Winter Games
Find the 11 sports hidden in the Olympic Winter Games word search below.
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alpine skiing figure skating slalom biathlon ice hockey snowboarding bobsled luge speed skating curling ski jumping
9 Answer Key Page 4 Page 7
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71 Olympic Games Competition Famous Olympians
If the names of famous Olympians were placed end to end, they could probably circle the globe many times. Here is an introduction to a few who earned the gold. Perhaps you will read to find out more about them. It is hoped you will continue your search to become acquainted with still other equally famous Olympic Games stars. U.S. Olympic Games Stars In Athletics (track and field) events, the name of Jesse Owens, the sharecropper’s son from Alabama, always tops the list of favorite Olympians. His four gold medals won at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games discredited Hitler’s notion of German superiority over other races. In 1984, another track sensation by the name of Carl Lewis matched Jesse Owens’ performance of 28 years before and went on to excel in the 1988, 1992, and 1996 Games. Babe Didrikson was the track star of the 1932 Olympic Games, capturing a gold medal for the U.S. in the javelin throw and another in the 800-meter hurdles. She went on to become a golf star and is still considered one of the most versatile female athletes. The decathlon winner usually holds the honor of being considered the world’s best athlete. In 1948, Bob Mathias became the youngest man to earn the gold. Four years later he won again at the age of 21. Other honored decathlon winners include Rafer Johnson (1960), Bill Toomey (1968), Bruce Jenner (1976), and Dan O’Brien (1996). Swimming and diving have seen their champions, too. After winning five gold medals in swimming in 1924 and 1928, Johnny Weissmuller went on to play the original Tarzan. Patricia McCormick practiced over 100 dives a day to achieve her goal. She swept the diving events for the United States in both the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games. Her daughter also went on to medal in diving in the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games. Greg Louganis, protégé of the 1948 Olympic Games diving star Dr. Sammy Lee, began his Olympic diving carreer in 1976, winning the silver medal on platform at the age of 16. Louganis won gold medals in the 1984 and 1988 Games. After winning two bronze medals in 1968, Mark Spitz came back to earn seven gold medals in swimming events in the l972 Olympic Games in Munich. Eddie Eagan won a gold medal in boxing in 1920 and another in four-man bobsledding in 1932. He is the only athlete to have won a gold medal in both the Olympic Games and the Olympic Winter Games. In 1980, speed skater Eric Heiden became the first to win five individual gold medals in his sport. Speed skater Bonnie Blair won five gold medals between 1988 and 1994. The sport of figure skating has brought the gold to the U.S. quite often. Winners include Tenley Albright (1956), Carol Heiss (1960), Peggy Fleming (1968), Dorothy Hamill (1976), Kristy Yamaguchi (1992), and Tara Lipinski (1998). Dick Button was a two-time gold medal winner for the men (1948 and 1952) and continued to participate in many Olympic Games as a television commentator on his sport. Hayes Alan Jenkins won a skating gold in 1956, and his brother David took it in 1960. Other men’s winners include Scott Hamilton (1984) and Brian Boitano (1988).
79 Olympic Games Competition
Famous Olympians (cont.)
Some of the most familiar names among past U.S. Olympians are found in the boxing world. Floyd Patterson won the gold for the United States in the 1952 Games and later became the heavyweight champion of the world. George Foreman won the gold in the super heavyweight division in 1968. As a professional, he defeated the 1964 winner, Joe Frazier. Later he lost to the gold medal winner of the 1960 Games, Cassius Clay, known to boxing fans as Muhammad Ali.
Other famous U.S. Olympians include: Andrea Mead Lawrence of Vermont who was the first U.S. woman to win two medals in Alpine skiing.
Harrison “Bones” Dillard who was considered one of the greatest hurdlers of all times. He won four gold medals for the U.S. in 1948 and 1952.
Al Oerter who threw the discus to win the gold in four Olympic Games (1956–1968).
Parry O’Brian who threw the shot put in four Olympic Games (1952–1964) for two gold medals and a silver medal.
80 Olympic Games Competition
Famous Olympians (cont.) Foreign Stars Leonidas of Rhodes, perhaps the greatest runner of all time, won the 200- meter, 400- meter, and hoplite in four Olympic Games from 164 B.C. to 152 B.C.
Paavo Nurmi, known as the “flying Finn,” first competed in 1920. He won seven gold and three silver medals for Finland over three Olympic Games. He was known for his explosive starts and habit of boasting ahead of time about his winning performances.
Daley Thompson of Great Britain became the pride of his country by winning the decathlon in 1980 and 1984.
Dawn Fraser, Australia’s popular freestyle swimmer, competed in three successive Olympic Games (1956, 1960, and 1964). She earned one silver and five gold medals.
Sonja Henie of Norway was only 11 years old when she appeared in her first Olympic Games in 1924. She did not win that year, but she later won three gold medals in figure skating (1928, 1932, and 1936). After her figure skating career she became a popular movie star.
In 1956, Anton (Tony) Sailer became the hero of Austria as the first skier to sweep gold medals in all three Alpine events.
In 1968, Jean Claude Killy of France succeeded in repeating Sailer’s feat. In 1992, he was once again in the spotlight as he secured and organized the Games for Albertville, France. These Games took place in the Alpine mountains only a few miles from where Killy had grown up and first learned to ski.
The West Germans were hoping for the same three Alpine medals in 1976 from their skiing sensation, Rosi Mittermaier. She won the first two races but lost the Giant Slalom by only .12 of a second.
The beginning of the gymnastic craze is often credited to 17-year-old Olga Korbut of the Soviet Union, but she did not win a gold medal in individual event competition. Her aggressive and daring style amazed the fans at the 1972 Games. Four years later, Nadia Comaneci of Romania collected seven perfect tens, the highest score in gymnastics. Nadia won three gold medals in Montreal in 1976 and two in Moscow in 1980.
The continent of Africa has been the home of many brilliant runners. Abebe Bikila, used to running barefoot in his native Ethiopia, saw no reason to put on shoes as he ran the marathon in the 1960 Olympic Games. After winning the gold medal in two hours and 15 minutes, he still had enough energy to take a victory lap around the stadium. In 1964, he again won the marathon, this time wearing shoes. He is the only man in Olympic Games history to win two consecutive marathons.
Runner Kipchoge Keino of Kenya won two gold and two silver medals over two Olympic Games (1968 and 1972). He wore a cap when he raced and delighted in tossing it to the crowd as he completed his final lap.
81 Olympic Games Competition
Famous Olympians (cont.)
How well do you remember the Olympic Games stars? Match each star below with his/her description in the opposite column. Use a ruler to draw a straight line from one to the other. Sammy Lee • • Popular woman diver Abebe Bikila • • Norway’s skating queen I 3 Dawn Fraser •7 • Barefoot marathon winner Jesse Owen • • Became heavyweight champ of the world E 8 Olga Korbut •S • Almost swept the Alpine for her country 12 13 Eric Heiden • • Winning Australian swimmer E 4 Cassius Clay •H S • Track star, Berlin Games
Eddie Eagan •T H 9 • Won seven gold medals in swimming Mark Spitz •I 16 • Winter and summer medalist 17 2 Rosi Mittermaier • • Sparked interest in gymnastics I Babe Didrikson •S R • Youngest decathlon winner
Patricia McCormick •14 • Won diving gold and coached another winner T Daley Thompson •15 P 5 • Swept Alpine events 6 T T Sonja Henie • • U.S. figure skating champ 10 Jean Claude Killy •1 U • Won five golds in speed skating Bob Mathias • • Two time decathlon winner for Great Britain S 11 Dick Button • • Great all-around female athlete
As you draw each straight line, you will notice that it passes through one square with a number in it and through one square with a letter. Below you will find a row of numbered boxes. Place the letters in the boxes with their matching numbers. (One is already done for you.) If you have matched all the stars correctly, you will find the answer to this riddle. What did the ancient Olympian say when he lost his olive wreath?
1234567891011121314151617 T !
82 Answer Key (cont.)
Page 75 Immediate Effects Good: aggressiveness leading to harder training, some muscle buildup Bad: “roid” rage, baldness, for women—deepening of voice and whiskers
Long-term Effects Good: none Bad: liver problems, cancer, reproductive system affected, bone growth slowed Page 77
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Page 78 Left-handed, Abbott, Michigan, Big Ten, victory, Japan Wilma, walk, basketball, track, bronze, three Ewry, wheelchair, leg, Paris, Saint Louis, London, Fanny, World War, thirty, track, field, Takacs, pistol, right, shoot, podium, gold Page 82
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141 The Winter Olympics
How much do you know about the different Olympic winter sports? Solve the puzzle below to find out.
Across Down 2. needed for all skiing events 1. team sport using sticks and pucks 5. Nordic or ______skiing 2. fire a weapon 8. In curling, the stone is thrown 3. ______or alpine skiing ______the ice. 4. Athletes ride a snow______down 9. where one skates a half-pipe. 10. a long, slender runner worn to glide 6. the goal of a bobsled or luge over snow 7. type of skiing for strength and endurance, 11. Partners compete to music in rather than speed ______dancing. 13. The ______athlon combines 12. team sport needing helmets for riding cross-country skiing and marksmanship.
41 Answer Key (cont.)
Page 40 Page 43 1 C 2 S E 3 T R Z 4 5 H O N O R G R E E C E E M U N O S 6 7 F I G H T I N G E T H Y 8 S H R D 9 10 T O L Y M P I C S 11 C H A R I O T W O S V U C 12 13 R A C E N J U M P L G S
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77 Sports of the Winter Games
Biathlon The wordbiathlon comes from the Greek word meaning “two tests.” The two “tests” that make up the Olympic biathlon are cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. The differences between these two skills make the biathlon a difficult and demanding sport.
In order to excel at cross-country skiing, biathletes must possess incredible stamina and leg strength. Then, when they reach the shooting stations, biathletes have to stop, get low, slow down their pounding heartbeats, steady their aim, and accurately fire their rifles on fixed targets. They must do this quickly, and they are penalized if they miss any shots.
The biathlon was a part of the First Games in 1924, but the sport was eliminated during the Games that immediately followed World War II (1948, 1952, and 1956). It was reinstated in 1960 and has been a part of the Olympic Winter Games ever since.
Bobsled and Skeleton Imagine hurtling down an icy track at speeds of over 110 mph (190 km/hr) and not being allowed to use your brakes! This is the case in Olympic bobsled events, where two-person and four-person crews race toward the finish line in an aerodynamic sled made of fiberglass and steel.
Unlike bobsled, skeleton is an individual sport. The skeleton slider lies facedown and headfirst as he or she races around the bobsled track at speeds of up to 80 mph (129 km/hr).
Curling Although curling did not become an official medal sport until 1998, it has been played for nearly 500 years. It might best be described as a combination of shuffleboard and chess—on ice! It is played by sending, or curling, a “stone” along a 146-foot-long (44.5 m) course toward the team’s “house.” The stone looks a bit like a tea kettle, and the house is a 12-foot-long (3.7m) area that has a bullseye in the middle. As the stone travels along, two teammates run ahead of it and sweep the surface of the ice with brooms. The way they do this determines if the stone speeds up, slows down, or changes course. Teams score points by getting their stones as close to their house as possible or by knocking their opponent’s stone away from their house.
28 Sports of the Winter Games (cont.)
Figure Skating Figure skating is among the most graceful and artistic of Olympic sports. The performances are set to music, and the skaters’ costumes can be both creative and unique.
Figure skating competitions are divided into three categories: singles, pairs, and ice dancing. In singles, one skater completes two programs (a short and a long one), in which he or she performs a series of jumps and spins. Pairs skating is very similar to singles skating, except two skaters perform the moves together. Ice dancing also features a pair of skaters, but in this event the skaters focus more on rhythm and performing to the music than they do on lifts and jumps.
Ice Hockey Ice hockey may be one of the roughest sports of modern times, but it is also one of the most action-packed. Two teams of six players each battle it out, trying to get a rubber puck past their opponent’s goalie and into the goal. The players must use speed and muscle to keep the puck away from their opponents, all while skating on a slick, icy surface surrounded by walls. It is not uncommon to see several players crash into the walls—or boards, as they are called—while chasing after the elusive puck.
Despite its rough appearance, hockey does have many rules, and penalties are often called. Break a rule and you will be sent to the penalty box for a minimum of two minutes. To make matters worse, your team has to play with one fewer player while you serve your time in the box!
Luge Luge has been around for over 100 years, but it wasn’t made an Olympic Winter Games sport until 1964. In luge, an athlete slides on a sled-like vehicle down an ice-covered course. Unlike the competitors in the sport of skeleton, however, lugers lie on their backs and travel feet-first down the path. In that position, a luger steers his or her sled by pressing down with his or her shoulders or legs. There is also a doubles event, in which two lugers work together to speed down the track.
29 Sports of the Winter Games (cont.)
Skiing With a total of 31 events, no Olympic sport has more competitions than skiing. For the Olympic Winter Games, skiing is divided into two major categories:
Alpine skiing includes the downhill (racing down a slope as quickly as possible), slalom (weaving around gates and poles), and Alpine combined (which combines the elements of the downhill and the slalom).
In the second category are Nordic events. In cross-country skiing, the athletes must have great endurance as they travel a long route. In ski jumping, skiers race down a slope, jump off a long ramp, and soar as long and as far as they can—and then they try to land smoothly. In freestyle skiing, there are three competitions: moguls, aerials, and ski cross. Moguls consist of high- speed turns on a bumpy slope. In aerials, skiers complete acrobatic leaps off of ski jumps. In ski cross—the newest event—skiers compete in heats (four skiers at a time) on a course that has a variety of features to test their skills. The winners of each heat advance to the next round, until the final four compete in the medal round.
Snowboarding This popular sport made its Olympic debut as a demonstration sport in the 1994 Olympic Winter Games and became a full-medal sport in 1998. At that time, there were two events introduced: the giant slalom and the halfpipe. In the giant slalom, racers wind down and around a course, and the best time wins. The halfpipe competition features jumps, rotations, and mid-air maneuvers. Judges decide which snowboarders performed the most difficult maneuvers with the best form. A third event, the snowboard cross, was introduced in time for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy. In this event, competitors maneuver down an obstacle-filled course and do a variety of tricks.
Speed Skating Strong legs are a requirement for those who compete in speed skating, a sport that takes place on an icy oval track. In order to reduce air resistance (and to go really fast), skaters must stay in such a low, crouched position that they often touch the track with their hands when they go around the turns.
Races cover many different distances—from high-speed short races (500 meters/547 yards for both men and women) to long, grueling tests of endurance (5,000 m/3.1 mi. for women; 10,000 m/6.2 mi. for men). In Team Pursuit, teams of three skaters compete against each other. Skaters use the air currents created by their teammates to increase their speed.
30 Winter Sports Categories Directions: In total, there will be 10 sports featured in the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Some of them have things in common with other sports. Some are completely unique. Write down every sport that fits into these categories. Some sports may fit into more than one category. Use the descriptions of the sports on pages 28–30 to help you.
Sports that Take Place on Snow Sports that Take Place on Ice
Sports that Use Skis Sports that Use Skates
Sports that Use Sleds Sports that Use Brooms
32 Answer Key (cont.) Map of Canada (page 15) Gold Medal: a. luge; b. February 22, 2010
GREENLAND UNITED ICELAND The Paralympic Winter Games (page 39) STATES Bronze-Medal Challenge: 1948—Guttman starts YUKON TERRITORY NORTHWEST competitions to help soldiers injured in battle; TERRITORIES Pacific Ocean NUNAVUT BRITISH Atlantic Ocean 1960s—ice sledge hockey is invented in Sweden; COLUMBIA ALBERTA Hudson Bay NEWFOUNDLAND Whistler 1976—first Paralympic Winter Games are
SASKAT- MANITOBA CHEWAN officially held; 2006—wheelchair curling debuts as Vancouver ONTARIO QUEBEC PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND Calgary a Paralympic event; 2010—the city of Vancouver Montreal NOVA SCOTIA CANADA UNITED ★ STATES NEW hosts the Paralympic Winter Games BRUNSWICK Ottawa Silver-Medal Challenge: 1. C; 2. B; 3. A The Four Host First Nations (page 23) Gold-Medal Challenge: Answers will vary. Accept reasonable responses. Bronze Medal: 1. D; 2. A; 3. B; 4. C Silver Medal: Answers will vary. Temperature Change (page 44) Gold Medal: Answers will vary. 1. 450°F 4. 35°–38°F 2. 32°F 5. 72°F Sports of the Winter Games (page 31) Bronze Medal: curling and snowboarding 3. 81°F 6. 9,932°F Silver Medal: 1. downhill; 2. slalom; 3. Nordic; The Metric System (page 45) 4. ski jumping; 5. moguls; 6. ski cross 1. 9 miles Gold Medal: a. 46; b. 11; c. 45 2. 479 feet Winter Sports Categories (page 32) 3. 6 ounces snow: biathlon, skiing, snowboarding 4. a. 748 pounds; b. 858 pounds ice: bobsled, curling, figure skating, ice hockey, 5. ring A: 4 yards; ring B: 8 feet; ring C: 4 feet; luge, skeleton, speed skating ring D: 12 inches skis: biathlon, skiing Math Adds Up! (page 46) skates: figure skating, ice hockey, speed skating Matty Iceberg: 47.175 sleds: bobsled, luge, skeleton Klaus Soarer: 48.654 (gold) brooms: curling Cole Snowflake: 48.045 (bronze) Where the Games Are Played (page 35) Paco Liftoff: 48.576 (silver) Bronze Medal: 1. D; 2. A; 3. B; 4. C Reginald Hawk: 48.043 Silver Medal: (from furthest north to furthest south) Tony Gliderbee: 47.469 Whistler, West Vancouver, Vancouver, Richmond Gold Medal: a. The Whistler Sliding Centre; Internet Research Sites b. UBC Thunderbird Arena; c. Cypress Mountain; For more information on the Vancouver 2010 d. BC Place Stadium Olympic Winter Games, visit these websites: ❄ The Olympic Program (page 37) www.vancouver2010.com ❄ Bronze Medal: Alpine skiing, ice hockey, www.usolympicteam.com ❄ speed skating www.olympic.org Silver Medal: 1. ice hockey, 2. curling, 3. figure skating, 4. freestyle skiing, 5. biathlon, 6. bobsled, 7. ski jumping, 8. skeleton 48