Sports and games (olimpics)

Sports are very good for active relaxation and are important for our physical and mental health. The man or woman who takes regular exercise will stay fit, build up stamina and keep a youthful shape. Moreover, even moderate exercise, that increases your heartbeat, will help to prevent heart diseases, as it lowers blood pressure, reducing the strain on the heart ('s pumping action).

However you should remember that too much exercise can be harmful, as it shuts blood from the internal organs to the muscles, thus damaging tissues and lowering resistance to infection.

Besides those who go in for sports on a professional basis, run the risk of getting serious traumas. So just be moderate if you want to be healthy.

There are lots of types of sports and games. They can be outdoor and water (aquatic) sports.

Outdoor sports are golf, skiing, windsurfing, marathon-running, climbing, tourism, horse-riding and rallies.

Indoor sports include table-tennis, gymnastics and chess. Ball games, athletics, tennis, shooting, skating may be practiced both outdoors and indoors.

There are also aquatic sports - water-skiing, swimming, diving, water-polo, rowing.

People all over the world go in for sports. Millions of others are just spectators; they like to attend matches, watch them on TV or listen to them on the radio and keep their fingers crossed for their favorite teams. There are a lot of important sport events, such as the World and European Championships and Cups in various sports.

But the Olympic Games are the most famous. They are held every 4 years. They have their summer and winter parts which change once every 2 years. The Olympics are very important, because they help people from different countries meet each other and show how good they are, setting high standards. International sport creates good will between the nations, if the common peoples of the world can meet one another at football, they will have less desire to meet on the battle-field.

The Olympics are a real symbol of peace, harmony and friendship. During the ancient Games there was always a truce in any Greek war.

The original games began in ancient Greece in 776BC. These games were the part of the festival held every 4 years in honour of the god Zeus, at a place called Olympia. There were contests in such athletic skills as boxing, wrestling, throwing, the javelin, long jumping and riding. The Olympic Games were a male festival. Women were not allowed to compete in the Games, or even to watch them. The victors were crowned with olive leaves rather than with gold medals.

The classical Games continued for over a thousand years and were abandoned(banned) in 394 AD by the emperor Theodosious upon the request of the Church that considered the Games to be nothing but a pagan ritual.

The growth of interest in sport in the 19^th century and the organization of annual and traditional sport competition led to the idea of reviving the Olympic Games. Baron Pierre de Coubertins, French politician and aristocrat, was able to find the supporters of the idea. So in 1890, the ancient Olympia saw the modern Olympic fire. Since that year the medal (gold, silver and bronze) became the official Olympic award.

The best known symbol of the Olympic movement is the five linked ring's, which represent the five continents of the world. The Olympic flag itself is white arid the rings in 5 colours: blue, yellow, black, green and red. Any national flag contains at least one of these 5 colours.

The flag was raised for the 1^st time at the Games opening ceremony in the Belgian city of Antwerp in 1920. The first Olympic Oath was also taken there.

The Olympic Motto is "Faster, Higher, Stronger"(Citius, Altius, Fortius) and the Olympic Creed is "it is the participation, not the victory that matters".

The title of Olympic Champion is the only sporting title that is awarded for life. There are no ex-champions of the Olympic Games and never will be.

At first, the modern Games were also limited to men (just like ancient ones). Women first competed in the Games in 1910, playing golf, but real women's participation began in Paris in 1924with the inclusion of women's athletics in the program. Winter Olympic Games were first held in 1924 in France at Chamonix.

The Olympic Games are extremely popular, thanks to television; hundreds of million people watch every moment of them. And unfortunately this popularity causes some troubles. First of all, millions of spectators are a great audience for acts of terrorism or political protest (for example 50 non-communist nations boycotted the Moscow Games in 1980 in protest at the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.

Doping scandals are another big problem of the Olympics. Historians consider doping as old as the first Olympic Games in 776 BC. Ancient athletes took such stimulators as mind distracting or pain suppressing mushrooms, herbal and wine extracts.

Since them, every Olympics had large scandals around doping tests. The athletes who are proved to have been taking and disqualified.

The last problem is money. There are no financial prizes at the Olympics, as all the athletes are supposed to be "amateurs". But in fact most of them are professionals and this rule seems to be ridiculous to them.

Despite all these problems the Olympic flame still burns. Political, doping and money problems come and go but the games continue, because that's what the majority of people want.

No 5. Speak about the environmentalists’ organizations, which involve the power of public opinion. Illustrate their actions that appeal to you. Prove that an individual citizen of the planet can make a contribution to keeping it safe for future generations.