Trophy

A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achievement, and serves as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are often awarded for sporting events, from youth sports to professional level athletics. In many sports medals (or, in North America, rings) are often given out either as the trophy or along with more traditional trophies.

Originally the word trophy, derived from the Greek tropaion, referred to arms, standards, other property, or human captives and body parts (e.g., headhunting) captured in battle. These war trophies commemorated the military victories of a state, army or individual combatant. In modern warfare trophy taking is discouraged, but this sense of the word is reflected in hunting trophies and human trophy collecting by serial killers.

A slang term for an individual or team's collection of trophies is silverware.

Etymology

Trophies have marked victories since ancient times. The word trophy coined in English in 1550, was derived from the French trophée in 1513, "a prize of war", from Old French trophee, from Latin trophaeum, monument to victory, variant of tropaeum, which in turn is the latinisation of the Greek τρόπαιον (tropaion), the neuter of τροπαῖος (tropaios), "of defeat" or "for defeat", but generally "of a turning" or "of a change", from τροπή (tropē), "a turn, a change" and that from the verb τρέπω (trepo), "to turn, to alter".

Kanye West

Kanye Omari West (/ˈkɑːnjeɪ/; born June 8, 1977) is an American recording artist, record producer, fashion designer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of the record label GOOD Music and creative content company DONDA. West is one of the most acclaimed musicians of the 21st century. He has attracted both praise and criticism for his work and his controversial, outspoken public persona.

Raised in Chicago, West first became known as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the early 2000s, producing hit singles for musical artists such as Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, before pursing a solo career as a rapper. In 2004, he released his debut album The College Dropout, to widespread commercial and critical success, and founded record label and management company GOOD Music. He went on to explore a variety of different musical styles on subsequent albums that included the baroque-inspired Late Registration (2005), the electronic-tinged Graduation (2007), and the starkly polarizing 808s & Heartbreak (2008). In 2010, he released his critically acclaimed fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. He collaborated with Jay-Z on Watch the Throne (2011), and released his sixth album, Yeezus, to further critical praise in 2013. Following a series of recording delays and work on non-musical projects, West's seventh album, The Life of Pablo, was released in 2016.

Mao Asada

Mao Asada (浅田 真央, Asada Mao, born September 25, 1990) is a Japanese competitive figure skater and an Olympic silver medalist noted for her triple axel jumps. She is the only female figure skater who has landed three triple axels in one competition, which she achieved at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

She is the 2010 Olympic silver medalist, a three-time World champion (2008, 2010, 2014), a three-time Four Continents champion (2008, 2010, 2013), and a four-time Grand Prix Final champion (2005–06, 2008–09, 2012–13, 2013–14). She is also the 2005 World Junior champion, the 2004–05 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and a six-time Japanese national champion (2006–2010, 2012–2013).

She currently holds the world record for the ladies' short program score. A former prodigy, Asada is the fifth woman and the first junior girl to land the triple axel, accomplishing this feat at the 2004–05 Junior Grand Prix Final. She won her first Grand Prix Final at the age of 15. Considered by many to be the best figure skater in the world at that time, Asada was 87 days too young to compete at the 2006 Winter Olympics. She is the first figure skater in a singles discipline from Asia to win multiple world championships. At the 2013 Skate America, she became the first singles skater, male or female, in history, to win all seven of the current events on the Grand Prix series. She currently holds 15 Grand Prix series titles – the most among active singles skaters and third all-time behind Evgeni Plushenko and Irina Slutskaya. She is one of the most highly recognized athletes in Japan, and is widely regarded as the greatest figure skater in Japanese history.