Olympic Facts - Home Learning

I have given the children a piece of writing about the Olympic Games. For their home learning this week I have asked them to try to learn some facts that are mentioned on the sheet so that they can take part in an "Olympic Quiz" on Friday afternoon. (They should not learn the countries where previous Games have taken place; apart from the first one- Athens 1896 and -also London 1948)
They will also be given some time in school to read the text with their "Reading Groups".

Here is a copy of the text:

 Modern Olympic Games – Some interesting facts



The best amateur athletes in the world match skill and endurance in a series of contests called the Olympic Games. Almost every nation sends teams of selected athletes to take part.


The purposes of the Olympic Games are to foster the ideal of a "sound mind in a sound body" and to promote friendship among nations.


The modern Olympic Games are called the “Olympic Games” because of athletic contests held in ancient Greece.


They were banned in AD 394 but were revived and made international in 1896.


They take place every four years.


The Winter Games were added in 1924.


World War I forced cancellation of the Olympics in 1916.


World War 2 forced cancellation in 1940, and 1944.


After 1992, the “Winter” and “Summer” Games were no longer held within the same calendar year.


Winter Games were scheduled for 1994, after only a two-year interval, and every four years thereafter.


The Summer Games were scheduled for 1996, and every four years thereafter.


In most events men and women do not compete together against each other.


Summer and Winter Sports - more facts for you


Summer sports include archery, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian events (horseback riding), fencing, field hockey, gymnastics, handball, judo, rowing, shooting, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo, weight lifting, wrestling, and yachting.


Winter events include skating, skiing, bobsledding, luge, tobogganing, ice hockey, and the biathlon (skiing-shooting).


The Decathlon (from the Greek words deka, meaning "ten," and athlon, "contest"). Contestants compete in ten different running, jumping, and throwing events. The athlete scoring the greatest total number of points is the winner. The Pentathlon, consisting of five such events- based upon five military skills--fencing, riding, running, shooting, and swimming. The Marathon race, covering 26 miles 385 yards, honors the ancient Greek runner Pheidippides, who ran from Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory against the Persians.

DM