Sport
Sports
Sports are one of the most popular free time actvities. It is true that sports help us to keep our bodies in good physical and mental condition. Doing sports help us lose some weight.
We can divide sports into three categories – summer, winter and all-season sports. Among the summer are athletics (for example : long and middle distance runs, sprints, decathlon, shot put, jump, high jump), aquatic sports ( swimming, rowing, water skiing), ball games (football, handball, baseball, tennis, golf), cycling, mountain climbing, hiking, horse racing. Among the winter sports are skiing, ski jumping, bobsledding, ice hockey.
Summer and spring sports
There are many sports such as football, tennis, golf, rugby or cricket. In most international competition separate teams represents England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland mostly represent all of Ireland. Sadly the most popular sport is football. Each of the countries has its own national team, association and league system. The English top division is the Premier League which is the most watched football league in the world. The UK is also closely associated with motor sports. Many drivers and teams in Formula 1 are based in the UK. And let’s not forget the most known tennis event, Wimbledon.
Winter Sports
There are always a number of sports or events that are lobbying to be included on the Winter Olympic Games program. Such sports include: Team alpine skiing, Ski mountaineering, Ski-orienteering, Winter triathlon (involving running, mountain biking and cross-country skiing all on snow), and Bandy.
There are four Winter Olympic Games Sports that are held indoors: Speed skating, figure skating, curling, and ice hockey. Two sports have mixed events (in which males and females compete together): figure staking and luge. Only one sport is for males only: Nordic Combined. More about women at the Winter Olympics. Cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, nordic combined, ski jumping, and speed skating have been on the program at every Winter Olympics since 1924.
My favourite sport
Soccer is a ball game played by two teams. The ball is advanced with the feet, that’s why the sport is also called football. As not to confuse it with other variants of football, e.g. American football, rugby, or Gaelic football, the official name of this
sport is association football (after the London Football Association). But English native speakers usually just call it soccer, football, footie, footy or footer.
Basic rules
Object: The object is to score goals.
Players: Each team has 11 players:
* a goalkeeper (also called goalie) who tries to block the shots by the opposing team
* the fullbacks (defense) who try to prevent the opposing team from scoring goals
* the halfbacks (or midfielders) who play both offense and defense
* the forwards (or strikers) who try to score goals for their team
Duration: The game is played in two halves of 45 minutes each. At halftime the teams change ends.
Olympic Games
The most talented sportsmen can even take part in the Olympic Games. We have Summer and Winter Olympic Games. They take place every four years. The first games were held in 77l BC.They were based on the customs of the ancient Greeks. The ancient Games – Athletes would come from the then city states troughout Greece to compete in races,boxing matches, gymnastics. They also threw spears and discuses, and jumped for distance.
Wealthy Greeks raced in chariots pulled by horses. The winners received wreaths of olive or palm leaves. However, the ancient Olympis Games were not just a sporting event. There were competition in poetry, music, rhetorics and other arts as well. At the beginning and at the end of the Games animals were sacrificed – killed and offered to Zeus. The tradition of the Olympic Games was lost with the spreading of Roman culture.
The modern Games – The first modern Games were held in Athens, the capital of Greece. Only nine countries participated in the first Games and the athletes were male. But today around ten thousand athletes usually compete in the Games representing over two hundred nations and nearly half are female.
At first the modern Games included summer sports only. The first Winter Olympic Games were held in 1924.