Olympic Games

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Olympic flag

The Olympic Games is a sports event that takes place in a different city every four years. It includes many of the best athletes from all over the world. The first modern Games were held in Athens in 1896.

There are separate games for the summer and winter. The Summer Olympic Games has many sports, including athletics (track and field events such as sprint, marathon, and discus), swimming, gymnastics, cycling, boxing, soccer, weightlifting, wrestling, basketball, and many other sports. The Winter Olympic Games also have many sports, which include skiing, speed skating, luge, bobsled, figure skating, and ice hockey.

Athletes win medals made of gold, silver, and bronze for coming in first, second, and third place.

The most recent Summer Olympics were held in 2004 in Athens, Greece; before that, they were held in Sydney, Australia in the year 2000. The next ones will be held in Beijing, China, in 2008, and then London, Great Britain in 2012.

The most recent Winter Olympics were held in 2006 in Torino, Italy; before that, they were held in Salt Lake City, United States, in 2002. The next ones will be held in Vancouver, Canada in 2010.

[edit] The Olympic Rings

The Olympic Rings became the symbol of the Olympic Games in 1913. The five rings represent the fact that countries from all five continents of the world take part in the games. Each ring is a different color, and at least one of the five colors (Blue, Yellow, Black, Green, and Red) can be found on the flag of every country in the world. The rings do not represent particular continents.

[edit] Opening ceremony

The Olympic torch, which is lit at the opening ceremony

In the opening ceremony, the stadium is opened. Special events happen like songs, performances, dances, etc. The Olympic theme song is played (it was written by John Williams) The torch is brought in after being carried around the world, from Athens. Doves are released, but fake ones — they stopped using real ones after they started to fly into the torch and burn! Then, every athlete from each country comes into the stadium in alphabetical order, except for the country where the games are held, which goes last).