Readable, teachable news.
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
The Olympics are about athletics and competition.
However, with representatives from so many different countries coming together in one city, it is often about “politics” and “political issues” as well.
In other words, different countries have different rules, laws and beliefs.
Sometimes, countries’ beliefs clash.
That has been the case in Russia at the Sochi Winter Olympics.
Watching the best-of-the-best compete for gold at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics is inspirational.
But beyond the performance of the athletes, there have already been many other inspirational moments at these Olympics.
Russian cross-country skier Anton Gafarov fell and broke his ski during the Men’s Sprint Free Semifinals.
In true Olympic spirit he tried to keep going, knowing that although he no longer had any chance of winning, he needed to finish the race he had started.
However, his ski was broken in half.
He would end up limping across the finish line in front of the world, not to mention his fellow Russians who were cheering from the sidelines.
The eyes of the world are on Sochi, Russia, where the 2014 Winter Olympics are taking place.
Last Friday, the official opening ceremony took the audience on a Russian journey. It began with the Russian alphabet, with each of the 33 letters highlighting a famous Russian person or achievement.
Later, the athletes flooded into the stadium, grouped according to country. Canada, with 220 athletes, has one of the largest teams in this year’s winter Olympics. The Canadians came into the stadium, a sea of red, behind flag-bearer Hayley Wickenheiser.
“It’s an amazing feeling being able to carry the flag and lead in this awesome powerful Team Canada,” Hayley Wickenheiser told CBC News. “I’m a very, very proud Canadian right now. It’s great to be Canadian in moments like this; you realize how lucky we are to live where we live. I hope everyone back home is proud and enjoys the games.”
The 2014 Winter Olympics begin today in Sochi, Russa. Canadians will be cheering for their favourite athletes.
But several Olympic contenders are receiving a little more attention than others.
They are recovering from major injuries and needed to add extra training so they’ll be fit enough to compete.
At least two slopestyle contenders from Canada are among this group.
Slopestyle is an event in which skiers or snowboarders try to perform the most difficult tricks while flying as high into the air as possible.
The Prime Minister of Ukraine, Mykola Azarov, resigned from his job on Tuesday.
Experts say this should help to ease some of the tensions that have been building in that country.
The tensions began in November when Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yanukovych, made a surprise move to bring Ukraine closer to Russia rather than European Union (EU).
He asked Russia to lend Ukraine some money, rather than asking the EU for it. Ukraine needed the money to help its economy.
Many Ukrainians had looked forward to a closer association with the European Union because they felt it would bring democracy to their country.
It’s customary for the country that will host the Olympic games to send the Olympic flame on a vast relay.
The flame is passed from person to person, travelling around the country, often accompanied by cheering crowds watching the runners along the route.
For the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, the torch is on a journey like no other.
It has moved by runner, troika, reindeer sleigh, dragon boat, go kart, snowmobile, skier, snowboarder, ice-swimmer, speed skater and even on a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker (ship).
The Olympic torch has been to outer space and back.
The torch has even been on a spacewalk.
It’s the first time that has ever happened.
The torch will be used to light the flame that will launch the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, hosted by Russia.
On Nov. 7, a spacecraft called the Soyuz TMA-11M left Russia carrying three crew members and the Olympic torch.
It was bound for the International Space Station (ISS), which is in orbit around the Earth.
Two Russian cosmonauts on the ISS received the torch. Later, they brought it outside and symbolically handed it off to each other in open space. The hand-off took about an hour.
Last Feb. 15, a meteorite landed in Russia.
A meteorite is a rock that comes to Earth from space.
Every year, thousands of asteroids and meteoroids streak past our planet.
Most of the ones headed for Earth simply burn up in our atmosphere.
In this case, the meteorite exploded into thousands of pieces in the air, making a tremendous noise known as a sonic boom.
Some of the rocks fell to Earth in the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia.
Russian scientists have been studying the rocks to know more about them—where they came from and how they were formed.
Some businesses in Northern Ireland are getting a facelift before some of the world’s most powerful leaders meet there later this month.
The G8 Summit will take place in Ireland, June 17 to 18.
The G8 Summit brings together the leaders of eight of the world’s wealthiest countries. They are: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US. The European Union is also represented at the meeting.
More than 100 businesses in a small town called Belcoo have been “spruced up,” according to news agency Reuters.
Some businesses have been made more attractive with fake store fronts. Some ugly and crumbling buildings have been torn down. Others have been covered by huge billboards, according to Reuters.
The businesses are near a golf course where the G8 leaders will meet.
So instead of Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper or U.S. president Barack Obama seeing ugly storefronts, they’ll see posters of nice storefronts instead.
More than $3-million dollars have been spent by the government in Northern Ireland to make the villages look nicer.
At one store, which used to be a butcher’s shop but is now empty, colourful stickers have been put on the windows to make it look like it’s busy inside, Reuters reported.
The International Olympic Committee is planning to drop wrestling as an Olympic sport as of the 2020 Summer Games.
Some countries will feel the loss more deeply than others.
Many Iranians view wrestling as their national sport.
The governments of Iran and the United States don’t normally agree on much. In fact, they are currently in a major disagreement about weapons.
But they are standing together on the issue of wrestling. They both want it put back in the Olympics, and they are willing to work together to make it happen.
