sunshinecoastdaily.com.au Wednesday, August 1, 2012 | PAGE 25DailyDaily
THE Games of the XXX Olympiad arenow in full swing after their officialopening on July 27.Big Ben kicked off proceedings, her-alding the start of the London 2012Olympic Games by chiming loudly forthree minutes. Then more than onebillion sets of eyes worldwide turned tothe Olympic stadium to be dazzled byfireworks, entertainment and the for-mal proceedings of the Opening Cere-mony. Queen Elizabeth II played herpart. After co-starring with James Bond(aka Daniel Craig) in a clever video, shewent on to declare the Games open.At the end of the 3-hour-45-minuteshow, seven teenage athletes in keepingwith the London 2012 “inspire a gener-ation” motto, lit the cauldron made upof 204 copper petals brought in witheach team during the athlete’s parade.With the Olympic flame alight inLondon the Games could begin.
Opening CeremonyProcession OrderDuring the opening ceremony of theOlympic Games, the procession of ath-letes is always led by the Greek team,followed by all the other teams in al-phabetical order (in the language of thehost country), except for the last teamwhich is always the team of thehost country.In which position did theAustralian team enter thestadium?
Burning BrightThe London2012torch relay hasbeen on a 70-dayjourney passing
famous landmarks, through villages,towns and cities throughout the UnitedKingdom.The Olympic flame began its tour atthe traditional lighting ceremony thattook place in front of the ruins of theTemple of Hera in Olympia, Greece onMay 10 and finished at the London Olym-pic Stadium where it was used to lightthe Olympic cauldron during the Open-ing Ceremony.
The Flame will remain lit for theduration of the Games and will beextinguished at the closingceremony. The torch haspassed through the handsof 8000 torchbearers whocarried the flameapproximately 8000miles (12,800km)during the relay.
The London line-up
FAST FACTS◗ The gold coloured torch used in therelay is made from lightweightaluminium ,weighs 800gm and is800mm high◗ A torch relay has taken place at everySummer Games since 1936.◗ In Badminton, the Olympic shuttlecockcontains 16 feathers, each plucked fromthe left wing of a goose. The shuttlecockcan travel at speeds in excess of400km/h.◗ In water polo of the seven players in ateam only the goalkeeper can touch theball with both hands.◗ For the first time in Australian Olympichistory the official Opening ceremonyuniform was unveiled ahead of theGames.
BadmintonBADMINTON made its full Olympicdebut at the 1992 Games. Athleteshave lightning quick reactionsmaking it a fast, dynamic sport. Theaim is to hit a shuttlecock over thenet into the opponent’s half of thecourt within the boundaries so itcannot be returned. Matches areplayed over the best of three games.The first to reach 21 points by twoclear points wins a game. At London2012 medal events are men’s andwomen’s singles and doubles, andmixed doubles.AUSSIES COMPETING: Leanne Choo,Victoria Na, Renn Veeran, RossSmith, Glenn Warfe (pictured)
Water poloTWO teams of seven in a pool eachtrying to push, pass or carry the ballover their opponent’s goal line into anetted goal may sound simple butthis sport is gruelling. Players haveto be strong technically andtactically as they cannot touch thesides or bottom of the pool duringplay. Matches are divided into fourperiods of eight minutes. Each teamhas 30 seconds to score before theball returns to the opposition. AtLondon 2012, 12 men’s and eightwomen’s teams will compete in twomedal competitions. Men’s waterpolo has featured on the Olympicprogram since the Paris 1900 Games.Women’s water polo was introducedat the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.AUSSIES COMPETING: The Stingers(women’s team pictured); TheSharks (men’s team)PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES
COMPETITIONCATEGORY
TOMORROW:PART FOURTOMORROW:PART FOUR
GO ONLINE by visiting yournewspaper’s website. You’ll find theaddress on the front page.Look for the NiE logo at the top of
the page and click. This will link youto APN’s NiE webpage.The London Line-Up Online will
provide you with activities to do,videos to watch and direct you tointeresting links associated with theOlympic Games.
TASKTIMEONLINE
TASKTIMEONLINE
In uniformAS THE Australian Team marchedinto the London 2012 OpeningCeremony the pride they all hadwearing our national colours wasobvious. The white pants/skirts anddark green blazers finished withblue trim, gold buttons, goldAustralian emblem and Olympicrings looked classy. The outfit wascomplemented by a pair of iconicwhite Dunlop Volley shoes withbottle green and navy trim, greenlaces, a gold embroidered Olympicring motif and an “AUS 2012” goldtag. On the sporting fields andarenas our Aussie athletes areoutfitted in competition wear ofgreen and gold with a touch offluoro yellow, hidden kangarooprints and the Southern Cross.Designed and made by adidas theyincorporate state-of-the arttechnology to help the athletesperform their best. Hopefully we willsee the team uniforms on thepodium regularly throughoutthe Olympics.
After 70 days travelling from Greece, the Olympic Flamearrived at the London 2012 Olympic Games openingceremony to light the cauldron and start the events.
WHAT’SNEWS
Check out what’shappening at London 2012in the two page spread inthe Sports Pages oftoday’s paper.
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
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sunshinecoastdaily.com.au Wednesday, August 1, 2012 | PAGE 25DailyDaily
User: Paul.Stuart Time: 07-31-2012 09:35 Product: SCN PubDate: 01-08-2012 Zone: All Edition: Main Page: NIE_01 Color: CMYK
