The Olympics! By Matilda Coakley

Olympic Facts They originated in Olympia, Greece. They began over 2,700 years ago The games were considered a religious festival The Olympic flag is made up of five interconnected rings: red, blue, black, green and yellow. The flag was first flown in the 1920 Olympics Red, black, blue, green and yellow are used as the flag colours because at least one of those colours appear on the flag of each participating country. The five rings symbolize each significant continent The Olympics celebrate the Greek God Zeus The hosts, Greece, won the most medals (a total of 47) in 1896, the first Olympics. The first winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France.

The Torch Each year, the hosting country makes an Olympic torch, which is to be relayed by different people to different places around the hosting country before entering the Olympic stadium in July. Usually, the people who carry the torch are people with a mental or physical disability or people who have served their country and given their time for others. Each torch is unique, though all beautiful. Over half the torch bearers for this year are 12years old or less, so manufacturers have tried to make the torch as light as possible.

The Lighting of the torch Origins of the light lie in ancient Greece, where a fire was permanently burning during the Olympic games. This fire was reintroduced in 1928, at the Amsterdam Olympics and has been a part of the four-yearly games since. The burning torch relays all around the hosting country until it reaches the Olympic stadium. The torch stays alight throughout the games.

Olympic Events The Olympics consist of these sports: Archery, athletics, aquatics, diving, swimming, synchronized swimming, badminton, water polo, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, field hockey, football, gymnastics, handball, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball and weightlifting. There are many athletes that compete in each event, so there is a lot of competition!

Olympic Motto The Olympic motto is: Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger". In the Olympics you need to be fast, stronger, and aim higher; keep striving for the best. Other words used are determination, friendship, equality, respect, excellence, courage and inspiration. You need to never give up, treat your opponents well, treat everyone equally – no one deserves to be treated like they are below you -, be good at what you do, be brave and be a role model.

Olympic Mascots Every are Olympic Games have a mascot. This year, our Olympic mascots Mandeville (left on picture) and Wenlock (right). Three spikes on Wenlock’s head represent the three podiums where medals are received. Wenlock and Mandeville are animations depicting two drops of steel from a steelworks in Bolton. They are named after the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock and Stoke Mandeville Hospital. Mandeville, left, id the paralympic mascot, and Wenlock, right is Olympic mascot.

The First Mascot The history of the mascot seems to have gone on forever, however, the first Olympic mascot appeared in the 1968 Olympics in Grenoble, Schuss, a cartoon character on skis was the first ever Olympic mascot. The Olympics didn’t adopt an official mascot until the Munich (Germany) Olympics in 1972, where Waldi, a multicoloured striped dachshund was their mascot. Schuss, Grenoble mascot, left and Waldi, Germany’s 1972 dachshund mascot, right.

2016 Hosting Finalists The International Olympic Committee (IOC) convenes in Copenhagen on October 2 nd to choose the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics, and for the finalists — Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, Chicago and Tokyo — its decision marks the culmination of a journey of more than two years. The finalist country’s flags (left to right): America, Spain, Japan and Brazil

Thank You Thank you for watching this power point – I hope it has been very informative and interesting and now are knowledgeable about the Olympic Games.