Lesson 46 - The Olympics

Hi guys and welcome to lesson 46, the Olympics. Before we start, what's the big news with you today? Well, my big news is uh firstly, let me say this I am recording this in December 2020. So the big news today is that the UK, United Kingdom, GB, Great Britain, has um authorized authorized the use Of The coronavirus vaccine. New vaccine. So starting from next week, um

the most important important, the most vulnerable. Vulnerable. That's a difficult word. Ask your teacher about that. Vulnerable people, like old people and care workers. care home people will be receiving receiving the vaccine. So if you're listening to this in the future, if you're listening to this in the future, Tell us your story. Did when did your country get the vaccine? Which vaccine did you get? Did you take the vaccine? What effect did it have? So think back and talk about it.

Good. Okay, let's carry on with the Olympics lesson. Look at the big picture. What can you see? Well, I can see um I can see the Olympic rings. And I can see some fireworks. Fireworks in the background. And the Olympic rings. So the Olympic rings are a symbol of Do you know? Do you know what they are a symbol of? They are a symbol of the five continents. The five continents. United by Olympism. United by Olympism. And the six colours. represent all the flags in the world. Did you know that?

Okay, look at the small picture. What can you see? Well, oh that's a famous moment in Olympic history. when the gold medal winner and the uh bronze medal winner, two black men, put their fist, their hand up, their fist up in a in a um black power salute. And uh that was a very important moment in uh Olympic history and in uh In the whole history of a of um racism and uh um equal

equal opportunities and such. It was an important moment for black people when they did that. So um talk to your teacher about that. Okay, let's talk about the Olympics. So what are the Olympics? Well, the Olympics uh are a worldwide sporting event that includes track and field, track and field events.

The Olympics are every four years. Every four years. And so you've got Actually there are Olympic Games every two years'cause you got Olympic Games, Summer Olympics And then two year break, winter Olympics, two year break, summer Olympics, two year break, winter Olympics. And there are two types of Olympics, Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics. they are very important because they unify

people of the world. And the people of the world can come together and it doesn't matter if they have different ideology, different philosophy, if they are fighting each other in war, They can all come together as equal in the Olympic Games. And it's it's not affected by war or politics or anything else. It's supposed to bring everybody together equally.

So they're really important and you know they influence peace and unity in the world. Over two hundred nations take part, take part in the Olympics.

The Olympics began the Olympics began in ancient Greece In the 8th, 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Do you understand the meaning? BC means before Christ. A D means after Christ. Ask your teacher to explain that to you. And those were the ancient Olympics. The modern Olympics. Um the the IOC IOC International Olympic Committee was started by a man called Baron Pierre de Coubertin. in eighteen ninety four.

eighteen ninety two. Eighteen ninety two. And the first Olymp modern Olympics was held in eighteen ninety four in Athens. Athens. The original ancient Olympics, the purpose of those games was for each each area, each area. in the country to come together and to show how powerful they were by showing how strong and powerful their athletes were.

So the winner of the Olympic medal meant that that area of the country was the most powerful, the most dominant area in the country if they won the Olympic medal. So it was really important. for them to show their power by winning Ol the Olympic medal. That was in the in the ancient games. Is it the same now? Actually maybe it's very similar, yeah. M very similar, I think, yeah. What do you think? Tell your talk about it with your fellow students, talk about it with your teacher. So we have

The Winter Olympics and the Summer Olympics. The next Summer Olympics will be in Tokyo. They should have been in 2020. They should have been in 2020. But because of COVID-19, they have been postponed, postponed to 2021. Winter Olympics are in Beijing in twenty twenty two. What is your favorite event in the Summer Olympics? Mmm, I like uh I like the 100 meter sprint. They call it the Blue Ribbon event, like the main event of the Olympics, the Blue Ribbon event, the one hundred meters.

How about the Winter Olympics? What's your favorite event in the Winter Olympics? My favorite event is the downhill ski race. The downhill ski race. How about you? What's your favourite event?

Now, the Olympics are supposed to be non political. Non political. However, sometimes the Olympics have been affected, have been affected or influenced by politics. Um in In nineteen eighty the The Olympics were in Moscow in Russia, but the Americans did not go because Russia would not withdraw, withdraw, take out. its troops, stop soldiers from Afghanistan. So President Carter said no USA will boycott, boycott the Moscow Olympics. Um in nineteen seventy two there was a terrorist

attack at the Munich Olympics and some athletes died. It was a terrible terror attack. Also, the maybe the Russian athletes will not be allowed to go to the Tokyo Olympics this time. because Wada, Wada, do you know the meaning? World Anti Doping Association. Um have banned banned Russian athletes from going. Because their Russia was supporting a state sponsored doping scheme. State sponsored doping scheme. Doping means drug taking, eh?

So yeah, so maybe the Russians won't go to Tokyo. So anyway, there's lots to talk about with the Olympics. Who are your favorite Olympic athletes? Yeah? Who has won the most Olympic medals? Who are the most famous Olympians from your country? More questions to talk about. Okay, let's just finish by checking the Olympic vocabulary. Please repeat after me. Olympic. Meadow. GAMES. Originate. Summer games, winter games, event, politics. Okay, enjoy chatting. See you next time.