The Olympic Games What are the Olympics?

The Opening Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony attracts hundreds of millions of television viewers worldwide, as well as tens of thousands of delighted and enthralled spectators inside the Olympic stadium. It is also – first and

foremost – a majestic show, through which each host nation exhibits its culture, history, achievements and, often, its sense of humour!

The spectators also get to see all the countries taking part with their flag bearers and Olympic team parade around the stadium!

The Opening Ceremonies at the Olympic Games are an extraordinary and intricately choreographed extravaganza, featuring an amazing explosion of colour and music, which allow the host nation scope

to showcase its uniqueness.

The Opening Ceremony

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5F64CC0D24B809F9

If you want to watch the variety of clips from the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, then follow the link:

The Olympic Flame

The Olympic Flame is a symbol used to show the continuity between the the ancient and modern Olympic

Games. The lighting of the Olympic cauldron signifies the opening of the

games and it is lit until the closing ceremony.

The Olympic Games

Where did it all begin?

The Olympic Games are thought to

have started in 776BC in Greece.

The Games were part of a very

important religious festival.

The Greek Olympics inspired the modern

Olympic Games which began in 1896.

The Games were held every four years at

Olympia, a valley in southwest Greece.

The Games were held in honour of the

king of the gods, Zeus.

People from all over the Greek world

travelled to watch and take part.

Ancient Olympics

Messengers were sent out from Elis, a city near Olympia, to announce

a ‘sacred truce’ lasting one month before the games began.

This allowed people to travel to the Olympics in safety.

The truce was always honoured as the Olympic Games were a

religious festival and was much more important than war.

The city-states of Greece were very often at war, which made

travelling around the country dangerous.

The Sacred Truce

The first Olympic Games only lasted a day, and

the only event was a short race from one end of

the stadium to the other.

Gradually, more events were added to make four days

of competitions. The events included boxing, chariot,

racing, discus, javelin, long jump and wrestling.

One of the toughest events was the race for the hoplites,

men wearing armour and carrying shields.

Winners were given a wreath of leaves and a hero’s

welcome back home. Winners might have been allowed

to marry rich women, and enjoy invitations to parties, free

meals and the best seats in theatres.

Events at the Olympics

It was very hot and overcrowded, with a

very poor water supply, but this did not stop

people from coming!

The games ended with a large feast.

Traders came to do business, politicians

made speeches to the crowds and

entertainers such as acrobats and jugglers

performed.

The stadium could hold around 50,000

people. Away from the arena, most

spectators had to find somewhere to pitch

their tents or sleep rough, but athletes and

important people had hotel rooms.

Spectators

Only men, boys and unmarried girls were

allowed to attend the Olympic Games. Any

women caught sneaking in were punished!

Women could compete in races,

though only unmarried girls were allowed to

take part.

Unmarried women had their own festival at

Olympia every four years. This was called

the Heraia, held in honour of Hera, wife of

Zeus.

The winners were awarded crowns of

sacred olive branches, the same as men.

Women at Olympia

The Ancient Olympics were only held in Olympia, whereas now it is

held in a different country around the world every 4 years.

The Olympics Today

To symbolise the Ancient Olympics, the Olympic torch is carried

around the country which is hosting the Games.

The Olympic Torch

The Olympic Torch

In 2012, when the Olympic games were

held in London. The Olympic Torch made its

way through Swindon!

Mr Westman was there that day to see

Drogba hold the torch!

Former Chelsea Football Club Legend,

Didier Drogba, is pictured here holding the

Olympic Torch in the town centre!

In the Ancient Greek

Olympics there were

only ten sports.

In the Modern

Olympics there are more than twenty

different sports.

Did you know?

Sports at the Olympic Games

Running

Sports at the Olympic Games

Jumping

Sports at the Olympic Games

Throwing

Sports at the Olympic Games

Swimming

Sports at the Olympic Games

Cycling

Sports at the Olympic Games

Gymnastics

What other sports do you recognise?

Olympic Medal Table

The Rio 2016 Olympics was the most recent Summer Olympic Games, let’s check

out the medal table…

Medal Table – Top 10

Medal Table – 11 to 20

Choose an Olympic country to research…

?Which country will you pick?

Try to link your facts to sport and the Olympics!

Draw the country’s flag in the middle of the page,

then use your research to create a brainstorm of

interesting facts