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Editorial
opportunity Politics
mixed with games run-up Gold rush Parallel
plays
Away from the often petty and violent politics
is another world — of sports. As the world gears up for the London
Olympics, we too have tried to fix our gaze that way; and not just because
we have a Pakistani squad as part of the sporting events. Of course, there
are fond memories — nostalgia of the gold and the silver and the bronzes
we have won in the past decades mostly in hockey but in boxing and wrestling
too — and then there are hopes. This is the best thing about sports — the hopes. The
hopeful countrymen and women are taken by surprise whenever there’s a
sudden success. As for the players, they attribute it to their sheer hard
work and rightly so. This then is the spirit in which Olympic Games took
shape. As Sarwat Ali reminds us in his incisive analysis, “The term
‘level playing field’ came into usage as the great differences in the
world manifest in the rich and poor nations; the strong and weak countries
were theoretically put at par on the tracks and fields of the Olympic
Games”. He reminds us how the Olympics helped the African athletes stand
proud before the whole world by dint of sheer talent. We in Pakistan
remember the feeling quite well because we had some achievements too that
did the players and the country proud. Sports, indeed, is a great equalizer. But to say that it
helps keep the politics away would be an understatement. That may have been
the spirit behind the Olympics — sports as a replacement of wars — but
hard politics did affect many of the Olympics in the twentieth century; it
still does. There have been boycotts of Olympics on political grounds and
actual terrorist attacks have taken place. Terrorism, in fact, has come back
to haunt the recent events and the security concerns are quite palpable even
in London. Yet, the creative frenzy in London is unmatched. There
is a cultural bonanza around the Olympics with art, theatre, dance, music,
poetry coming alive because as Moira Sinclair, the executive director of the
Arts Council, England said “we want to convey the sense that the Olympics
is over, but the arts aren’t.” Over to the arena now.
opportunity Sports is war by other means. If the competing
attributes in war are armaments and strategy, in a stadium it is the
harnessed prowess of a proportionate human body. The Olympic was a pageant of the well-formed and
well-groomed young males competing with other males, young,
well-proportioned and strong for trophies in the shape of laurels rather
than the severed heads of vanquished enemies. It was homage to the beauty of
the human body as it was to the unwavering quest to compete and win. So, the modern Olympics revived in 1896 under the
luminous shadow of the ancient ones retaining the same spirit of males
competing for track and field events outscoring and outmanoeuvring the other
equally groomed young males from different countries. It was also the ideal
of the ensuing 20th century, the dawn of a better future riding on the back
of great scientific inventions. The term ‘level playing field’ came into usage as
the great differences in the world manifest in the rich and poor nations;
the strong and weak countries were theoretically put at par on the tracks
and fields of the Olympic Games. The same sized five circles of the Olympic insignia
represented equal opportunities for the five continents. The dream of a better world was shattered by the world
wars but the hope survived in the continuation of the games. Some of the
pieces were put together in the League of Nations to again totally fall
apart and the ideal was resurrected in a United Nations reflective of the
international power relationship on ground — but more equitable in
humanitarian work. Some glimpses of the original dream could be seen in
bodies like UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO, UNHCR and so on. But the Olympics remained the biggest assembly of
sportsmen, the biggest congregation enlisting the highest number of games. Compared to more specialised sporting events like soccer
or tennis, it involves so many with the demand to include even more, indeed
all the sports that mankind has invented over the centuries. On the opening ceremony, the contingents of more than a
hundred countries march in their national dresses. These may be small or
large it signifies a diversity that characterises our world. Against the backdrop of opportunity facilitated by the
rich and the powerful, athletes compete for medals — athletes from tiny
countries in the Caribbean like Jamaica outrun properly trained athletes
from the United States, marathon runners from the starving lands of Ethiopia
raise eyebrows when they outpace those trained by coaches with million of
dollars spent, and those middle distance marvels from Morocco and Kenya
without any formal training and investment capitalize on sheer human spirit
and ability. Their national standards are raised as they stand on the
victory podium amidst the sound of their national anthems. There would be
few opportunities to listen to the national anthem of Kenya, or Tunisia or
Jamaica other than at the Olympic Stadia every four years. This is what makes Olympics a worthwhile trillion dollar
extravaganza. It belied many myths and received truths on which
nations built their invincible castles of self-righteousness. The
universality of the superiority of the Aryan race was quashed by Jessi Owens
winning medals after medals at the Berlin Olympics and forcing Hitler to
leave in huffed embarrassment before the medal awarding ceremony, or the
colonised Indians demonstrating absolute wizardly with the hockey sticks to
score goals at will as if no opposition existed — the same Indians who
played barefoot on dry and uneven fields looking miserably undernourished. And could women be left far behind. The ancient Olympics began as an annual foot race of
young women in competition for the position of the priestess for the
goddess, Hera while a second race was instituted for a consort for the
priestess who would participate in the religious traditions at the temple.
If the ancient Olympic was a pageant for those starving to see and behold
the athletic nudity of youthful male bodies in their prime, the modern
Olympics opened the gates of its arena fully for women. There was a place
for them in sports – utter poise in gymnastics, a cross between dance and
athletics, the sheer gracefulness of diving in the swimming pool and the
elegance of running flawlessly to the finishing line. It is a spectacle
designed to please the eye as it is meant to satisfy the craving for
competing and winning. Winning just one medal at the Olympics was like blowing
the bugle of conquering the entire sporting world. For years in the1950s,
1960s, 1970s and 1980s that one medal outweighed the scores that other
countries won — and placed Pakistanis on an equal footing in the comity of
Olympic nations. The differences of race, colour, ethnicity and nationality
were subordinated to sheer ability, individual prowess and the desire to
win. And many won against all odds, keeping alive the hopes of many more. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, one of the founders of the
modern Olympics, wanted to imitate the ancient Olympics in every way.
Artistic expression was a major part of the games. Sculptors, poets and
other artisans would come to the games to display their works in what became
an artistic competition. Sculptors created works like Discus Thrower. Their
aim was to highlight natural human movement and the shape of muscles and the
body. Poets would be commissioned to write prose in honour of the Olympic
victors. These poems, known as Epinicians, were passed on from generation to
generation and many of them have lasted far longer than any other honour
made for the same purpose. Despite all the advances and theoretically niceties, war
has remained the final arbiter of things. When argument ends violence
erupts, and the primal instinct overpowers good intentions. The competitions
like the Olympics keep alive the hope and a light the flame that power and
strength can also be measured in running, shot putting, high jumping and
pole vaulting than on the seas of the Aegean or the battlefields of
Krukeshetra.
Politics
mixed with games How many times have we heard the statement:
“Don’t mix politics with games”, and the Fundamental Principles of
Olympism terms “Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a
person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is
incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.” Sounds
politically-correct but aren’t the player-kits, the national anthems, the
national flags adorning the Olympic field all part of politics? Often sport is used as a tool of diplomacy. Like it or
not, a glance down the Olympic history lane shows that politics have often
affected Olympic. Facing the aftermath of wars, global alliances, national
boycotts, policy protests, acts of terrorism and now world recession, there
has never been a politically-dull Olympiad. In early 1932, the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
at a meeting in Barcelona granted Germany the right to host the 1936
Olympics, which gave Germany a chance to restore its athletic credentials
since the breakout of World War I. Despite the world’s outcries to boycott
the Olympics or to change the venue, the IOC stuck to its position — they
had settled the venue before the Nazi’s Third Reich came to power. The 1936 Berlin games provided Adolf Hitler a platform
to promote his political theory of racial superiority. However, the
African-American Jesse Owens, by winning four gold medals, became the star
of the Olympics. It is one of the most-mentioned events in Olympic
history when Owens’ German rival, long jumper Luz Long, publicly embraced
Owens in front of Hitler. In WWII, Long was killed but Owens always remained
in contact with his family. After WWII, the 1948 London Olympics became overtly
political. The participation was based on pure political lines; because of
their war roles Germany and Japan were ignored in London and the USSR
boycotted. Shrouded with Cold War apprehensions, the 1952 Helsinki
Games in Finland had the USSR return to Olympics after 40 years. West
Germany participated for the first time. Sceptical of its players’ security, the plan was to
house the athletes in Leningrad but later even the Olympic village was
divided on political lines. Eastern bloc countries set up their own Olympic
Village in Otaniemi, near the Soviet naval base at Porkkala. The idea of
East vs West dominated the Helsinki games. Moving from northern Europe to Melbourne, south-eastern
Australia, the 1956 Olympics was affected by three protests — China
withdrew after IOC recognised Taiwan; Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland
withdrew because of the events in Hungary; and Iraq and Lebanon withdrew
because of the conflict in Suez. The Rome Games of 1960 ended the South African
participation in Olympics. Marathon-runner Abebe Bikila became the
first-ever black African Olympic champion. In 1964, Tokyo became the first Asian country to host
Olympics. In order to flaunt its post-war infrastructure, the government
spent $3bn on rebuilding. Epitomizing Japan’s postwar reconstruction,
Yoshinori Sakai born on August 6, 1945 (day of the atomic bombing of
Hiroshima) was chosen as the Olympic torchbearer. Shook by the Vietnam war, assassinations of Martin
Luther King and Robert Kennedy and the USSR invasion of Czechoslovakia and
student protests was a prelude to the 1968 Mexico Olympics. And East Germany
participated for the first time. Who can forget Tommie Smith and John
Carlos’ Black Power salute during the national anthem protesting against
racism in the US. Aimed at representing peace the 1972 Munich Olympics are
today remembered for the terrorist attack that killed 11 Israeli athletes
when eight members of Black September broke into the Olympic Village and
demanded the release of 200 prisoners. 30 African countries boycotted the 1976 Montreal
Olympics after the IOC allowed New Zealand to take part. Kiwis’ rugby team
played with racial-outcasts South Africa who were banned since 1964. Taiwan
backed out when China forced the hosts to keep Taiwan out. The US-led alliance of more than 60 nations boycotted
the Moscow Games in 1980. Protesting against the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan, the participating nations were reduced from 120 to 81. Not forgetting the humiliation of 1980, Four years
later, in Los Angeles 1984, the USSR led a boycott of 14 socialist
countries. Los Angeles Olympic Committee was blamed of violating the spirit
of the Olympics. Seoul, 1988 was the first since the Munich Games and there
was no boycott of the Olympics. For South Korea Seoul Games were milestone
from dictatorship to democracy. Ending a 32-year ban, post-apartheid South Africa was
invited to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The 2000 Sydney Games were successful and transformed
faith in the Olympics. Aboriginal athlete and national hero Cathy Freeman
lit the Olympic torch. Beijing 2008 Olympics disturbed many human rights groups
who believed “allowing China to host the Games legitimises its repressive
regime.” Many VIPs, politicians and celebrities, intended to boycott the
games to protest China’s role in Darfur, Tibet and Myanmar. During the
games Beijing was also under high alert because of security concerns
following civil unrest in Tibet and terrorist attacks by Xinjiang
separatists. With the focus on security, the 2012 London Olympics is
being criticised the most for inefficient security units. The government has
deployed Rapid Reaction Forces, anti-aircraft guided missiles, additional
surveillance cameras that make the city the most surveilled in the world.
With threat looming from different organisations promoting their religious
or political ideologies, the danger is clear and present! The most crucial issue is ensuring there are sufficient
soldiers and guards to get spectators in and out of the events. It has
raised widespread concern with many, fearing the cost of staging the event.
Many people are concerned that London’s fragile and crowded transport
infrastructure will be unable to cope with the added pressure of the Games.
For a Pakistani, London’s Olympic Park offers
a sight familiar to the ones seen by Pakistanis quite a few times, as there
are thousands of uniformed soldiers all over the place manning the sprawling
site — it looks as if Britain has suffered a military coup. The run-up to the biggest sporting event in Britain’s
history has not been hitch-free. The army moved in literally only a few days
ago after the security company G4S put its hands up that it could not
deliver enough guards for the Olympics. There is so much at stake for
Britain that it could not afford any risk as the attention of the world will
be focused on the most-spectacular sporting event the capital has ever
hosted. London will become the first in the world to host the
games three times: 1908, 1948 and 2012. The fear of a terror attack is also a factor why the
security arrangement is of paramount concern. Already, the police has
arrested a group of Muslims from around the site and several suspects have
been barred from coming near the Olympics area. Makhdoom Chishty, Metropolitan Police commander
responsible for the neighbourhood security, told The News on Sunday that the
police force was aware of the concerns of the Muslims over the heightened
levels of security but “we cannot be complacent during the Olympics or at
any other time”. The Olympics village is situated right in the heart of
East London’s Boroughs of Newham and Waltham Forest. Both boroughs are
home to London’s biggest concentration of ethnic minorities from South
Asia and according to an estimate more than 100,000 Pakistanis live in these
two boroughs. Newham is the poorest borough in London, and the second most
deprived in England, and it is hoped that the development of the area and
Olympic tourism will bring a much-needed injection of jobs and a boost
against poverty. When the London Olympic bid committee stood on stage in
Singapore on July 6, 2005, Sebastian Coe stood with 30 children from varied
backgrounds and pitched London as one of the most diverse cities in the
world — that’s what won it for London. Although there has been a lot of development in areas
adjoining the Olympic village, the areas farther in these boroughs have yet
to see an uplift of the roads and a makeover of the area. Job opportunities
have increased locally but the real effect of the Olympics must result in
the vast scale regeneration of the area and betterment in services and the
local economy. According to Britain’s Office of National Statistics,
the Olympics boost has helped cut the UK unemployment to 2.58m, with capital
registering 61,000 more people in employment over three months. Reports have said that the UK economy is set to benefit
from £16.5 billion of GDP, as a direct result of the Olympics and its
legacy. What heartens the mind of everyone is the view that the UK’s
economy will benefit with huge economic activity across the key sectors of
construction and tourism, more job creations and opportunities for
businesses across the UK – in both the short and long term. The recent opening of Westfield shopping centre at the
door of the Olympics stadium is also seen as part of the lasting legacy of
these games and it will contribute to the games-related tourism, afterwards.
A total of 10 million people are expected to visit
London for the games, with approximately 1.2 million (12 per cent) of these
coming from overseas. Restaurants across London are experiencing the biggest
impact and rooms in East London hotels have already been block-booked. The planners have said that one of the long-term
benefits of the games is the provision of 5,000 homes following the
conversion of the Olympic Village after the games. Many of the luxury flats
built around the Olympic site have been bought by rich Arab Sheikhs and
wealthy investors from the UK and overseas. This provides a guarantee that
long after the games are over, the rich will still live in this area and the
housing market will not take a nosedive, as it did in East London, more than
in any part of London as recession hit the country recently. The BBC will have 765 staff members just to cover the
games, this is an increase from 493 staff that worked on the Beijing Games
in 2008. American channel NBC has flown 2,700 staff over from the USA. The
£295 million Olympics media centre — the Main Press Centre and
International Broadcast Centre — will accommodate more than 20,000 members
of the world’s media, contains over 31,000 square metres of office space
and includes such facilities as 1,300 internet ports with fibre optic
cabling. The lead-up to the games has not been without troubles.
The bungled security arrangements have made negative headlines at home and
abroad. The security company behind the security fiasco has said that it
stands to lose up to $50 million from its contract because of the failures. As the athletes and tourists started arriving at the
Heathrow airport, there were long immigration queues at the airports. The
airport authorities now say that the issues have been resolved and the
maximum wait time for the arriving passengers is about 24 minutes. All the roads leading to East London are already
experiencing huge traffic blockades. A special VIP lane for the officials,
foreign dignitaries and the chosen ones is causing misery to commuters as
roads are expiring gridlock. There are serious questions surrounding the Olympic
games. Of those who have bought the tickets, how many are poor and
disadvantaged? If the government doesn’t ensure that the benefits of the
Olympics trickle down to the poor section of the society, then the ultimate
winners of these games will be only the private firms which are set to rake
in profits of millions from lucrative contracts — and the talk around
legacy of these games will mean nothing. The writer is a London correspondent for Geo TV and Jang
Group of Newspapers. Email:
Murtaza.Shah@geo.tv
With hardly five days left in the official
launch of the London Olympics, there is little or no frenzy over this mega
event in Pakistan. There are no product launches based on the theme of
Olympics, television screens are devoid of images of green shirts and there
are no morale boosting and patriotic songs to charge the hockey team which
slipped out of the country for Europe last week. Surprisingly, even the timing of the Olympics has failed
to evoke excitement among the countrymen this time — remember it’s
Ramazan. There are no TV anchors praying, with moist eyes, for success of
Pakistani hockey team and turning of tables in its favour. Compare it with the situation for example in the 1970s
and 1980s and even early 1990s. The departure of Pakistani hockey team for
the Olympics has never been as hushed up an affair as it has been this time.
Olympics for most Pakistani sports enthusiasts is all
about hockey and to some extent gymnastics, athletics, swimming, says
Muhammad Asim, who was a college student when Pakistan won gold in Los
Angeles Olympics in 1984. “I remember we used to criticise the International
Olympic Association (IOA) for deliberately dropping squash from the games
list,” he says in a light mood, pointing out that then discussions were
focused on the Olympics and hopes of Pakistan reaching the victory stand. Asim laments the media hype built up around the event
has faded away over the decades. “You talk to youngsters today and they
will hardly know the date of the launch. I bet they cannot even name four
members of the Pakistani hockey team.” No doubt, the lack of public interest in the Olympics is
reflective of the absence of sports culture in the country. But a more
obvious reason is the dismal performance of the Pakistan hockey team and
grim chances of its regaining the lost glory. With three Olympic golds and four World Cups under its
belt, Pakistan hockey team has been the only ray of hope for the countrymen
in the Olympic Games. Though Pakistan has won a bronze in boxing, yet the
feat did gain popularity in the country. So, the question is how will Pakistanis relate to London
Olympics this time? The contingent includes hockey team, which directly
qualified for the event, and two athletes Rabia Ashiq and Liaquat Ali, two
swimmers Anum Banday and Israr Hussain and shooter Khurrum Inam — all five
on wild cards. This means the five participants other than the hockey
team may not go much far and the only hope, though remote, can be pinned on
the hockey team. Interestingly, a cautious optimism prevails among
managers of Pakistan hockey at the highest level. Former Olympian and
Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) President Qasim Zia is one such example. He
hopes the team will perform well in London Olympics. “If it could win the last Asian Games despite being
ranked sixth at the start, it can perform miracles now as well.” He agrees
it would be a tough task for the team to make it to the top four in pool
matches — but thinks nothing is impossible. Pakistan finishing last at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in
Malaysia, in May this year, is not demoralising for him. Zia challenges the assertion that Pakistanis have lost
interest in hockey. They want to see their players play, but unfortunately
international teams are afraid of coming to Pakistan for security reasons.
He hopes the Pakistan Hockey Federation initiative to set up academies and
take in players at young age will yield results soon. He tells TNS the Federation has revived hockey at
grassroots level and developed a proper structure for the sport. The focus,
he says, is on the discovery of new talent — a proof of which is that 10
players in the Olympics’ squad are under 22. While players talk about lack of facilities and funds,
Zia lauds both the federal government and the Punjab government for
releasing funds for the Federation. They have been generous, he expresses,
and terms the 6 to 7 million rupees provided annually by Pakistan Sports
Board (PSB) meager. “It’s not even possible to manage even one foreign
tour with this money.” Comparing cricket with hockey, Zia says both are
different in nature — the former is a professional sport and the latter an
amateur one. Winning corporate sponsorships have always been much tougher
for hockey as the sponsors look for mileage which they get in cricket. “We
are thankful to Nadra for sponsoring the national hockey team for a year. We
hope others would follow suit.” While Zia counts on state patronage and corporate
sponsorships, the small town of Gojra, approximately 50 kilometers from
Faisalabad, is abuzz with activity. Called a nursery of Pakistani hockey,
this town has produced more than 110 international hockey players, 17 of
whom have been Olympians. The interest for the sport may be decreasing in
other cities but here the scene is vibrant. The main force behind this vigour is Ustad Aslam Roda
who started his international hockey career in 1966. Being the first
Olympian from the area, he brought fame to Gojra and the craze for the sport
caught on. Talking to TNS, Roda says hockey players in Pakistan
have always lacked facilities and money has never been a concern for them.
“We played for the prestige of the country. We travelled on bicycles and
were passionate about the game.” Roda has trained hundreds of players and still coaches
them at the MC High School ground in Gojra. The school boasts of producing
leading Olympians in the past and has the potential of producing many more.
At a walking distance from the school is the Gojra Stadium, where players
can practice the game on astro turf. The turf has worn out and should be replaced without
delay, says Roda, who idealises Holland which has more than 100 astro turfs
in the country. “Amsterdam alone has around 50 astro turfs.” Former Olympian Manzoor-ul-Hasan known as Manzoor Junior
holds the team management responsible for not infusing spirit in the team
and creating the much-needed hype. “When you start saying gold is not our
target, or this or that is not our target, what message are you conveying to
the players.” It is just like saying, “we are fighting but victory is
not our target.” Manzoor, nicknamed “Wall of China” for being a
formidable full back, has scored 101 goals in 154 international games. He
recalls when he was leaving for the Olympics in 1976, with the team, it
seemed the whole nation was backing them. “We were loaded with garlands
and media was abuzz with our coverage. People of all ages and from different
fields knew us by name.” This, he says, is in total contrast with the present —
the team left in silence and all the chief coach Akhtar Rasool could say
was: “We will come up to the nation’s expectation.” capton Glory days: XVI Asian Games.
If you thought
that the London 2012 Olympic Games were just a celebration of human
determination, grand ambition and hard work, think again. For those of you that
don’t know London is simultaneously hosting a rival yet equivalent
cultural Olympics too. It was launched in 2008 and dubbed the largest
cultural celebration in the history of the modern Olympic movement. The
Cultural Olympiad, which has now been running for almost four years, is
culminating with the showstopper — the London 2012 Festival. But with a few days to go,
and the biggest festival the UK has ever seen, with 12,000 performances and
more than 25,000 artists appearing in 900 venues in 204 centres in
full-swing until September 9, the British public has a once in a lifetime
chance to see an outpouring of events by artists from all corners of the
globe. This flamboyancy and
theatrical display also begs the question, why is the government displaying
such antics when a painful economic retrenchment across the country and its
European neighbours is taking place? The answer is simple —
because for two weeks it will bring the eyes of the world onto this little
island and be a fun, heart-warming (only if Britain wins) and socially
cohesive event for a postcolonial multicultural nation. Some would say sports is
orchestrated, now who really goes round throwing javelins and displaying
physical prowess like that? Instead culture is real — dance, music,
poetry, film, visual arts and sculpture — but others say that one can’t
exist without the other. London, one of the great
cultural cities of the world, clearly thinks they are intrinsic, and they
just can’t do without them, which is why it is hosting more attractions
than any one person could attend. Major exhibitions by
Damien Hirst, Yoko Ono, David Hockney and Lucian Freud, a life-sized
inflatable replica of Stonehenge and Shakespeare’s Globe festival which
has attracted over100,000 people are just some of the events on offer. Music by any measurable
standard however is the clear winner. And it comes as no surprise as to why
the Hackney Weekend (June 23-24), a free live music event with over 100
artists including Jay-Z, Rihanna and Jessie J has been one of the biggest
and successful events thus far. There are five “official
songs” for the games too. The opening ceremony will
be full of music and the closing ceremony will, according to the London
Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG), “celebrate the fact
that music has been one of Britain’s strongest cultural exports over the
last 50 years”. The Turner prize winner
Martin Creed is hoping to persuade everyone in the UK to ring some kind of
bell — church, bicycle, townhall or a doorbell — to welcome the start of
the games on July 27 from 8 to 8:03 a.m. Despite all its grandiose,
most of the Cultural Olympiad’s events will be ephemeral, forgotten soon
after they are digested but the world’s tallest twisting structure — the
Orbit tower designed by Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond, 22 metres higher
than the Statue of Liberty, will be a sight few will forget. By the time the last
firework sputters out in September, the organisers estimate that at least 10
million people will have seen a free event, and millions more will have paid
for one. Moira Sinclair, the
executive director of the Arts Council, England said that the programme
should make it clear how important the arts are to the world’s perception
of Britain — and Britain’s perception of itself and after the last
athlete has gone home, she added, “we want to convey the sense that the
Olympics is over, but the arts aren’t.” The writer works as
editorial assistant for Jang Group of Newspapers in London. She can be
contacted at anaam.raza@gmail.com
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