Exercise 5. Read the text and find answers to the questions

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Exercise 5. Read the text and find answers to the questions

1. What is an effective means of fostering friendship, understanding and cooperation among the people?

2. When and where did the Olympics begin?

3. Who was allowed to take part in the Games?

4. What was the prize for the winner?

5. When were the Olympics stopped?

6. Who was the initiator of revival of the Olympic Games?

7. What was Pierre de Coubertin?

8. How many countries sent their representatives to Paris?

9. When did they meet?

10. Did Russia take part in the meeting?

11. When and where were the first International Olympic Games held?

12. Who is allowed to take part in the Olympic Games now?

13. When did Russian sportsmen take part in the Games for the first time?

14. What were the results?

15. When did the athletes of the former Soviet Union take part in the Olympics for the first time?

16. What winter sports are included in the programme of the Olympics?

17. What is the motto of the Olympics?

TEXT

OLYMPIC GAMES

Sport is an integral part of our modem civilization, and its importance grows rapidly. It is not only an almost everyday activity of the common people but also an effective means of fostering friendship, understanding and co-operation among different nations through peaceful competition. Olympic Games are the best means of cooperation between the sportsmen of different countries.

The Olympics have a very big history. They began in 776 B.C. and took place every four years for nearly 1,200 years at Olympia in Greece. Only Greek athletes were allowed to compete in the Games: women were not allowed to take part or even to watch the Games. The prizes for the winners were wreaths made of branches of olive trees. In 394 A.D. the games were stopped by Roman Emperor Theodosius.

At the end of the XIX century, a French public figure Pierre de Coubertin proposed a motion to revive the tradition of the Olympic Games. He managed to organize a meeting of the supporters of the Games.

On the 23d of June 1894 in Paris the representatives of 12 countries, including Russia, unanimously adopted the division to revive Olympic Games.

The first International Olympic Games were held at Athens in 1896.

From then and until present time Olympic Games have been international and the number of athletes taking part and the number of events of the programme have increased. In these games only amateurs or non-professional athletes can take part. The motto of the Olympics “Citius, altius, fortius” puts the emphasis on personal not team performance and achievement. Officially there are individual and team victors, but not victor countries.

For the first time Russian athletes took part in the Olympics in 1908 and the team including only 5 sportsmen won three medals: the gold medal was won by N.Panin- Kolomenkin (figure skating) and two silver medals were won by N. Orlov and Petrov (Greco-Roman wrestling).

The athletes of the former Soviet Union first took part in the XV Olympic Games in 1952 after the National Olympic Committee was organized in 1951.

In the beginning, the Olympic programme included only summer sports. Winter sports were brought into the Olympic Programme through the organization of special Winter Games first held in France at Chamonix in 1924 with competition in ice hockey, speed skating, figure skating, and skiing.

These are the basic events of the winter programme with the addition of bobsleigh (in 1932), luge [lu:ʒ] (in 1964) and ice dancing (in 1976).

Exercise 6. Fill in prepositions:

1. ...the end....XIX century

2. everyday activity.... the common people

3. to compete .... the Games

4. wreath made .... olive branches

5. the representatives .... 12 countries

6. means .... cooperation.... the sportsmen

7. Russian athletes took part.... the Olympics

8. the medal was won .... N.Orlov

9. ice dancing was brought.... the Olympic programme ... 1976

10. competition .... ice hockey

Exercise 7. Retell the text according to the plan:

1. The importance of the Olympic Games.

2.The early history of the Olympics.

3.Pierre de Coubertin and his role in the revival of the Olympic Games.

4.The programme of the Olympics.

5.Russian athletes and the Olympics.

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