The Olympics

THE ANCIENT OLYMPIC GAMES

The first known Olympic contest took place at the Stadium of Olympia in Ancient Greece in the year 776 BC.
The only contest was a running race. Later other events were added like jumping, boxing, wrestling and the
javelin throw. A wreath of olive branches, the Greeks called kotinos, was placed on the winners head. Women
could not participate in the ancient games. They had a separate festival during the Olympics where they could
compete with each other.

Ancient Greeks believed that strong bodies and playing sports pleased their gods. They didn’t believe in the
one true God, they believed in many gods. So the Olympics began as a festival to honor Zeus, the chief god.

The games were played until 394 AD when an earthquake destroyed the town of Olympia.

We say: The Greeks said:

Olympics Olympikos

Bible Biblia

Hero Heros

School Schole

A section of the stone starting line

at Olympia. There’s a line for each foot.
 THE MODERN OLYMPIC GAMES

In 1875, a French man established the International Olympic committee and began convincing people that
having modern Olympic games every 4 years would be a good way for athletes and countries to compete. They
began the games in 1896 and only had summer games until the year 1924 when they added the winter games.

Many things are different in modern Olympics. It is no longer held to honor gods, it is played just for sport.
Since 1900, women have been able to compete in the games. Today they have the Olympic games every two
years. They alternate having the summer Olympics one year, where people compete in things like running,
swimming, soccer, rowing, and gymnastics. Then two years later they have the winter Olympics. Skiing,
hockey, figure skating, and speed skating are some of the events.

Year Place
1996 Atlanta, Georgia USA Summer games

1998 Nagano, Japan Winter games

2000 Sydney, Australia Summer games

2002 Salt Lake City, Utah USA Winter games

2004 Athens, Greece Summer games

2006 Torino, Italy Winter games

2008 Beijing, China Summer games

2010 Vancouver, Canada Winter games

Find the places listed above on the map.

 Today the Olympic games are exciting
and come with great fanfare. Weeks
before the games begin, they hold a
special ceremony in Greece where they
light a torch. Different people will help
get the torch from Greece to the city
where they Olympics are taking place,
the host city. This year the host city is
Vancouver, Canada. So the torch is
flown in an airplane to the country where
the Olympics will be held. From there,
people will take turns running with it,
holding the torch high and running as far
as he or she can, then they will pass it
along to someone else. Finally, the very last runner will enter the big
stadium at the Olympics Opening Ceremony and light the large torch
which means the games can begin!
 The Olympic flag will be flying during the games. The French man who established the modern Olympics
designed the flag in 1913. The five rings on it represents the five major continents, the continents who joined
together to have the Olympics – Africa, the Americas (North and South), Asia, Australia, and Europe. The
colors of the rings are blue, black, red, yellow, and green. At least one of these colors appears in the flag of
every country on earth.
 During the Opening Ceremony they have a
parade of countries. The athletes from
Greece enter the stadium first, carrying
their country’s flag and the athletes from
the host country (Canada) enter last. The
remaining teams enter the stadium in
alphabetical order carrying their country’s
flag. When each country’s team passes by
a national leader from the host country
(Canada), they are welcomed to the
Olympic games.

Can you put these countries in alphabetical order? That means look at the first letter of the country’s name and
order it from A-Z.

Spain Norway China Russia France

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People from all over the world will represent the country they live in and compete at the Olympic games. So
what team are you going to root for?

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As each event ends, the winners are announced at a special ceremony and awards are given to them. A gold
medal is given for first the place winner, a silver medal for second and a bronze for third place. Sometimes they
also give the winners flowers or a wreath for their heads similar to what they wore during the Ancient Olympic
games. During the award ceremony, they will play the country’s anthem of the first place winner.

This chart shows

the five countries
that won the most
medals at the last
Winter Olympics.
Study the chart.
Then answer the
questions below.

2006 Winter
Olympics
Winners

Country Gold Silver Bronze Total

Germany 11 12 6 29

United States 9 9 7 25

Canada 7 10 7 24

Austria 9 7 7 23

Russia 8 6 8 22

Which country won the most gold medals?

How many medals did Russia win in all?

How many more gold medals did Austria win than Canada won?

Which country won the same number of gold medals as silver ones?
How did the people of Germany most likely feel after the 2006 Winter games?

Happy and proud or Upset

VANCOUVER, CANADA

February 12-28, 2010

Over 80 countries with over 5,500 athletes will compete in this year’s winter games.

We say: The Canadians say:

Bathroom Washroom

Remote control Converter

Running shoes Runners

Backpack Pack sack

French fries Chips

T
E
A
M

USA

Top Athletes to Watch in Vancouver

Apollo Ono --speed skating Ben Agoto and Tanith Bellin – figure skating

Evan Lysacek -- figure skating Shaun White -- a snow boarder Lindsey Vonn, an alpine skier
Christian Athletes to Watch in Vancouver

Chad Hedrick – speed skating Rebekah Bradford – speed skating John Napier – bobsled

Erin Pac – bobsled Elana Meyers – bobsled Kelly Clark – snowboarding

Mark Johnson – women’s hockey coach Jinelle Zaugg-Siergiej – hockey

Adam Pengilly (United Kingdom) – skeleton Lyndon Rush (Canada) – bobsled

Mika Poutala (Finland) – speed skating

Stories about these athletes will be on

www.bpsports.net during the Olympic games.