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Practice in Reading Read and translate text b “Modern Olympic Games” Post-Text work.

Task 1. Answer the following questions:

  1. Who did the initiative which brought about the modern Olympic revival come from?

  2. What country stood at the very cradle of the modern Olympic movement?

  3. Who devoted his whole life to the physical education of young people?

Task 2. Make up a program of the first modern Olympic Games using the following kinds of sport given below.

УЭ-3

Text C

THE OLYMPIC SYMBOL

Five rings or circles originally represented five conti­nents, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and North and South America. Their true concept1 is the sporting friend­ship of all peoples of the earth.

THE OLYMPIC MOTTO

The motto of the Olympic Games is: "Citius, Altius,

Fortius".

The words Citius — Altius — Fortius mean Faster, Higher, Stronger.

THE OLYMPIC CREED

The most important thing in the Olympics is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle.

THE OLYMPIC OATH

"In the name of all competitors I promise that we will take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules4 which govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams"5. For the first time the Olympic Oath rang out at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in the Belgian city of Antwerp (1920). The idea of the reviving the ancient tradition of pronouncing an oath of allegiance6 to the Olympic ideals was Pierre de Coubertin's.

The olympic flag

The Olympic flag, a white silk square with five inter­secting rings embroidered on it in blue, yellow, black, green and red, was raised for the first time at the Games opening ceremony in the Belgian city of Antwerp (1920).

The idea behind it was simple: the five rings repre­sented the five continents, the six colors (including the white background of the panel) represented the national colors of all countries without exception.

Olympic award

From 1896 the medal (gold, silver and bronze) became the sole official Olympic award. At the first Games in 1896 sportsmen contested medals in 12 events. At the 1980 Games the men competed in 24 disciplines and the women, in 14.

Olympic champion

The title of Olympic champion is the only sporting title that is awarded for life. The prefix "ex" cannot be added to a sportsman's name that has been inscribed in gold in the Olympic chronicle: there are no ex-champions of the Olympic Games and never will be. Every four years new names of victors appear in the. Eternal Book of Olympic history to continue the list begun by the great sportsmen in 1896. And in this list more than 700 sportsmen from the Soviet Union occupy their rightful place among the athletes from different countries of the world.

Olympic medals

Olympic awards have had a history of their own. What kinds of awards were given to champions in ancient times? In the beginning it was some sort of valuable gift1, usually a domestic animal. Then the victor was given a trophy: a slave girl plus a large 22-measure goblet. Second place finishers were awarded a six-year-old mare with a pack mule thrown in.

The awards system was changed starting with the Sixth Olympiad (of ancient times). A laurel wreath2 came to be the official prize at all competitions. In addition, other honors were awaiting the victor. First of all, not only the winner, but his whole town or village was pro­claimed champion. Later the victor was presented with valuable gifts, and his name was written in the columns standing in Olympia.

From 1896 on the medal (gold, silver and bronze) became the sole official Olympic award. But at the First Olympiad in Athens the famous runner received not only a well-deserved gold medal3 and became a national hero, he was also given a house as a gift from the Greek king and a restaurateur offered him free dinner at his establi­shment for the rest of his life4.

The first medal in modern Olympic competition was presented on April 6, 1896 to the American track-and-field athlete James Brenden Connolly for a triple jump of 13.71 meters.

The first woman to win an Olympic medal was the tennis player Charlotte Cooper in Paris in 1900.