A champion (from the late Latin campio) is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world championships, and even further (artificial) divisions at one or more of these levels, as in association football. Their champions can be accordingly styled, e.g. national champion, world champion.
In certain disciplines, there are specific titles for champions, either descriptive, as the baspehlivan in Turkish oil wrestling, yokozuna in Japanese sumo wrestling; or copied from social hierarchies, such as the koning and keizer ('king' and 'emperor') in traditional archery competitions (not just national, also at lower levels) in the Low Countries.
The original meaning of the word partakes of both these senses: in the Feudal Era, knights were expected to be champions and paragons of both prowess in combat and of causes, the latter most commonly being either patriotic, romantic or religious in nature (thus becoming models of virtue). This reaches its most literal meaning in a trial by combat, in which each combatant champions the cause of one side of the trial. A "King's Champion" is appointed for ceremonial purposes at the coronation of an English Monarch, to defeat any challenger to the monarch's right to be crowned.
Champion warfare refers to a type of battle, most commonly found in the epic poetry and myth of ancient history, in which the outcome of the conflict is determined by single combat, an individual duel between the best soldiers ("champions") from each opposing army.
World champion is a title used to denote a winner of a world championship in a particular sport (such as mixed martial arts, professional boxing or professional wrestling), discipline or game. Being a champion at any sport or game requires an extraordinary amount of focus, discipline, drive and complete dedication, usually from a young age.[1][2] What separates a world champion from the average competitor aside from natural ability and environmental advantages with access to the best training facilities,[3] is the ability to focus on their goal and to become the best of the best, the obsession to continually improve and mental conditioning required to focus on becoming the best in the world at their given subject.[4]
Despite the considerable progress during the last 15 years to establish and strengthen DHS management functions, the Department has much to improve. Over the next four years, DHS will continue to mature as an institution by increasing integration, clarifying roles and responsibilities, championing its workforce, advancing risk-based decision-making, and promoting transparency and accountability before the American people. In an important step forward, DHS is beginning to consolidate Support Components and the Office of the Secretary on the St. Elizabeths Campus, which will further promote integration.
Along with its huge cast, the production includes a full-sized boxing ring on the Met stage. Champion tells the story of Emile Griffith, a closeted gay boxer --in an era when gay people were outcasts --who rises from obscurity to become world champion and, in one of the great tragedies in sports history, kills his homophobic archrival in the ring.
At the end of Act One, the opera reenacts a pivotal moment in Emile Griffith's career. At the weigh-in for a 1962 championship bout at Madison Square Garden, Griffith's Cuban opponent, Benny Paret, taunted him with an anti-gay slur. Hours later in the ring, an enraged Griffith caught Paret on the ropes and unleashed a torrent of blows. Paret slumped to the canvas in a coma that he never came out of.
The Southeastern Conference's Eastern and Western Division winners will meet in Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium to battle for the league championship and the right to represent the conference in the College Football Playoff. The 32nd-annual title game is set for December 2 and will be televised nationally by CBS Sports.
The game was born as a result of 1992 conference expansion, which saw Arkansas and South Carolina become the first members added in SEC history. Under NCAA regulations, a conference with 12 members may play an additional football game to determine its champion, provided the regular season is played in divisions. The participants of the game will be determined during the eight-game regular season conference schedule as the teams with the best overall SEC winning percentage in each division.
The SEC Championship has been the most watched conference championship nationally for 14 of the past 15 seasons, including 12 in a row from 2008-2019. The only year it was not #1 was 2020 when the SEC did not have a traditional schedule due to the pandemic.
The 2022 SEC Championship Game was seen by nearly 11 million viewers. The 2018 SEC Championship Game was the most-watched and highest-rated regular-season college football game on any network in seven years with a 10.1/23 rating/share and 17.5 million viewers. It also marked the second most-watched SEC Championship ever in 26 years since the game debuted in 1992. Nearly 14 million viewers watched the 2019 contest. Shifting to primetime, the Alabama-Florida SEC Championship in 2020 averaged a 4.9 and 8.92 million viewers on CBS. It was the first primetime SEC Championship since the 2006 game. The 2021 SEC Championship attracted over 15 million viewers, the most watched championship game in college football since 2018.
Trees Atlanta publishes a new list of the Champion Trees in metro Atlanta each year. The annual list is updated with new champions that are discovered and verified in the past year and as old champions disappear from the landscape. If you have a potential Champion Tree to nominate for review, please submit your nomination on the form on this page.
If you have a tree larger than the ones noted or a tree species for which there is no champion, you may have a Champion Tree (PDF). To be nominated for tree championship, the tree must have a single trunk for at least four and one-half feet above ground level and a total height of at least 15 feet.
Trees of any species may be nominated. Trees will be evaluated on height, crown size, and trunk circumference. You need not own the land on which your tree nomination is located. In fact, many champions may be on public lands, but remain unknown. If you know of a tree that may be a potential champion, please contact the Park Ranger Office at (301) 627-7755.
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