Sports, Olympic games

Sports

1. INTRODUCTION

• The impact of sport on human development
• How sport helps us physically and mentally and develop some personal qualities and the whole personality

1. VOCABULARY

• Kinds of sport→Indoor X outdoor X both

summer X winter X all season

games X individual sports

professional X amateur

• Rules
• Sport facilities and gym equipment
• Sportswear
• Sports events (competitions → Olympics)
• Favourite sportsmen, record breakers

1. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPORTS AND GAMES
2. SPORTS IN THE US
3. SPORTS IN GREAT BRITAIN
4. SPORTS IN OUR COUNTRY+IN OUR TOWN (the opportunities, facilities we have)

1. SPORTS AND HEALTH

• professional sport
• extreme sport activities
• dangerous sports
• drugs and sport (steroids, anabolics)

1. SHOULD SPORT BE PROFESSIONALIZED AND COMMERCIALIZED

• advertisements
• money and sports

1. MY ATTITUDE TO SPORT
2. OLYMPIC GAMES

1. THE IMPORTANCE OF SPORTS

Sports are one of the most popular leisure activities which help us to keep fit both physically and mentally.

Such a form of relaxation is refreshing after long sitting at school or at work. It can help take off some weight and makes use of our skills and strength. During sports events we can meet a lot of new people so it´s a kind of social event and it gives us the opportunity to know how it feels to be a winner and a loser. Regular gentle exercise provides the most benefits and usually is the most enjoyable exercise which can improve the efficiency of our heart and lungs. It helps to improve breathing and blood circulation and can lower blood pressure significantly. Exercise also helps to prevent stiffness in joints and generally reduces aches and pains and increases muscle tone and bone strength.

On the other hand it also helps us forget our problems, it makes us happy, brings us joy and relaxation. During doing sports you regain energy and the ability to concentrate again on your work. What is more, it strengthens not only our body, but our will, self-discipline and many ther good qualities.

1. Differences between sports and games

Sports have a practical value. For example target practice.Soccer, baseball, tennis, etc. are games. They have no practical value beyond the enjoyment we derive from them and are used for competitions. For example weight- lifting is a sport because it is based in usefulness: when you get stronger and more physically capable. But it can also be a game when you use it as the basis for a competition. All sports can be games, but not all games are sports.

1. SPORTS IN GREAT BRITAIN

The British are great lovers of competitive sports and when they are neither playing nor watching games, they like to talk about them. England was the first home of many modern popular games. Among these, football is the most wide spread. As it is commonly known, in this collective game two teams of 11 members play with a ball on a grass playing field. The purpose is to kick the ball so as to get it into the opposite goal. In Britain, there are great number of football clubs. For example the best known Manchester United, Liverpool, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, Arsenal and many more. In London there is one of the world´s biggest football stadiums- the Wembley Arena.Football is also played in the USA and it´s called soccer. Rugby is also very popular. It was first played at rugby town Rugby School, England.

While golf is of Scotish orgins, cricket was and still remains an English national game. The famous football stadium is called Wembley. Next to football, the chief spectator sport is horse-rasing. The best known sleeple-chase race is the Great National, run at Aintree, Liverpool. Another annual sporting event is the famous university rooving race between Oxford and Cambrige which is held on the river Thames. Tennis season reaches it´s peak every year at Wimbledon tournament which is played in London in early June. For relaxation squash is also played.

1. SPORTS IN THE US

In the USA most sports and games have been to a great extend commercionalized. The four foremost professional games there are American football, baseball, basketball (NBA, Chicago Bulls, L. A. Lakers are the most popular basketball clubs), ice-hockey (it has its roots in Canada though). These games are turned into big shows in which the sports stars make a lot of money. American football differs from European mainly in the shape of the ball (oval),the way in which it is carried by the players (in their hands), and the form of scoring (touchdowns at field goals).Other sports such as the formal Indian game lacross or field hockey are also popular.

1. SPORTS IN OUR COUNTRY

-has its traditions mostly football. We can find football stadium in almost all town or village. Another favourite sport in our country is ice-hockey, which is played at a very high level here. Now we have the best national ice-hockey team in the world, because we have won the gold medal at the 2002 World Championships. Ball games rank among the most popular ones. They include especially volleyball, basketball ,handball and tennis. Our country has produced many sportsmen who have achieved success in top international competitions like Pavol Demitra, Jozef Golonka, Marián Gáborík, Marián Hossa, Marek Hamšík, Dominika Cibulkova, Daniela Hantuchová etc.

1. SPORTS IN BRATISLAVA

Bratislava as the capital city has more sport facilities aviavle than in any other city in Slovakia. Let´s mention some of the most visited institutions.

Bratislava has a number of gyms, fitness centers and squash centers that increase and the quality of services improves. The most commonly visited are: Fitness Centrum Zochova, Fanatix (offering exercises with professional trainers, fitbar, massages, cosmetics and hairdresser's. ), Golem in Aupark (also offering solarium and InPulse Fitness (National Tennis Centre Prikopova 6) offersaerobic, spinning, yoga lessonshydrotherapeutics, electrotherapeutics and magnetotherapeutics. In the bulding there are several tennis courts as well as outdoor ones.

There is a Čunovo Water Sports Centre situated just some 20 minutes from downtown of Bratislava and easily accessible by both public transportation and car. It is adventure and an extra ordinary experience. The length of the rafting course is 380 meters. It is recommended to take a reliable partner agency who organise rafting trips and transport by private shuttle to the area and back. Bratislava's location on the slopes of the Small Carpathians hills offers a wide range of hiking and biking possibilities in the surrounding area. The city is on the international Danube cycle path. The numerous hiking routes around Bratislava such as

Zelezma studienka-You'll need a mountain or trekking bike for all the roads, because there are many hills and the roads run through nice forest.

Kamzik hill-There is a summer bobsleigh run on the meadow.

From Cunovo the cycling route continues to the Gabcikovo dam, which is about 70 km away from the city centre.There are also excellent cycling routes to Vienna (Austria, 64 km).

There is a public ice ring in Avion Shopping Park where you can rent skates when you don´t have your own. Bratislava Inline is a summer inline skating event for everyone with positive energy, for everyone that skates. It takes place every Friday evening from the end of June to end of August.

There is a bowling available in Aupark Shopping centre. There is a bar inside and you can also rent proper shoes at the place. Once you are in Aupark you can also visit other sports activities such as The Liana Ropes Complex which is certainly leading recreational and sporting facility there. The course has 24 ropes over three fioors with heights up to 10 metres.

If you are horse lover there is a horse racing track for you aviable in Petrzalka on the right side of the Danube. In season between April and October over 20 races take place usually on Sundays afternoon.

1. OLYMPIC GAMES

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate. They take place every two years alternating between Summer and Winter Games, always in different countries.

HISTORY:

The Olympic Games as we know them today have a long history that dates back to Antiquity. The first Olympic Games were held on the plain of Olympia in Peloponnesos , Greece in 776 BC as a part of the religious ceremony honouring god Zeus. It was a huge event even back then, since all wars had to be stopped while they took place. The stadium was 200 metres long and 30 metres wide and only competitors and judges were allowed to be there. The spectators (which had to be free citizens who had not committed murder or heresy and only men, because women were prohibited from watching the games) could watch only from the hillsides that surrounded the stadium.

The competitors were naked and barefoot and a wreath of olive branches was placed on the winner´s head, who was admired and immortalized in poems and statues. At the beginning there was only one discipline- footrace and later there were added wrestling, boxing, pentathlon (five events, including the long jump, javelin throw, discus throw, foot race, and wrestling), and equestrian events (chariot races and horse races). The Ancient Games lasted 5 days.

The Olympic games were later banned by the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II in 394 AD, because he was a Christian and all pagan cults and practices were prohibited by the church.

REVIVAL:

The Olympic Games were revived by a French nobleman, Pierre Fredy, Baron de Coubertin in the late 19th century. The beginning of the modern era of this event was celebrated in its birthplace Athens in Panathinaiko Stadium in 1896. From then on, as well as in ancient times, they take place every four years and this period is called the Olympiad.

The first winter Olympics were held in 1924, in Chamonix, France. Originally these were held in same year as the Summer Olympics, but starting with 1994 the Winter Games are in between, two years after the Games of the Olympiad. This year the Summer Olympics will take place in London which has already hosted it two times -in 1908 and 1948. Nowadays there are more disciplines including the most famous winter sports like ice-hockey, ice-staking, ski-jumping and from winter it is swimming, athletics, gymnastics, etc and it lasts approximately 14 days.

WAR AND BOYCOTTS:

Three Olympiads had to pass without Olympics because of war, due to World War I. The 1916 Games were cancelled, and because of world War II the games of 1940 and 1944 were also skipped.

In 1980 and 1984, the Cold War opponents boycotted each other's Games. Sixty-five nations refused to compete at the Moscow Olympics in 1980 because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.The Soviet Union countered by boycotting the Los Angeles Olympics of 1984, contending that they could not guarantee the safety of their athletes. Soviet officials defended their decision to withdraw from the Games by saying that "chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria are being whipped up in the United States"

The Games were also used in 1936 in Germany as a platform to promote political ideologies of nazism.

SYMBOLS:

The Olympic Flame

For each Olympics, a new flame is started in the ancient Olympic stadium in Olympia, Greece using a parabolic mirror to focus the rays of the Sun. This flame begins its Olympic Torch Relay by touring Greece. The flame is normally taken to the country where the games will be held (usually by airplane). The last runner uses a torch to light the large Olympic torch which burns throughout the games. The flame is extinguished during the closing ceremony. A new Olympic torch is designed for each of the games. The flame symbolized the death and rebirth of Greek heroes and it was also the symbol of perfection and victory.

The Olympic Flag

Has five interlocking rings (blue, yellow, black, green, and red) on a white ground. The rings represent the five parts of the world that were joined together in the Olympic movement: Africa, the America, Asia, Australia and Europe.

The Olympic Motto:
The Olympic motto is, "Citius, Altius, Fortius," which means "Swifter, Higher, Stronger."

Olympic Medals:

Different medals are designed for each new Olympics. Certificates called victory diplomas are also given to many top winners in each sport.

1. SPORT AND HEALTH

EXTREME SPORTS

Extreme sports are usually dangerous ones, which on the on hand increases adrenaline in your body that brings excitement and joy (which is good when your life is way too boring), but on the other hand it might lead to injuries, psychical problems, even death.If you are healthy, pay regular visits to your physician, and gradually increase the level at which you push your body, and above all use common sense, then generally yes more extreme sports can be a healthy activity.

The no qualification comes in, when the risk factor is high. Paragliding, parachuting, mountain climbing have a higher risk. Being on the ocean extreme windsurfing has a risk of injury. Drowning for example, injuring your head, your limbs, or even a shark attack if you are in an area frequented by sharks. But truthfully unless you have been participating in a sport all your life, leave the extreme sports to the younger crowd. Use your own judgment and common sense.

PROFESSIONAL SPORSMEN

A professional sportsman could keep fit and healthy. Sportsmen do trainings daily and therefore they are in shape and active. They must follow a strict diet.
On the other hand, practicing a professional sport has its own disadvantages, too. If the sportsman is injured by the time of training or a game, he might lose his career in sport. They might suffer from muscle strain or have difficulties with their joints.What is more, some sports such as boxing or football are very dangerous. Accidents may have extremely bad repercussions and could bring even death.

DRUGS AND SPORT

ANABOLIC STEROIDS

Anabolic steroids are chemically manufactured drugs. They are a man-made version of testosterone, the male sex hormone.

They are drugs which are artificial versions of a substance that naturally occure in our body. Athletes and body builders take anabolic steroids to make their muscles bigger and stronger. The drug also keeps their energy high so they can train longer and harder without getting tired and sore,however they have several side effects like wild mood swings, shortened attention span, acne, yellowing of the eyes. Also it might cause long-term damage like liver failure, heart trouble, sterility,growth of body hair, the skin loses flexibility and resilience, women suffer from interupted menstrual cycle, even death. When young people take steroids, they are risking an extremely serious consequence: the drug may prevent them from growing to their full height.

There are a few very specific medical uses for anabolic steroids, including treatment for some forms of breast cancer and blood disorders and for people who are not growing properly.

Withdrawal Symptoms

-Withdrawal symptoms include loss of appetite, throwing up, headaches,

and sweating.

-Users may feel dizzy, irritable and sad.

-Users may crave the drug.

Its impact on sport

It gives the player an unfair advantage and if they find out they take drugs, they are banned from all amateur and professional sports.

In the past they had to give up their medal (in case they´d won) and were banned from taking part in any competition for two years.

Nowadays they´ve increased the penalty of the usage of drugs and are banned from competing for 4 years.

Doping

It is a substance that improves the sportsmen´s performance.

Other drugs taken by sportsmen

Some athletes take other drugs besides anabolic steroids in an attempt to improve

their performance. For example:

– stimulants (drugs that make them more alert and delay tiredness, allowing them to train longer). These may include pseudoephedrine or caffeine.

– analgesics (substances that act on the brain and spinal cord to reduce the amount of pain that is felt). An example is ibuprofen.

– diuretics (drugs that cause quick but temporary weight loss). An example is caffeine.

-marijuana (a drug that may have a calming effect).

WHY SHOULD THEY STAY PROHIBITED?

-because they present a bad role model for children (they admire sportsmen and if they take drugs they might learn that it is right to use them, because their idol does teh same)

-because it is dangerous for the body-it actually damages the whole body.

-and it is unfair for the opponents.

1. SHOULD SPORT BE PROFESSIONALIZED AND COMMERCIALIZED

The mass media have been linked to the commercialization of sports. They exist in a symbiotic relationship with sports, each benefiting greatly from the other. Sports employs all forms of the mass media.Books and magazines that specialize in particular sports are published regularly. Radio stations all over the country have changed their menu to include 24-hour coverage of sports. However, television has affected sports most profoundly. Television and sports are involved in a relationship in which the economic benefits are very high. Television contracts for the coverage of professional, Olympic, and college events reach billions of dollars. The return on the investment by the major television networks is just as impressive.

Athletes, support personnel (managers, coaches, officials, media persons, lawyers, and agents), and sports team owners benefitfrom the willingness of sports fans to pay to watch their favorite sports and to purchase the commodities endorsed by sports personalities. Hundreds of professional athletes earn well over $1 million a year.

The ideal of the modern Olympic Games has lost its meaning due to the commercialism of sports.The Games have also come under criticism because of the movement toward corporate sponsorship. Private enterprises that range from soft drink producers to automobile companies compete to be an official sponsor of the games. For example Coca-Cola paid $22 million for the guarantee that no competitive soft drinks be allowed to display the Olympic symbol for the Seoul Games.

However,it has got many disadvantages:A rise in gambling on sporting events has been an indirect consequence. However, it is likely that more money is bet on sports illegally.According to McPherson, Americans lose an estimated $200 million on sports bets annually. Proponents of modern sport argue that capitalist systems have made more sports available to more people. They contend, too, that the owners, producers, and distributors of sports are simply responding to the demands of sports consumers. Critics of commercialization reject this view and argue that in reality only a small segment of society—the wealthy—have access to many sports. In addition, some critics also argue that commercialization via television especially has turned sport yet another form of passive entertainment. Finally, critics complain that commercialized sport is another way of earning money rather than an inner sense of meaning and achievement.