The importance of sport in human life

The Olympic Games

My favourite kind of sport

People all over the world are fond of sports and games. Sport makes people healthy, keeps them fit, more organized and better disciplined.

Many people do sports on their personal initiative. They go in for skiing, skating, table tennis, swimming, volley-ball, football, body-building, etc.

All necessary facilities are provided for them: stadiums, sport grounds, swimming pools, skating rinks, skiing stations, football fields. Sport is paid much attention to in our educational establishments. Gymnastics is a part of children's daily activities in the kindergartens. Physical culture is a compulsory subject at schools and colleges.

All kinds of sport can be divided into different groups: indoor and outdoor sports, summer and winter sports. The most popular outdoor winter activities are shooting, tobogganing, hunting, hockey, snow-skating, skiing. Some people greatly enjoy figure-skating and ski-jumping. Summer affords excellent opportunities for swimming, boating, yachting, cycling and many other sports. Among outdoor games football takes the first place in public interest. This game is played in all the countries of the world. The other favourite games that have firmly established themselves in favour in different countries are golf, tennis, cricket, volleyball, basketball and so on.

All the year round many people indulge in boxing, wrestling, athletics, gymnastics. Among indoor games the most popular are billiards, table tennis and some others, but the great international game is chess. Shooting, fox-hunting, golf, football, cricket, horse-racing and boat-racing are very popular in Great Britain. Baseball is the most popular game in the US; basketball, American football and hockey are very popular games in the United States too.

Sport is one thing in which people of every nationality and class are united. 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. The Games are currently held every two years, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating, although they occur every four years within their respective seasonal games. Since 2008, host cities are contracted to manage both the Olympic and the Paralympic Games, where athletes who have a physical disability compete. The Paralympics are held immediately following their respective Olympic Games. Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894. The IOC has since become the governing body of the Olympic Movement, whose structure and actions are defined by the Olympic Charter.

The evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries has resulted in several changes to the Olympic Games. Some of these adjustments include the creation of the Winter Games (in 1924) for ice and winter sports, the Paralympic Games for athletes with a physical disability, and the Youth Olympic Games for teenage athletes. The IOC has had to adapt to the varying economic, political, and technological realities of the 20th century. As a result, the Olympics shifted away from pure amateurism, as envisioned by Coubertin, to allow participation of professional athletes. The growing importance of the mass media created the issue of corporate sponsorship and commercialization of the Games. World Wars led to the cancellation of the 1916, 1940, and 1944 Games. Large boycotts during the Cold War limited participation in the 1980 and 1984 Games.

The Olympic Movement consists of international sports federations (IFs), National Olympic Committees (NOCs), and organizing committees for each specific Olympic Games. As the decision-making body, the IOC is responsible for choosing the host city for each Olympic Games. The host city is responsible for organizing and funding a celebration of the Games consistent with the Olympic Charter. The Olympic program, consisting of the sports to be contested at the Games, is also determined by the IOC. The celebration of the Games encompasses many rituals and symbols, such as the Olympic flag and torch, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. There are over 13,000 athletes that compete at the Summer and Winter Olympics in 33 different sports and nearly 400 events. The first, second, and third place finishers in each event receive Olympic medals: gold, silver, and bronze, respectively.

The Games have grown in scale to the point that nearly every nation is represented. Ukraine first participated at the Olympic Games as an independent nation in 1994, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games since then.

Previously, Ukrainian athletes competed as part of the Soviet Union at the Olympics from 1952 to 1988, and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was part of the Unified Team in 1992.

Ukraine has won a total of 96 medals at the Summer Games and five at the Winter Games, with gymnastics as the nation's top medal-producing sport.

The National Olympic Committee of Ukraine was created in 1990 and recognized by the International Olympic Committee in 1993.

Ukraine usually also does very well at the summer Olympic Games. At the 2004 summer Olympic Games, Ukraine managed to get a marvelous total of 23 medals. Our sportsmen managed to get 9 gold medals, 5 silver medals and 9 bronze medals.

Today Ukraine gives the international sports scene such names as boxers Vitaly and Vladimir Klichko, track and field athlete Zhanna Pintusevich, tennis player Andriy Medvedev, swimmer Yana Klochkova, gymnast Anna Bezsonova, and footballer Andriy Shevchenko, who is considered something of a national hero in Ukraine.

My fellow-students are busy studying or working in the laboratories, reading halls and libraries but they always find time to relax and enjoy themselves. Usually they spend their spare time in many different ways. Everyone has his own way of recreation. But the most popular way is to participate in sports. Sport helps to maintain good health and enjoy life. The students take up sport during special hours provided for in the curriculum and also train in their spare time. There are many good teams in the University. They take part in different competitions and often take first prizes. Our students are fond of such games as basketball, volley-ball, tennis and football. Track-and-field athletics, gymnastics, fencing, wrestling are popular too with the students.

Hiking, skiing and skating have a great attraction for students who like to be outdoors. It is a great pleasure to ski or spend an hour or two on the skating-rink.

Those who like swimming have an opportunity to train all year round because we have several swimming-pools in the city. There are some very good swimmers in our University.

Not everyone who enjoys sporting events likes to participate in them. Some students prefer to be spectators, either by attending the games in person or watching them on television. Football and ice-hockey matches, figure-skating contests attract thousands of spectators. There are a lot of ardent sport fans among the students of our University.

Practically all kinds of sports are popular in our University, but football, gymnastics and tennis enjoy the greatest popularity.

As for me, I go in for table tennis (ping-pong). It needs mobility, liveliness and much energy. It keeps a person in a good form. I have been playing tennis for five years, but the more I play, the more I like it. I get a real joy taking part in competitions or simply playing with my friends. Certainly, there's a great distance between my manner of playing and such favourites as Jim Courier, Stephan Edberg, Pete Sampras, Boris Becker, Per Korda, but I do my trai­ning with great pleasure and hope to play as well as our best players do.

 

Vocabulary notes

 

to be fond of sth.   outdoor winter activities shooting tobogganing to afford excellent opportunities for sth. yachting to establish oneself in favour golf to indulge in smth.   to be popular with smb. to unite B.C.= Before Christ – (лат.) A.D.=Anno Domini – (лат.) a major international event a variety of competitions to participate opening and closing ceremonies curriculum spare time track-and-field athletics wrestling sport fans the greatest popularity

любити, подобатись; захоплюватись чимось зимові ігри на свіжому повітрі стрільба санний спорт надавати чудові можливості для чого-небудь парусний спорт бути в пошані гольф займатись (спортом), захоплюватись чим-небудь бути популярним серед будь-кого об’єднувати до нашої ери нашої ери головна міжнародна подія різноманітні змагання брати участь церемонії відкриття і закриття учбовий план вільний час легка атлетика боротьба спортивні уболівальники найбільша популярність