WEIRD WEDNESDAY

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Armand Gustav Duplantis (1999 - ), also known as Mondo Duplantis, is a Swedish-American pole vaulter who competes for Sweden. Regarded as the greatest pole vaulter of all time, Duplantis is the current world record holder at 6.27 m (20 ft 7 in) and the winner of seven senior global titles. He is a two-time Olympic (2020 and 2024) champion, a two-time World outdoor (2022 and 2023) champion and a three-time World indoor (2022, 2024 and 2025) champion.

Duplantis has broken the pole vault world record 11 times, 10 of them his own world records. Because he receives $100,000 in prize money each time he breaks the world record, he has increased the records by increments of a centimetre (less than a half inch) at a time.

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Cathie Jung (born 1937) is an American Victorian dress and corset enthusiast residing in Manteo, NC, United States. She has held the Guinness World Record for the smallest waist on a living person since 1999. Jung, who is 1.72 meters (5 ft 8 in) tall, has a waist that measures 38.1 centimetres (15.0 in).

Her waist originally measured 26 inches (66.4 cm) before she started gradually reducing its width over the course of many years, using a training belt. She has never had surgery to define her waist.

She wears a corset for 23 hours a day, only removing it for her daily shower.

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Mehran Karimi Nasseri (1945 – 2022) was an Iranian refugee who lived in the departure lounge of Terminal 1 in Charles de Gaulle Airport from 26 August 1988 until July 2006, when he was hospitalised. His autobiography was published as a book, The Terminal Man, in 2004. Nasseri's story inspired the 1993 film Lost in Transit and the 2004 film The Terminal. He returned to living at the airport in September 2022, and died there of a heart attack in November 2022.

He was able to travel between the United Kingdom and France, but in 1988, his papers were lost when his briefcase was allegedly stolen. Others indicate that Nasseri actually mailed his documents to Brussels while on board a ferry to Britain, lying about them being stolen. Arriving in London, he was returned to France when he failed to present a passport to British immigration officials. At the French airport, he was unable to prove his identity or refugee status and was detained in the waiting area for travelers without papers.

Nasseri's case was later taken on by French human rights lawyer Christian Bourget. Attempts were then made to have new documents issued from Belgium, but the authorities there would do so only if Nasseri presented himself in person. In 1995, the Belgian authorities granted permission for him to travel to Belgium, but only if he agreed to live there under the supervision of a social worker. Nasseri refused this on the grounds of wanting to enter the UK as originally intended. Both France and Belgium offered Nasseri residency, but he refused to sign the papers as they listed him as being Iranian (rather than British) and did not show his preferred name, "Sir, Alfred Mehran" (including the misplaced comma). His refusal to sign the documents was much to the frustration of his lawyer, Bourget. When contacted about Nasseri's situation, his family stated that they believed he was living the life he wanted.

As for what Nasseri did day-to-day during his long stay at Terminal 1 in the Charles de Gaulle Airport, he could be found, day or night, around the Paris Bye Bye bar, where he wrote in his journal, listened to the radio, and smoked his gold pipe, or ate a meal at McDonald's. The meals were bought for him by strangers, and he sometimes sat on a red bench in the Terminal's first level in a reflective trance. In other accounts, his luggage was always by his side, as he wrote in his diary or studied economics.

Nasseri's residency site in Terminal 1 of Charles de Gaulle Airport

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In 2004 Timothy Dumouchel of Wisconsin sued a TV company for making his wife put on weight. He argued that that sitting on the couch for an extended period and surfing channels was making his wife fat, and it was the television company that was responsible for the situation. He sought $5,000 but said he would settle for three computers and a lifetime of free internet.

Dumouchel said he had asked the cable service to cease but that he kept receiving although no more bills were sent. He said he received more than 100 channels and watched Court TV whenever he was home, that he had started drinking alcohol and smoking again after stopping for seven years. “I challenge any one of you here to leave your cable on and not hit the button (on the remote control) for 30 days,” he told reporters. The cable service responded that Dumouchel could have chosen to watch something enlightening, perhaps even while exercising.

He subsequently withdrew his suit.

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