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Quirk writes "National Geographic has an interesting article connecting the Olympics of ancient Greece with the modern principles of physics. The ancient Greeks used hand weights called halteres held in each hand when attempting the Olympic contest of the standing long-jump. The idea of hand held weights in the long-jump might at first seem counterintuitive but the idea is scientifically sound and was supposedly first fairly accurately explained by no less a person than Aristotle, the father of syllogistic logic."
Didn't Aristotle also posit that light comes from within the eye? IIRC, it was based in part on interviews with guys who had received a sword to the head (opening an eyeball) who reported a bright flash of light at the point of impact, and darkness thereafter.
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When I studied the archeology of the period, we were told that the distances achieved by Greek (standing) long jumpers could not be achieved by (presumably better nourished, better trained) athletes today.
:^).
Everybody assumed it was because of the halteres, but nobody could manage to figure out the technique by trial and error (at least when I was in school, shortly before the extinction of the dinosaurs).
If this works, we should definitely re-introduce it to the games. Obviously it requires athletic skill, but it doesn't require expensive accoutrements like luges, luge tracks, skis, carbon-fiber poles, etc. etc. etc... just a couple of rocks. Let's have a contest that doesn't favor the rich nations quite so much. That way we can be prouder of winning it
Aristotle also believed men were smarter than women because they had more teeth. He never bothered to check if men actually have more teeth than women, though. Use Aristotle in your appeals to authority sparingly.