Athens, Greece, will host the 2004 Summer Olympics. For information on Greece, click here. For a page on Greece's flag, click here.

The Ancient Olympics:
The ancient Greeks dedicated the Olympic Games to the god Zeus. The original games were held on the plain of Olympia in Peloponnesos, Greece.

The Greeks held the first Olympic games in the year 776 BC (over 2700 years ago), and had only one event, a sprint (a short run that was called the "stade"). The race was run by men who competed in the nude. A wreath of olive branches was placed on the winner's head (in Greek, this is called a kotinos). The olive tree was the sacred tree of Athens, Greece.

Women were neither allowed to compete in the games nor to watch them, because the games were dedicated to Zeus and were therefore meant for men.

The four-year period between the Olympic games was called an olympiad. Every four years, for 1,170 years, the Greeks held an Olympics, which continued to grow and change. Many other sports were added, including other races, wrestling, boxing, pentathlon (five events, including the long jump, javelin throw, discus throw, foot race, and wrestling), and equestrian events (events with horses and people, like chariot races and horse races) The Olympic games were banned by the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II in the year AD 394.

The Flag of the Olympic Games:
The flag of the Olympic Games 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 Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe.

Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin (1863-1937), a French educator and sportsman, revived the Olympic Games in 1896; the all-male 1896 games were held in Athens, Greece. Baron de Coubertin designed the flag of the Olympics in 1913-1914.

The Olympic flag was first used in the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium. The Olympic flag is paraded during the opening ceremony of each Olympic Games. At the end of an Olympics, the mayor of the host-city presents the flag to the mayor of the next host-city. The flag will remain in the town hall of the next host-city until the next Olympic Games, four years later.

History of the Olympic Flame
The tradition of the Olympic flame began during the ancient Olympic Games, over 2700 years ago in Greece. A flame was lit for each Olympics, every four years, and burned throughout the games. The flame symbolized the death and rebirth of Greek heroes. There was no torch relay in the ancient Olympics. The first torch relay occured at the 1936 games in Berlin, Germany.

The Torches of the Olympics:
For each Olympics, a new flame is started in the ancient Olympic stadium in Olympia, Elis, 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) -- but this year, the flame is traveling around the world on a 78-day journey. The flame is then carried around the country where the games are to be held, using a series of torches carried by people running, walking, riding horses and camels, scuba diving, and using other means of human conveyance. 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 Olympic Motto:
The Olympic motto is, "Citius, Altius, Fortius," which means "Swifter, Higher, Stronger."

Olympic Events:
The events in the Summer Olympics include: archery, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, diving, equestrian, fencing, football (soccer), gymnastics, handball, hockey, judo, kayaking, marathon, pentathlon, ping pong, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, taekwando, tennis, track and field (many running, jumping, and throwing events), triathlon, volleyball, water polo, weightlifting, wrestling (freestyle and Greco-Roman).

The events in the Winter Olympics include: ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating, snowboarding, luge, bobsleigh, skeleton (a type of sledding), curling, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing, slalom, downhill (Alpine) skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined (skiing plus ski jumping), and biathlon (skiing and shooting).

Sites of the Modern-Day Olympics:

Locations of the Modern-Day Summer Olympics

Locations of the Modern-Day Winter Olympics

1896 - Athens, Greece 1900 - Paris, France 1904 - St. Louis, Missouri, USA 1906 - Athens, Greece 1908 - London, England 1912 - Stockholm, Sweden 1916 - Canceled 1920 - Antwerp, Belgium 1924 - Paris, France 1928 - Amsterdam, Holland 1932 - Los Angeles, California, USA 1936 - Berlin, Germany 1940 - Canceled 1944 - Canceled 1948 - London, England 1952 - Helsinki, Finland 1956 - Melbourne, Australia 1960 - Rome, Italy 1964 - Tokyo, Japan 1968 - Mexico City, Mexico 1972 - Munich, Germany 1976 - Montreal, Quebec, Canada 1980 - Moscow, USSR 1984 - Los Angeles, California, USA 1988 - Seoul, South Korea 1992 - Barcelona, Spain 1996 - Atlanta, Georgia, USA 2000 - Sydney, Australia 2004 - Athens, Greece 2008 - Beijing, China 2012 - London, United Kingdom 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2020 - Tokyo, Japan

1924 - Chamonix, France 1928 - St. Moritz, Switzerland 1932 - Lake Placid, New York, USA 1936 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany 1940 - Canceled 1944 - Canceled 1948 - St. Moritz, Switzerland 1952 - Oslo, Norway 1956 - Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy 1960 - Squaw Valley, California, USA 1964 - Innsbruck, Austria 1968 - Grenoble, France 1972 - Sapporo, Japan 1976 - Innsbruck, Austria 1980 - Lake Placid, New York, USA 1984 - Sarajevo, Yugoslavia 1988 - Calgary, Alberta, Canada 1992 - Albertville, France 1994 - Lillehammer, Norway 1998 - Nagano, Japan 2002 - Salt Lake City, Utah, USA 2006 - Turin, Italy 2010 - Vancouver, Canada 2014 - Sochi, Russia 2018 - PyeongChang, South Korea

Olympics-Related Printouts and Activities:

Olympics Book Printout Print a short book about the Olympics, with pages on the ancient Olympics, the Olympic flame, the Olympic flag, the Summer and Winter Games, Olympic awards, and recent Olympic locations.

Olympics Games Activity Book Print a short, printable, Olympic-theme book with activities including connect the dots, color by number, a maze, finish the drawing, unscramble the words, wordsearch puzzle, and a word path puzzle.

The Olympic Flag Color an Olympics flag and read about the man who revived the Olympics and designed its flag.

Greece: Tab Book A book about Greece for fluent readers with pages on the map, flag, language, Ancient Greece, the Olympics, and the Greek Gods and Mount Olympus.

Olive Branch Wreath Printout Color an olive branch wreath (a kotinos), which was placed on the head of a winner of the ancient Greek Olympics.

Jesse Owens One of the greatest track and field athletes of all time.

Greece Geography, maps, the flag, and printouts on Greece.

Greek Alphabet See the 24-character alphabet and read about its ancient history.

Olympics Crossword Puzzle See how many Olympic Game terms you know.

An Olympics Quiz to use with the Picture Dictionary Little Explorers. Print out the quiz, then find the answers online using Little Explorers. This is a fun scavenger hunt activity for students.

Cloze Activity on Jesse Owens Do a fill-in-the-blanks activity on Jesse Owens. Or go to the answers.

Invent A New Olympic Sport There are many unusual Olympic sports, like skeleton (running and then sledding), biathlon (skiing plus shooting), and curling (using brooms to propel an object over ice). Make up a new sport that would be fun to watch and play.

Medals to Print Out and Award to Kids:

Student Medals 1 Medals you can print, decorate, and award to students for outstanding performances in sports, spelling, math, and other subjects. Black-and-white or color printouts.

Student Medals 2 Medals you can print, decorate, and award to students for outstanding performances in sports, spelling, math, and other subjects. Black-and-white or color printouts.

Student Medals 3 Medals you can print, decorate, and award to students for outstanding performances in sports, spelling, math, and other subjects. Black-and-white or color printouts.

MAKE A MEDAL Easy-to-make medals to award at parties! This is not a printout, but a simple craft made from the lid of a frozen juice can.

Links:

The official site of the Olympics

The 2000 Sydney Olympic Torch

The Olympic Medals - Sydney 2000 - see the Australian and Greek imagery in the medals awarded to the winners.