(学生版)2.Olympic Games

Understanding the United States Chapter Four Society and CultureSection 4 Sports5. Olympic GamesEvery four years, athletes from around the world come together to compete in the Olympic Games. Do you know why this event is called the Olympics? The games were first held at Olympia in ancient Greece. The ancient Olympic Games honored the Greek god Zeus. Today, the Olympic Games are held in different cities around the world.Pictures of ZeusThe Ancient GamesWe know that the ancientOlympics began as far backas 776B.C. That’s when theGreeks began keepingrecords of the winners. Theancient Games continueduntil about A.D.392, more than 1,000 years!Athletes came from cities throughout Greece to compete in races, boxing and wrestling matches, gymnastics, and weightlifting. They also threw spears, hurled a discus, and jumped for distance. Wealthy Greeks raced their horses. Winners were crowned with wreaths of olive or palm leaves.The ancient Olympic Games were not just a sporting event, however. There were competitions in poetry, music, speechmaking, and other arts as well.At the beginning and end of the Games, animals were sacrificed to Zeus. A splendid temple was built at Olympia in Zeus’s honor. When people stopped worshiping the Greek gods, the Olympic Games were canceled.The Modern GamesThe Olympic Games were brought back in 1896. The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, the capital of Greece. Only nine countries participated in the first Games, and all the athletes were male.Today, some 10,000 athletes compete in the Olympic Games, and nearly half of them are female. They represent about 200 nations.At first, the modern Olympics included only summer sports, such as swimming, rowing,and track and field. Figure skating was added in 1908, and ice hockey in 1920.The first winter Olympic Games were held in 1924. More winter sports were later added to the Winter Games, including downhill skiing, bobsledding, and ski jumping, snowboarding and freestyle skiing followed in the 1990s.From 1924 through 1992, the Winter Games and the Summer Games took place in the same year. After 1992, the next Winter Games were moved up two years, to 1994. Winter Games and Summer Games now occur two years apart. Each of these Games takes place every four years.Going For the GoldAfter each Olympic event, medals are awarded to the competitors who finish in first, second, and third place. First-place winners receive a gold medal. Those who finish in second place receive a silver medal, and those in third place, a bronze medal.Olympic athletes often dazzle the world. In 1912, Jim Thorpe of the United States won the gold medal for two of the most difficult contests in track and field: the pentathlon, which consists of five different events, and the decathlon, which consists of ten events. Thorpe is still the only athlete to have won the pentathlon and decathlon at the same Olympics.In 1932, Babe Didrikson of the United States became the only Olympic athlete ever to win medals in separate running, jumping, and throwing events. Four years later, African American track star Jesse Owens won four gold medals.Jesse OwensBabe Didrikson Zaharias was a pioneer of women's athletics who dominated every sport she tried. Babe reached great heights of athletic achievement and fame while living in a time of limited opportunities for and hostility towards women's sports. She met every challenge and blazed a trail for women's athletics with a unique and engaging style.During the 1970s, the thrilling performances of Olga Korbut of the Soviet Union and Nadia Comaneci of Romania inspired a generation of girls to take up gymnastics. Also in the 1970s, American Mark Spitz amazed the world by winning a total of seven gold medals in swimming. In the 1980s and 1990s, Carl Lewis of the United States won a total of nine Olympic gold medals in track-and-field events. Sarah Hughes charmed audiences as she skated her way to a gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics. The star of the Summer Olympics in 2004 was American swimmer Michael Phelps, who won a total of eight medals.Mark SpitzCarl LewisMichael Phelps Sarah Hughes won the gold medal in women’s figure skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.Winter Olympics, 1994The Winter Olympics include skiing, ice skating, hockey, and other sports. This photo shows the opening ceremonies for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.Summer Olympics, 1996The Summer Olympics include swimming, gymnastics, track-and-field events, and other sports. This photo shows the opening ceremonies for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.The Olympic flame lit at the 1988 Summer Games in SeoulThe torch relay of the 2002Winter Olympics passesthrough Cincinnati, OhioVideo Clips1. 1996 Olympic Games (1)2. 1996 Olympic Games (2)3.1996 Olympic Games (3)2000 Olympic Opening Ceremony, SydneyOlympic SymbolsOlympic RingsFive interlockedrings represent theunion of the fiveoriginal majorcontinents (Africa, America, Asia, Australia and Europe) and the meeting of the athletes from throughout theworld at the Olympic Games. The five colors ofthe rings from left to right are blue, black andred across the top and yellow and green alongthe bottom.Olympic CreedThe words of the Olympic creedare attributed to Baron Pierre deCoubertin, the founder of themodern Olympic Games.Baron Pierre de Coubertin"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just asthe most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."Olympic MottoThe Olympic motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius" is Latin for "Faster, Higher, Braver," but is universally accepted to mean "Swifter, Higher, Stronger."Olympic Oath"In the name of all competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams."The Olympic oath is a symbolic gesture of sportsmanship that traces its origins to the 1920 Olympic Games. One athlete from the host country takes an oath at Opening Ceremonies on behalf of all the athletes.Victory CeremoniesOn the podium, medals are presented to the first, second and third-place finishers. The winner stands in the middle at the highest elevation; the runner-up stands slightly below to the victor's right and the third-place finisher stands lower and to the left.Olympic emblemEach Olympic Games has its own Olympic emblem, which is a design integrating the Olympic rings with one or more distinctive elements. They are created and proposed by the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (OCOG) or the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of the host country. It is the responsibility of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to approve Olympic emblems for the Olympic games. The Olympic emblems are used in promotional materials, by sponsors of the Olympics, on the uniforms of every Olympic competitor. All emblems are the property of the IOC.Olympic emblemsOlympic MedalsOlympic medals must be at least 60millimeters in diameter and at leastthree millimeters thick. Gold andsilver medals must be made of 92.5 percent pure silver; the gold medal must be gilded with at least six grams of gold. The design of the medals is the responsibility of the host city's organizing committee.Olympic MedalsOlympic MedalsOlympic MascotsSince the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France the Olympic Games have had a mascot, It is usually an animal native to the area or occasionally human figures representing the cultural heritage.2008 Beijing Olympic Games’ MascotsOlympic MascotsOlympic HymnThe Olympic Hymn is played when the Olympic Flag is raised. The music was composed by Spirou Samara. The words were added by Costis Palamas.Immortal Spirit of AntiquityFather of the true, beautiful and good Descend, appear, shed over us thy lightUpon this ground and under this skyWhich has first witnessed they unperishableflameGive life and animation to these noble Games! Throw of wreaths of fadeless flower to the victors In the race and in the struggle!Create in our breast, hearts of steel!In thy light, plains, mountains and seasShine in a roseate hue and for a vast templeTo which all nations throng to adore theeOh, Immortal spirit of antiquity!Olympic FlameThe Olympic flame signifies thevalues of peace and brotherhoodwhich is the basis of the Olympics.Lighting the flame has been animportant part of every Olympicopening ceremony since it wasfirst used in Berlin in 1936. The idea of keeping a flame lit throughout the Games was first used by the ancient Greeks in Olympia.A few months before the opening of the Games, a ceremony is organized on the site of the original Games, the ancient sanctuary of Olympia. An actress dressed as a ceremonial priestess, in the robes of the ancient Greeks, lights the torch via the same technique used in the original Games.She uses a parabolic mirror to focus light rays from the sun. The parabolic mirror has a curved shape. When it is held toward the sun, the curvature focuses the rays to a single point.The energy from the sun creates a great deal of heat. The priestess holds a torch in the center of the parabolic mirror, and the heat ignites the fuel in the torch, sparking a flame.If the sun is not shining on the day of the lighting ceremony, the priestess can light the torch with a flame that was lit on a sunny day before the ceremony.The flame is carried in a fire pot to an altar in the ancient Olympic stadium, where it is used to light the first runner's torch.For the Winter Games, the relay actually begins at the monument to Pierre de Coubertin (the man who founded the modern Olympic games in 1896), which is located near the stadium. When the first torch is lit, the relay begins.The flame is carried by relay all the way to its final destination. Although it is usually carried by runners on foot, other modes of transportation are also used. For airtransportation, the flame is sheltered in a security lamp, similar to a miner’s lamp. At night, the flame is kept in a special cauldron. The highlight of the opening ceremony of the Olympics is the entrance of the Olympic flame into the stadium. The final torchbearer is always a citizen of the host country whose identity is kept secret until the last moment. The final torchbearer does a lap around the stadium before lighting the huge cauldron with the Olympic flame. Pigeons are then released as a symbol of the peace in which the Olympic Games should take place. The flame remains lit for the duration of the Games.Greek actress Maria Nafpliotou in the role of the high priestess lights the altar with the Olympic flame at the Panathenan Stadium in Athens, capital of Greece, 30 March 2008, during the handover ceremony.Torchbearer Greek Olympic silver medalist Chrysopygi Devetzi holds the torch with the Olympic Flame at Athens Panathinaiko Stadium during the handover ceremony of the Olympic Flame to China for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.Chinese Olympic Committee president Liu Qi (L) holds the torch with the Olympic flame next to the president of Greece's Olympic Committee Minos Kyriakou at Athen's Panathinaiko stadium, 30 March 2008, during the handover ceremony.Beijing Olympic torch relay startsChinese President Hu Jintao lights the cauldron with Olympic torch at the welcome ceremony for the Olympic flame and launching of the Beijing Olympic torch relay at the Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, on March 31, 2008.The 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. It began at 8:00 pm on August 8, 2008, as 8 is considered to be a lucky number. The opening ceremony, directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, was described as an artistic and serious introduction of China's ancient past. The final ascent to the torch featured Olympic gymnast Li Ning. The opening ceremony was lauded by spectators and various international presses as spectacular and spellbinding and by many accounts "the greatest ever".。