Peter+Zimmermann+Olympic+Essay

Peter Zimmermann Mrs. Kerr Block-2 March 17, 2011 The Olympics The Olympics have a long history that dates back before the birth of Christ. They originally started in 776 BC and went on until 393 AD when they were stopped by the Emperor of Rome. That began a 1,500 year period in which the Olympics were not played. The Olympics were brought back in 1896, which started the era of the Modern Olympics that is still going on today. The Olympics are a part of most countries, which send athletes to compete in the great sports that are played in the both the winter and summer. One of the most challenging winter sports is curling. The Olympics are remarkable because they have a rich modern history and because of the exciting games like curling. First, the Modern Olympics began in 1896 with only summer sports, and were joined by the Winter Olympics in 1924. A French man named Pierre de Couberti revived and brought back the Olympics. He first proposed the idea of bringing back the Olympics in 1892 and, after a few tries at bringing them back, the idea finally sparked interest and the Olympics were back. The first Modern Olympics were held in 1896 in Athens, Greece (Guttmann). However, the Olympics where cancelled in 1916, 1940, and 1944. They were cancelled because of World War I and World War II and later resumed in 1948 (Notos). At first, both the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics were held every four years in the same year. Now they are held in different years. They are still held every four years, but they have two years in between each Olympics (Notos). The Modern Olympics are one of the most popular sporting events in the world with millions of people who follow them on television, radio and by traveling to see them in person. Also, their popularity has grown so much that over 10,000 athletes compete each time they are held (Maps of World). They have a great history because of their popularity and their many challenging sports, one of the most challenging of which is curling. Interestingly, even though curling is a very popular Olympic sport today, it was not part of the Winter Olympics for 56 years, between 1932 and 1988. Curling is one of the few indoor Winter Olympic sports and many people like curling because it is a game of strategy and teamwork. A match of curling is made of two teams with four players each. The goal of the game is to get the 42 pound stones down a sheet of ice and into a bulls-eye made of four connected circles. The shooter starts by curling the stone down the ice and the three other teammates try to speed up or change the direction of the stone by using ice mops. The team is led by its captain, who is called the Skip (Morrison, Frantz). People also like curling because it has a wide variety of medal winners. The all-time curling gold medal leader is a tie among Canada, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. The US has one bronze medal in its brief history. The only other teams to win curling medals are Finland and China (DatabaseOlympics). Along with being tied with the most curling gold medals of all time, Canada is also one of the USA’s top competitors. The Canadian team finished second in the 2010 Winter Olympics and demolished the USA team 9-2 (Sports Illustrated). Curling is a great sport in the Winter Olympics that is gaining more excitement with every Olympics. In conclusion, the Olympics are extraordinary because they have a prosperous modern history and because their games, such as curling, are very entertaining. The Modern Olympics’ rich history keeps on changing with every Olympics because new countries join the games, many records are broken, and new games are introduced. It is because of these things that the Modern Olympics continue to be one of the most popular sporting events in the world.