Ola

A Ola , also called Mexican Wave in English, is a sway in the crowd, which takes place mainly in the stages at the time of sporting meetings, but also important gathering.

Description

The movement of a ola is initiated by spectators, which put themselves upright, the arms raise, and take again their sitting position only once the people in the vicinity immediate imitated the movement. Thus, rather quickly, an event localized is transmitted, gradually, through all crowd, a such wave (from where the name of wave in English and ola in Spanish). The ola is often accompanied by an acclamation of crowd (" Oohlaa! ").

Taking place generally in the stages, a ola can persist during several turns of stages. In the case of a crowd not-circular, one can observe an effect of reverberation, the ola setting out again in the opposite direction with that from where it had come.

Being a phenomenon of imitation, the ola can " résister" with a great vacuum between its participants, but also with some refractories which could not follow the movement. Let us note finally, that the most frequent direction of a ola is the time direction.

Origin

The divergent opinion on the origin of the olas, however this phenomenon acquired its notoriety at the time of the World cup of football which took place in Mexico in 1986. It is besides on this occasion that it took its English name of Mexican wave .

Record

Largest ola recorded to date took place at the time of the Olympic Games of Sydney, in 2000, where nearly 110.000 people an anti-clockwise wave and two simultaneous waves of contrary direction carried out.

Studies

Far from constituting a simple random phenomenon, Ola seems to answer fixed characteristics and thus could be subjected to a modeling. It is what Tamás Vicsek, I. Farkas, and D.Helbing of the university Eötvös Loránd of Hungary one carried out. After having studied vidéos of olas, in particular in Mexico, they could establish models and determined certain median values:

  • a dozen people on average are necessary to launch a ola
  • It generally leaves in time direction
  • Its mean velocity is of 12m/s (22 seats a second)
  • Its width is on average of 15 seats

Bonds

  • (in) the site of the study of the university of Budapest

  • (in) the article published in Nature

Random links:Christian Matthey | Kyle Katarn | Frank Graham | Sacha Nacht | Jean-Mermoz college | Route_A53