This month (February 12th through February 28th), Vancouver will host the Olympic Games. The opening ceremony will start the games with all the magnificent pageantry that we have lately come to expect at the start of the Games. Amidst all this, the local officials and spectators, together with visitors and athletes from all over the world, will witness the most ancient Olympic tradition of all – the lighting of the Olympic flame.

Most people know that the origins of the Olympics come from ancient Greece. In fact, they date back to before the year 776 BC, the date from which we have written records of it. They took place in Olympia, hence the name that we still use today. And the flame was kept alight throughout the period of the Games.

The tradition was reintroduced for the modern Olympic Games in 1928 when they were held in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The famous torch relay is a modern invention from 1936. However, since it always begins at Olympia, where it is lit by the sun with the aid of curved mirrors, and ends at the opening ceremony wherever the games are being held, it is seen as reflecting the ancient traditions.

At first the ancient games only consisted of one race, a sprint which the Greeks called the stade. This is the origin of the word stadium, the place where the modern Games and other sporting events take place. Competitors at Olympia ran without clothes, though this tradition has long been abandoned. But we do have another word that relates to this – gymnasium. Based on the Greek word gymnos, meaning naked, this translates from the Greek into a school for naked exercise.

The ancient Olympic Games took place every fours years, but in 393 AD, they were abolished, as the Christian Emperor, Theodosius I, thought they were a heathen practice. In the mean time, the Games expanded to include other events such as long distance races and the pentathlon.

The time of the year when the ancient Olympics was held, was a time of peace, when battles were put on hold for several weeks so that athletes could attend the Games and be safe during their travels there and back. Our modern Games are still seen as a symbol of peace and harmony in the world as so many competing countries come together.

The year 1908 saw the first boycotts of the Games. Irish athletes refused to compete in London, because of the issue of the independence of all Ireland. The 1936 Games were held in Berlin, where German anti-Semitism was being propagated and promoted. Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon absented themselves in 1956 because of the invasion of Suez, while The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland did the same because of Soviet activities in Hungary. Indeed, incidents sparked by politics have occurred at almost every Olympic Games. It has become almost a tradition to use them to direct the attention of the world to repressed or vulnerable groups.
Other problems have been related to the athletes themselves and their zeal to win. A few have unscrupulously resorted to enhancing their natural performance with drugs. Sometimes they have been encouraged by their own coaches and authorities. In the 1960s, policing of this aspect of the Games was introduced. This has occasionally resulted in some innocent victims alongside the detection of the guilty.

The revival of the Olympic Games in 1896 was largely due to the efforts of Frenchman. Pierre de Courbetin, who felt that they would promote peace in the world. Sadly that aim was not successful and the modern world could not follow the Greek example of holding a truce for the period of the Games. During the Great War, the Games due in 1916 were not held. Nor were those of 1940 and 1944, in the time of World War II.

Nevertheless, the Games continue in times of peace and promote equality, cooperation and healthy, exercise filled life-styles. And the modern Olympics now have their own culture based on new traditions.

The Olympic Movement is made up of the different organizations responsible for making the Games happen every four years. They are headed by an International Olympic Committee, which has to select the Games’ hosts, prepare the programs of events and make various other decisions. Other important bodies in the Movement are International Federations, which are the governing bodies of individual sports, and National Olympic Committees (NOCs). Only countries that have NOCs are recognized for the purposes of entering their athletic teams.

On the Olympic flag are five interconnecting rings representing the coming together, or intermingling, of the countries and entities of the five major continents. Over 200 nations attended the last Games in Sydney in 2004.

The Olympic oath is taken during the opening ceremony when one athlete is selected to recite it on behalf of all of them. The oath promises that all competitors will keep to the rules in the “true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory and the honor” of their teams.

The Olympic creed states a philosophy that relates the Games to people’s lives, saying that it is more important to try your best, than to win. It is the philosophy that sees honor in the struggle, even if achievement is less than was hoped for. The Olympic motto also follows this theme as it is all about striving – “Swifter, Higher, Stronger.”

In 1957, an official Olympic anthem was adopted. This had been created for the first modern Olympics held in Athens in 1896. Fittingly, the music was by a Greek composer, Spyros Samaras, and the lyrics were written by another Greek, Kostis Palarnas.

For each Games, the medals have to be the same size, with the gold and silver ones made up from 92.5 percent silver, and the first place ones covered with 6 grams of gold. But the design of the medals is entrusted to the host country’s organizing committee.

The sports that are covered by the Olympics are now many and varied, spilling out from the stadiums of the host countries into other appropriate venues. Since 1900, women have had their own events alongside the men’s. In addition to the summer and winter Olympics, Paralympics are held for paraplegic and quadriplegic athletes. In this way, the modern Olympics draw ever closer to achieving Pierre de Coubertin’s ambitions to involve all kinds of people in a level playing field, promote racial and cultural harmony and continue to add to the traditions of the Olympics.

Curling Is Not Just Something You Do To Your Hair
by Nana Weston

If you tune in to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver this February chances are you'll run across the sport of curling. Four players stand on the ice while one player slides a 42 pound polished granite stone down a sheet of ice towards a bullseye and the other three players sweep the ice in front of the stone with brooms. It has been compared to shuffleboard, bowling, bocce and even croquet. And while it shares traits with all four, it is its own unique sport.

The sport of curling dates back to the 1500s in Scotland. It debuted as an Olympic sport in the original modern Olympic Games of 1924. It appeared as a demonstration sport in the 1932 Lake Placid Games and then it was gone for 56 years. It returned as demonstration sport at the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games and was finally brought back again as an official medal sport at the 1998 Nagano Games.

As a game it combines strategy with physical finesse. There are two teams of four players each. Every player on the team takes turn shooting a 42 pound stone 126 feet down a sheet of ice towards four concentric circles. The center of these circles is the bullseye, which is 12 feet in diameter. The bullseye is also known as the "house" and the very center of the bullseye is the "tee." The object is to have your stone closest to the tee. And hitting an opponent’s stone to move it out of the way and place your stone closest to the tee is all part of the game.

The name of the sport comes from the “curl,” which is the way the stone glides down the ice in a curve. The curve is caused by the shooter using a twist of the wrist when pushing the stone down the ice.

The most unique part of the game comes from the actions of the other three players after the shooter has sent the stone on its way. Armed with brooms, the three players sweep the ice in front of the stone as it travels towards the bullseye. The object of the sweeping is to help speed up or change the direction of the stone. The sweeping is directed by the team captain, aka the “skip,” who shouts out instructions to the sweepers.

Each team member gets two shots. So each team ends up with 8 attempts to get their stones closest to the tee. This total of 16 shots by both teams is called an "end." In each end after all 16 shots have been taken a team is awarded points when its stones are closest to the tee. The two teams play 10 ends in a match.

The Canadians and Norwegians who have traditionally dominated in curling are expected to be favorites in Vancouver, but there's also a new country on the horizon. China won its first world curling title in 2009 at the Women's World Championship in South Korea and they are expected to give the Canadians and Norwegians a run for their money.

This Skeleton Has Nothing To Do with Halloween
If you watch the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver this February you are likely to see an event called skeleton. It is a sliding sport like bobsleigh and luge. And it gets its name from the type of sled used. It was originally a metal sled, but now it is usually a combination of fiberglass and metal. It resembles a human skeleton - thus the name.

Skeleton first made its appearance at the Olympic Winter Games in 1928 and 1948. At that time only men competed in the event. When skeleton reappeared as a permanent sport at the Olympic games in 2002 in Salt Lake City, both men and women competed in it and have ever since.

In skeleton, the athlete grasps the handles on either side of the sled and then runs as fast as possible for about 50 meters and dives onto the sled. As opposed to bobsleigh and luge where the athletes are either in a sitting position or lying on their back, in skeleton the athlete is flying headfirst on his or her stomach down the track. Also, unlike bobsleigh and luge, there are no brakes or steering mechanisms on the skeleton. The athletes steer the sled by shifting their bodies very slightly. Skeleton is not for the faint of heart as speeds can exceed 80 mph.

Winners are determined by the fastest time down the course. And the difference between first and second place can be less than 0.01 second. The elite athletes in this sport combine a sprinter’s explosive start with experience and finesse at finding the best line down the course. Steering smoothly through each turn is the only way to keep sled speed up. One small bump in a turn can turn a winning run into a losing one. At the 2010 Olympic Games, athletes will have to negotiate a 1,458 meter long icy track with 16 corners.

Although the U.S. has won more skeleton Olympic medals than any other nation with six, the Canadians and Germans are expected to be favorites in Vancouver. Both nations have made excellent showings in all the run-up events to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.