1. Label the pictures with the Olympic events below. Can you name any other Olympic events?

● javelin • pole vault • shot put • high jump

● hurdles • hammer

2. The numbers below refer to items in the text. Match the numbers in column A to the items in
column B.
A B

1)________776 BC a number of events at the first modern Games in Athens

2) ________1892 b number of rings on the Olympic flag
3) ________42 c number of athletes at the Olympic Games in Sydney
4)________10,615 d restarting the Games is Proposed
5)________ 1924 e Olympian Games officially took place for the first time
6) ________5 f first Winter Olympics

3. a) Read the article and fill in the sentences (A-l). There is one extra sentence that you do not need
to use. There is an example (0) at the beginning.
A. It was a fairly small affair, with fewer than 300 athletes from 13 countries competing in 42 different
events, but the Games were considered to be a great success.
B. These are also held every four years and take place two years after the Summer Games.
C. You don't have to be an athlete to appreciate the Olympic Games.
D. The modern Games date back to 1896, but the original Olympian Games go back much further still.
E. However, the organisers of the Olympics have always wanted the event to be more than just a sporting
competition.
F. The founder of the modern Games was a French sportsman and educator, Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
G. Each ring is supposed to represent one of the continents that Olympic athletes come from.
H. Amazingly, that's over 1100 years of sporting competition.
I. The focal points of the Olympics are usually the athletic, swimming and gymnastic events.
 A human success story
The Olympic Games are one of the planet's greatest sporting spectacles. Every four years, the world
focuses its attention on the lucky city that is hosting the Games, as thousands of athletes take part in
hundreds of different sports events.
The Olympic Games have a long and impressive history. 0 D The ancient Greeks regularly arranged
sporting competitions, but by far the most famous were the Olympian Games, which took place at Olympia
every four years. The Games were officially held for the first time in 776 BC, although games had certainly
taken place there long before then. Historians have discovered lists of winners from the Games between 776
BC and 217 AD, and they also know that the Games were not abolished until 393 AD. 1_______
The Olympian Games were always held in the summer, and athletes from all the Greek city states were
invited to come and take part.
This idea of bringing people together was one of the main reasons for creating the modern Olympic
Games. 2_______In 1892, he proposed restarting the Games, in hope that this would help bring about peace
and encourage international sporting competition. Just four years later, the first modern Olympics took place
in Athens. 3 _____One definite highlight, especially popular with the hosts, was when Louis Spyridon, a
Greek shepherd, won the marathon event.
Ever since then, the Games have gone from strength to strength. In Paris, in 1900, there were already
more than 1,000 competitors, including the first female Olympians. By the time the Games reached Sydney,
100 years later, 199 countries sent athletes. 4 _____ However, more and more sports are included in the
Olympics at each Games, and in Sydney 10,651 athletes took part in more than 300 different events.
1924 saw the introduction of the Winter Olympic Games. 5___ A further addition was the Paralympics,
a championship for disabled athletes, which has also become more and more popular in recent years. This
now takes place directly after the Summer Games, in the same host city.
The Olympic motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius (Latin for "faster, higher, stronger"), which stresses the
athletic excellence that all Olympians aim for. Over the years, the Games have certainly attracted the
world's greatest sportsmen and women. 6 ____They insist that taking part is just as important as winning.
The best-known symbol of the Games, the Olympic flag, was designed by Pierre de Coubertin. The flag is
composed of five differently coloured rings (blue, yellow, black, green and red) on a white background. 7
___ The fact that the rings are interlocking is meant to show that the whole planet can come together in
peace for the Olympic competition. The Olympic flame, introduced in 1934, represents the purity of the
Olympic ideal. The flame is lit at Olympia, the site of the ancient Games, and carried by relay across the
globe as a sign of the link between the ancient and modern Games.
For sixteen days every four years, the world's greatest sporting event brings together thousands of the
finest athletes to compete against each other. Furthermore, if we consider all those who watch the Games
live or on TV, the Olympics can truly be said to unite hundreds of millions of people all around the world in
celebration of sporting excellence.

4. Fill in the correct word, then choose any five phrases to make up sentences.
• athletic • ancient • ideal • disabled
• coloured • whole • city • event
• great • points
1. …………..city 6. ………….. rings
2. sporting …………… 7. focal ……………
3. host ……………….. 8. …………… success
4. …………. excellence 9. …………… athletes
5. the Olympic…….. the ………… planet

5. Fill in: over, to, by, for, of, from and in. Then make up sentences using the phrases.
1 ............... far; 2 invited ................ sth; 3 the reason ................. sth; 4................ the hope that; 5................
strength ............. strength; 6 to aim ............... sth; 7 a sign ............. sth; 8 the founder .............. sth; 9
.............. the years; 10 designed .............. sb; 11 to be composed……………….