Author: beafio

A VISIT TO THE OLYMPICS

ATHENS AT LAST!

ATHENS AT LAST!

At last I have made it to the Olympic Games. Back home in South Africa I am a marathon runner and I always dreamed of making it to the Olympics. But here I am as a tourist!
Athens is alive with people. I didn’t realize there were this many people in the world!
The Greeks are very happy about having the Olympics back where they originally started. No expense has been spared to make this the Olympics of all time. There are programmes everywhere highlighting all the events that will be taking place. I think I could spend six weeks here instead of two.

This is a recent picture of Olympia

HISTORY OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Inside this issue:

I have been reading up about the history of the Olympic Games. The first Olympics took place in 776 BC - a long time ago! This was only for Greeks and no women were allowed to participate. In 1896 a Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin managed to reintroduce the Games as the Modern Olympic Games which is held every four years in a different country. Now men and women of all cultures participate freely.

Paralympics	2
Torch relay	2
Sports events	2
Cultural programme	3
Interesting facts	3
Different Sports	3

Bibliography 4
Image gallery 4

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A VISIT TO THE OLYMPICS

PARALYMPICS

Tomorrow is the 9th of September and the Olympic flame will be lit for the ninth time in the history of the Paralympics in Athens, Greece. This flame will travel a total of 410 kilo-meters. It will pass from all the municipalities of the city on the hands of 680 torch bearers.
Here’s what I’ve discovered about the Paralympics.

The paralympics sport of the month - wheelchair fencing

Olympic style games for athletes with a disability were organized in Rome for the first time in 1960 immediately after the Olympic Games. 400 athletes from

The Olympic flame

23 countries participated in 8 sports. The paralympics is now a sporting event second only to the Olympics. It is held every two years.

TORCH RELAY

On 2 June the Olympic torch took off from Athens on its global journey which lasts 36 days. Here is a picture I found of the Olympic flame being carried in Istanbul. There is a daily news coverage of its progress. It will arrive here tomorrow. Amazing!

This is the international route of the Olympic flame.

SPORTS EVENTS

There are 28 sports in the Olympic Games but within this there are 37 disciplines. A discipline is a branch of Olympic sport which has one or more events. For example aquatics is an Olympic sport which has four disciplines—swimming, diving, water polo and synchronized swimming. The Olympic sports rule is that the sport must be widely practiced by men in at least 75 countries on 4 continents. The rule for women is that the sport must be widely practiced by women in
40 countries on 3 continents. Here is a picture of a popular sport -wrestling!

A VISIT TO THE OLYMPICS….

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CULTURAL PROGRAMME

Athens is making a marvelous effort to entertain all the millions of visitors. The Athens Guide which is on the web shows what is happening and where one can go. The Department of Culture has developed a programme that demonstrates the cultural aspect of the Olympics. The types of events planned include:
The 10C opening ceremony which took place on 9 August.
B) Various visual
arts events.
The museums
and art galleries expect a multitude of visitors

The Herodian theatre.

Various art exhibitions and visual art events are planned. There are two exhibitions regarding Athens city are

C) The music halls and theatres will be pro viding entertainment to delight the
visitors.

INTERESTING FACTS

Revenue generated from the sale of Athens 2004 official licensed merchandise will be used to fund the Olympic Games as well as the Greek Olympic team
This is the first time in history that the Paralympics do not have to pay for their participation.
The information brochure entitled “There’s no place like home” which is all about the Athens Olympics 2004 will be distributed in six languages—English, Italian, French, German, Russian, Spanish.

DIFFERENT SPORTS

Here is the list of the 28 Olympic sports with the number of more than one disciplines in brackets. Aquatics (4), Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Baseball, Basketball, Boxing, Canoeing. Cycling, Equestrian, Fencing, Football, Gymnastics, Handball, Hockey, Judo, Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Softball, Table tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball, Weightlifting, and Wrestling.

The Olympic swimming pool in
Athens

MY BIBLIOGRAPHY

1)http://minbar.cs.dartmouth.edu/greecom/olympics/
2) http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/
3) http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/
4) http://www.culture.gr/2/21/211/21107a/og/games.html
5) http://www.ancient-greece.com/
6) http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ancientgreece/classics/olympics/intro.shtml
7) http://www.experienceplus.com/essay_olympics.html
8)http://www.kidspoint.org/columns2.asp?column_id=948&column_type=homework
9) http://education.nmsu.edu/webquest/wq/olympics/Textref.html
10)http://www.sjc.uq.edu.au/projects/Olympics/History/history1.html
11)http://www.sjc.uq.edu.au/projects/Olympics/History/history2.html

IMAGE GALLERY