Going for Gold
I love the Olympics--of course, I don't know many people who don't. I once wrote in a post that I never see Americans uniting over something non-tragic; well, scratch that! We certainly unite over the Olympics, as do most countries. We love our athletes (surely the commercials show you that). But I love watching the Olympics, especially the Winter Games. Don't get me wrong--I love the summer games. I just feel so much less guilty when I sit on the couch and watch all-day coverage in the winter when it isn't nice enough to go outside. In 2012, I didn't get to watch most of the Olympics, as I was on vacation (better planning next time), but I've watched a lot of the Sochi Games. I've been able to teach my students about the Olympics, from the history of the competition to the culture of the countries participating.
As I said, I love the national unity that stems from the Olympics. I also love getting to see other athletic greats performing from across the world. All the foreign eye-candy...I mean, come on! I love watching the Opening and Closing Ceremonies to get a peek into the culture of the host nation. As some of you may know, I've been a fan of Russian culture since I read Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago in high school (although I'd like to think my love of Russia started when I was a wee lass watching Anastasia for the billionth time). I love that the Olympics guilt me into working out, especially when they show the commercials of the athletes training in between taking their kids to school and cooking and living their normal lives. Lots of motivation there, let me tell you.
Since I have been teaching about the Olympics, I have learned a lot about the history of the games and various aspects of the games. Some of them are very interesting. Some are well known, and some are not. I will share some of those with you now.
1. The first "modern" Olympics were held in Athens in 1896.
2. In 1904, the Olympics were held in conjunction with the St. Louis World's Fair. 650 athletes participated; 580 of them were American.
3. The five Olympic Rings symbolize the 5 inhabited continents: Oceania (Australia), Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
4. The colors of the Olympic flag (white, black, blue, red, green, and yellow) were chosen because every nation participating in the Olympics has at least one of those colors on their flags.
5. The first torch relay was held in 1936 at the Berlin Games to promote Hitler's National Socialist ideals. Crazy that such an amazing part of the Olympics came to us from the Nazis.
6. At these same Olympics, the nations of Haiti and Lichtenstein discovered their flags were identical--a completely random coincidence (thank you, Dr. Sheldon Cooper).
7. Since 1896, the Olympics have only been cancelled three times: 1916, 1940, and 1944, due to World Wars I and II.
8. In 1992, the IOC decided to hold Winter and Summer Olympics in offsetting four year terms, rather than both every four years.
9. The USSR has won the third most gold medals of any country to ever participate in the Olympics, despite that they haven't competed since 1988.
10. The 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will be the first Olympics ever held on the continent of South America.
Hopefully you learned something today!
Stay gold!
As I said, I love the national unity that stems from the Olympics. I also love getting to see other athletic greats performing from across the world. All the foreign eye-candy...I mean, come on! I love watching the Opening and Closing Ceremonies to get a peek into the culture of the host nation. As some of you may know, I've been a fan of Russian culture since I read Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago in high school (although I'd like to think my love of Russia started when I was a wee lass watching Anastasia for the billionth time). I love that the Olympics guilt me into working out, especially when they show the commercials of the athletes training in between taking their kids to school and cooking and living their normal lives. Lots of motivation there, let me tell you.
Since I have been teaching about the Olympics, I have learned a lot about the history of the games and various aspects of the games. Some of them are very interesting. Some are well known, and some are not. I will share some of those with you now.
1. The first "modern" Olympics were held in Athens in 1896.
2. In 1904, the Olympics were held in conjunction with the St. Louis World's Fair. 650 athletes participated; 580 of them were American.
3. The five Olympic Rings symbolize the 5 inhabited continents: Oceania (Australia), Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
4. The colors of the Olympic flag (white, black, blue, red, green, and yellow) were chosen because every nation participating in the Olympics has at least one of those colors on their flags.
5. The first torch relay was held in 1936 at the Berlin Games to promote Hitler's National Socialist ideals. Crazy that such an amazing part of the Olympics came to us from the Nazis.
6. At these same Olympics, the nations of Haiti and Lichtenstein discovered their flags were identical--a completely random coincidence (thank you, Dr. Sheldon Cooper).
7. Since 1896, the Olympics have only been cancelled three times: 1916, 1940, and 1944, due to World Wars I and II.
8. In 1992, the IOC decided to hold Winter and Summer Olympics in offsetting four year terms, rather than both every four years.
9. The USSR has won the third most gold medals of any country to ever participate in the Olympics, despite that they haven't competed since 1988.
10. The 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will be the first Olympics ever held on the continent of South America.
Hopefully you learned something today!
Stay gold!
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