2.1 she must provide a written and signed declaration, in a form satisfactory to the Medical Manager, that her gender identity is female; 3.2.2 she must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Expert Panel (on the balance of probabilities), in accordance with clause 4, that the concentration of testosterone in her serum has been less than 5 nmol/L continuously for a period of at least 12 months; and 3.2.3 she must keep her serum testosterone concentration below 5 nmol/L for so long as she wishes to maintain her eligibility to compete in the female category of competition." World Athletics also has rules for intersex/differences of sex development (DSD) athletes. DSD athletes will be subjected to specific rules if they have XY male chromosomes, testes rather than ovaries, have circulating testosterone within the typical male range (7.7 to 29.4 nmol/L), and are androgen-sensitive so that their body makes use of that testosterone. World Athletics requires that any such athlete must reduce their blood testosterone level to 5 nmol/L or lower for a six-month period before becoming eligible for track running events from 400 metres to the mile run in international competition, though World Athletics publicly remains open to extending this to other events based on new scientific study. World Athletics created these rules as a way to ensure fair competition in the women's category.


title: Transgender people in sports

text: In 1996, the Iron Ladies, a men's volleyball team made up of gay men and transgender women from Thailand, won the national championship. The Iron Ladies were not allowed to join Thailand's national volleyball team because of the way they dressed.