Yes, you better believe it, our London Olympics 2012 coverage continues, as the games are still allegedly going on. In this update : the most striking, hilarious and bizarre funny names from the games from the past few days of the games, though it’ll be hard to follow My Esteemed Colleague© Dave, who introduced us to the incomparable Saeid Mohammadpourkarkaragh and his heavyweight name a few days ago.
Stambolova’s stumble, as Egle Staisiunaite egles her fall on the far left.
But ah, the skies have opened up and crazy names keep on raining down on us. Today’s most pleasant surprise was the now legendary Vania Stambolova, a Bulgarian 400m hurdler, who took off for the race of her life and yes, stumbled over the very first hurdle. Off she went, going for glory, and she ended up in headlines for having the most unfortunate name imaginable for a hurdler (short of say, Loser McNevergonnawinarace – ok, Vania has the second most unfortunate name imaginable).
I’m afraid there was no Vania Farjumper represented in the Women’s Triple Jump qualifying this year, but funny names were still present with India’s Mayookha Johny Mathalikunnel holding a pretty neat one. Unfortunately she failed to qualify for the final so I can’t in good funny-named respecting conscience recommend you watch that event.
Into team sports, where Brazil must have sighed a collective “Oh no!” when Japan’s Shinobu Ohno scored to take Japan to the semifinals (and later the final) of these Olympics. I can not adequately describe the disproportionate amount of pleasure I derive from a commentator saying that name over and over, but I can tell you that it is very funny.
Jack Laugher is not amused that there’s a Giglmayer around trying to steal his amused-and-amusing name niche.
Elsewhere in very fittingly named athlete news, The U.S. Men’s Beach Volleyball team included a fellow named Jake Spiker Gibb, “spiker” of course being a position in a volleyball team. Remarkably, it’s not a nickname, but his mother’s maiden name. What are the odds.
Finally, ff you’re going to be watching more Olympics coverage today, here are some pointers on who you can look for in the upcoming events :
- You may get a craving for some good ol’ fashioned American food as you watch Brazil vs. Denmark in women’s handball, featuring Denmark’s Louise Burgaard. Far-fetched? Thank you.
- In the Men’s 3m Springboard Semifinal, Britain’s Jack Laugher is jolly, presumably about diving with German Stephan Feck. The Germans have a way with these names, with Michael Fuchs having turned up last week. What’s next, a Chinese version of that? Why yes, Bai Faquan is indeed competing the Triathlon event this year.
- Other Triathlon hopefuls worth mentioning include the highly amusing Austrian Andreas Giglmayr, who will have to be careful not to giggle too much or he might not be able to finish the race, and Swiss wildman Ruedi Wild, who can’t go overboard or he might just rue di day. Apologies for that one, and thanks for reading!
That’s it for today’s Olympic update – keep tuning in for the funny name updates and if you catch a Stumbalova out there, be sure to let us know.
The Blog of Funny Names 
Arto! Your chance to redeem yourself as Games Master has arrived: http://wp.me/p2myYW-jP PS: Hilarious post as always
Horrible!
It is a case of complete ignorance to laugh at names of people from different nationality / culture / backgraund !
I’m sorry that we gave you that impression. We are actually in admiration of all of these people who have managed to find national and global success in their chosen events.
If you read any of our other posts, you’ll see we’re not laughing at them, but rather celebrating them. Our tagline is “celebrating great people with greater names” and that’s what we set out to do. Also, the person who wrote this post is Finnish and has a funny name himself, as does the person who wrote yesterday’s post. Some of the names featured in today’s post are Americans like me, and I don’t object to them being featured in this post.
In fact, I’d say that we are contributing to greater awareness of excellent people and cultures through this blog
See:
https://funnynamesblog.com/2012/01/20/goodluck-jonathan/
https://funnynamesblog.com/2012/02/10/ras-i-alujah-bramble-formerly-livingstone-bramble/
funnynamesblog.com/2012/02/16/dr-cornelis-bontekoe-the-tea-doctor/
https://funnynamesblog.com/2012/04/24/kees-a-schouhamer-immink/
Sometimes it’s hard to get across your admiration of someone in one of these short posts where we profile a bunch of names in a short amount of space, but our “About” page lays out pretty well how much we like, admire, and appreciate these people. https://funnynamesblog.com/about/
Although now that you mention it, the Stumbolova one did seem a bit mean-spirited. That probably wasn’t Arto’s intention, but my apologies that it came across that way.
If it’s any concession, I love your blog and don’t take offence. Regulars certainly understand that and anyone new to your site will quickly figure it out by surfing your site. Anyway, you can’t please everyone.
PS. I think you need to create a book (yes, easy for me to say from the comforts if my sofa), or what about swap cards (cool but probably difficult and too niche)
PPS. Gave your suggestion a go by drawing something topical (Usain Bolt 100m win), and although I in no way shape or form reached your 4 digit total in hits (jealous – what am I doing wrong?), I did manage to get the highest hits ever for one post in the day (a triumphant 95, normally about 15). So thanks for the tip and who knows, just a bit more practise and I’ll get there.
Marti
Thanks for the suggestions…hmmm, swap cards. Do people still do that? That sounds awesome. How many Lefty Frizzels can I get with one Outerbridge Horsey? A lot is the answer.
I thought you Americans were into collector cards? You could have gold ones for the Olympiads too 🙂 Marti
Always enjoy reading your funny name banter and the Olympics have given you some good names to work with for sure. Nothing that I’ve ever read on your blog has seemed mean-spirited. You simply like a good smile and a laugh:-) And lucky us who read your posts and get to join in.
Thanks for the compliments. It’s good to have you as a reader 🙂 I don’t take anonymous off-the-mark comments (as the one above) too seriously anyway but appreciate the affirmation.
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Hilaaaaaariiooous!