VICIOUS AND DANGEROUS SPORTS SHOULD BE BANNED

UNIT 11: SPORTS AND GAMES

Ex. 1. Study the text:

Sport activities date back to ancient times. Naturally enough, our ancient ancestors couldn’t afford doing sport just for pleasure. With all difficulties and dangers of life they had to be very practical in everything, they couldn’t waste time on anything but needs of existence. The activities, which we may call now ‘sporting’, were used for physical development, which was a matter of vital importance for a person and the community in the whole. We may suppose that the first necessity activities were running, jumping, stone and dart throwing, and a sort of weightlifting. We assume that children were trained in those activities from early age, because at the age of 10 -12 they were hunters and warriors providing the survival of their tribe.

The next stage in the development of the mankind was the stratification of the society. One group received a greater part of the common product. This separation brought about a new social phenomenon – leisure. The rich turned sport activities into a show, organised competitions and orgies of slaughter. Who do you think enjoyed those shows: patricians or plebeians?

In the Middle Ages the situation didn’t change much. Leisure and the right to have entertainment belonged mainly to the nobles. They had their own physical training and practised in archery, fencing, equestrian sport and some other activities, necessary for knights. Common people enjoyed watching archery contests and knight tournaments.

With the rise of labour efficiency after the Industrial Revolution people didn’t have to spend all their time on the needs of existence, they received some spare time and spare money, which could be spent on entertainment. This period is characterised by the rise of spectator sports. Some people experienced in boxing, weightlifting and equestrian sport could earn their living joining circuses or participating in some contests for money.

The real surge for spectator sports occurred in the 20^th century. Such sports as football, basketball, ice hockey appeared. The matches in these sports gather huge audiences. Sport has become a very profitable business. Bets are made on the results of football and ice hockey matches, extra-class professionals earn incredible fees; sportsmen are bought and sold at fantastic price.

Nowadays the attitude of people towards sports and games vary from stubborn nihilism to blind fanaticism. Some people exercise sports as a part of their profession. Physical fitness is a matter of primary importance for soldiers, firemen, policemen, rescue teams and people of some other professions. Among the rest of the mankind there are two groups of people: those who do sport professionally and those who are amateurs. The amateurs in their turn may be divided into ‘active’ amateurs and ‘passive’ ones. The ‘active’ amateurs do sports for pleasure and for keeping in good shape and fitness, while the ‘passive’ ones enjoy watching sports and games at stadiums and on TV munching a hot-dog and washing it down with a pint of beer.

Ex. 2. Answer the questions:

1. What were the reasons for physical exercises for our distant ancestors?

2. What social and economic changes facilitated the rise of spectator sports?

3. People’s attitudes towards sports differ a lot. What are these attitudes?

Ex. 3. Imagine you are a Stone Age warrior, a Middle Ages knight or a lady, or a 19^th century circus weightlifter. Try to explain why you or your contemporaries do physical exercises.

Ex. 4. Study the text and dwell upon the following points:

a. ancient Greece Olympiads;

b. the revival of the Olympic movement;

c. the modern Olympic Games.

THE OLYMPIC GAMES

The Olympic Games were originally an ancient Greek religious festival in honour of Zeus, held in Olympia near Mount Olympus, the mythical home of the gods. The initial date for the beginning of the Games was 776 B.C. They were held every four years, in the middle of the summer; the main condition of the festival was that there should be peace throughout Greece. The ceremonies included contests in oratory, poetry, music, and art, as well as in athletic skills like wrestling, throwing the javelin, chariot races and running.

The Olympic Games were an exclusively male festival, open to young men from all the Greek cities. Women were not allowed to compete in the Olympic Games, or even to attend and watch them, though there are legends of girls having done so in disguise. The victors were traditionally crowned with olive leaves. The importance of the Games in Greek life was so great that the Olympiad, the four-year interval between Games, was a main unit of the Hellenic calendar. To be a victor in the classical Olympic Games was a great honour not only for the athlete, but for his city.

The classical Games continued for over a thousand years. Factionalism and controversies over the status of competitors became so fierce and disruptive in later years that the Games were finally suppressed by the Roman Emperor Theodosius in A. D. 392 as a disturbance of the Pax Romana or Roman peace.

With growth of interest in sport in the nineteenth century, and the organisation of annual and traditional sporting contests, especially between schools and universities, the idea arose of reviving the Olympic Games in the modern world. A Frenchman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, was the enthusiast whose personal drive and initiative brought about the inauguration of the modern Olympic Games in 1896 with the participation of 311 athletes from thirteen countries, competing in nine sports.

At first the modern Games were limited to men. Women first competed in the Games in 1910, playing golf, but real women's participation only began in Paris in 1924 with the inclusion of women's athletics in the programme. In recent Olympiads the women's programme has been greatly extended.

Winter sports were brought into the Olympic programme through the organisation of special Winter Games, first held in France at Chamonix in 1924, with competitions in ice hockey, speedskating, figure skating, and skiing. These are still the basic events of the winter programme, with the addition of bobsleigh and toboggan races, and now ice hockey.

The most impressive moment in the opening ceremony of the Games is the taking of the Olympic oaths. First a representative athlete from the host country, holding a corner of the Olympic flag, takes the following oath on behalf of all the participants:

"In the name of all competitors, I promise that we will take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams."

After the representative athlete, a judge from the host country takes an oath on behalf of all those judging and officiating in the Games.

The Olympic flag has a motif of five interlocking rings on a white background. The five rings represent the five inhabited continents of the world and symbolise universal brotherhood. The six colours, the white of the background and the blue, yellow, black, green, and red of the rings, represent the nations of the world, since every national flag contains at least one of these colours. The ceremonial embroidered flag, by the Olympic rules, must reside in the principal municipal building of the host city until the next Games.

The motto of the Games "citius, altius, fortius" (Latin - faster, higher, braver) puts the emphasis on personal not team performance and achievement. Officially there are individual and team victors but no victor countries; from the very beginning of the Games, however, the Press has made an unofficial count of the medals won by the sportsmen of each participating country and has kept an unofficial points score.

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PROFESSIONAL SPORT

KINDS OF SPORT

Ex. 5. Study the following information and make a list of the events:

TRACK AND FIELD EVENTS

A multifaceted sport, track and field includes a wide variety of walking, running, jumping, and throwing events. Both men and women participate, but the events for men and women are somewhat different.

When two teams compete, the contest is called a track meet. Track and field events, called athletics in England and some other countries, may take place outdoors or indoors. Most track meets take place in an open stadium that has a grass infield surrounded by an oval track measuring 400 meters (440 yards).

The International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) is the governing body for track and field sports.

The most famous track and field competitions take place every four years during the summer Olympic Games.

RUNNING EVENTS

DASHES. The 100-meter dash, which attracts the "world's fastest humans," requires all-out speed over the entire distance of the race--often called sprinting. The 200- and 400-meter dashes are run around one or more turns. The 800- and 1,500-meter races are not technically sprints, though they require sprinter speed as well as endurance.

DISTANCE RACES cover 3,000, 5,000, or 10,000 meters. A marathon course measures 42,195 meters, or 26 miles 385 yards. Cross-country courses take runners over natural terrain and across natural barriers. Men generally race at least 12,000 meters cross country and women between 2,000 and 5,000 meters. Distance runners must have endurance, stamina, and mental toughness.

RELAY RACESare 4 x 100- and 4 x 400-meter sprint events. A relay is a four-member-team event in which each member runs an equal part, called a leg or split, of the total distance.

HURDLES. The 110-meter (100-meter for women) and 400-meter hurdles are sprint events with 10 flights of hurdles placed at intervals across the running lanes. The hurdles are a few inches higher in the shorter race for both men and women, but in both races the men's hurdles are higher than the women's.

STEEPLECHASE. The 3,000-meter steeplechase requires both the skills of a hurdler and the endurance and stamina of a long-distance runner. The race includes 28 barrier-hurdles and 7 water jumps. Runners are allowed to hurdle in the usual way or step onto the sturdy hurdles in order to clear them.

WALKING EVENTS. The most common walking events cover distances of 20,000 and 50,000 meters (20 k and 50 k). Walkers must maintain unbroken contact with the walking surface, heel-to-toe walking, and the supporting leg must be straight.

JUMPING EVENTS: the high jump, the pole vault, the long jump, the triple jump.

THROWING EVENTS: the javelin, the discus, the shot (a 16-pound ball for men and less than 9 pounds for women), the hammer throwing.

TWO-DAYS EVENTS: The decathlone (the 100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, and 400-meter dash are held on the first day; the 110-meter hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw, and 1,500-meter run, on the second). The heptathlon is a two-day event for women. The 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, and 200-meter dash are held on the first day; the long jump, javelin, and 800-meter run, on the second.

GYMNASTICS

The two kinds of gymnastics most commonly seen in competition are artistic gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics. Artistic exercises are performed on apparatuses and mats. There are six events for men: floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, and horizontal bar.

For women there are four events: floor exercise, uneven bars, vault, and balance beam. Competition is divided into required, or compulsory, and optional exercises.

Rhythmic gymnastics is a mixture of ballet, acrobatics, and juggling in which rhythm, grace, flexibility, and dexterity in handling implements are demonstrated. Gymnasts perform to music while using balls, ropes, hoops, ribbons, or Indian clubs.

VOCABULARY

KINDS OF SPORTS AND GAMES

WINTER SPORTS:

Figure skating, skate sailing, ice hockey, speed skating, curling, ice yachting, toboggan (sledge), bobsleigh (bobsled), skiing, slalom, cross-country skiing.

WATER SPORTS AND GAMES: swimming, diving, water polo, surfing, skin diving, rowing, canoeing, sailing, surfing, water skiing.

AERIAL SPORTS: gliding, hang gliding, aerobatics, parachuting, ballooning.

BALL GAMES: football, soccer, handball, grass hockey, rugby, American football, basketball, baseball, cricket, croquet, tennis, volleyball, golf.

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Ex. 6. Study the text and identify the main points of criticism of competition in sports and games:

THIS SPORTING SPIRIT

I am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations, and that if only the common peoples of the world could meet one another at football or cricket, they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield. Even if one didn't know from concrete examples (the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance) that international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred, one could deduce it from general principles.

Nearly all the sports practised nowadays are competitive. You play to win, and the game has little meaning unless you do your utmost to win. On the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved, it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise: but as soon as the question of prestige arises, as soon as you feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced if you lose, the most savage combative instincts are aroused. Anyone who has played even in a school football match knows this. At the international level sport is frankly mimic warfare. But the significant thing is not the behaviour of the players, but the attitude of the spectators: and, behind the spectators, of the nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and seriously believe - at any rate for short periods - that running, jumping and kicking a ball are tests of national virtue...

Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence : in other words it is war minus the shooting. Instead of blah-blahing about the clean, healthy rivalry of the football field and the great part played by the Olympic Games in bringing the nations together, it is more useful to inquire how and why this modern cult of sport arose. Most of the games we now play are of ancient origin, but sport does not seem to have been taken very seriously between Roman times and the nineteenth century. Even in the English public schools the games cult did not start till the later part of the last century. Dr Arnold, generally regarded as the founder of the modern public school, looked on games as simply a waste of time. Then, chiefly in England and the United States, games were built up into a heavily-financed activity, capable of attracting vast crowds and rousing savage passions, and the infection spread from country to country. It is the most violently combative sports, football and boxing, that have spread the widest. There cannot be much doubt that the whole thing is bound up with the rise of nationalism - that is, with the lunatic modern habit of identifying oneself with large power units and seeing everything in terms of competitive prestige.

George ORWELL, "This Sporting Spirit," Tribune, 14 December 1945.

Ex. 7. Take George Orwell’s point of view and prepare a short irate speech against the notorious slogan ‘Sport Unites Peoples’.

Ex. 8. Study the text:

CHILDREN IN SPORT

I: Hello, and welcome to today's 'You & Yours'. On today's programme we look at children who are trying to be champions in the world of sport, and the pressures they can be under to win, win, win. Now I spoke to Allan Baker, the former British Athletic coach, and he had this to say.

AB: Well, the problem is that you want to find these children at quite a young age, to train them and motivate them as early as possible. At that age they don't have social problems, you know they don't have boyfriends or

girlfriends, so they give their sport the whole of their life. But they're so young that they can lose their childhood, and they're adults before they're 16. But of course they're not adults at all. Physically they can be quite developed, but emotionally they're still children. Everybody’s looking for the new young star of the future, because there's a lot of money to be earned.

I: Tennis is one of the sports where youngsters can play against their elders with more than a chance of success. In America there are tennis schools which accept children from as young as 9. So from the age of 9 a boy or girl is playing tennis for four or five hours every day, and doing ordinary school work around that. I spoke to the team manager of the English Lawn Tennis Association, Pam de Gruchy.

PG: You see, we've already seen two 14-year-old American girls, that's Tracy Austin and Andrea Jaeger, playing at Wimbledon, and now, both at 18, they are now already showing the pressures on their bodies and their minds, and people are beginning to question whether this is a good thing for children. A 14-year-old just can't cope with the pressures of Wimbledon, the tournament, the Wimbledon crowds, and the press reporters. Well, I say to my girls, 'Stay at home, stay at school, do the things that teenagers like doing. If you like swimming - swim; if you like going to dances, just go!' And if when they're older they'd really like to be a professional tennis player, well, they'll be a little older than the Americans, but they'll be better people for it, of that I'm perfectly sure.

I: Pam de Gruchy thinks that young players shouldn't be allowed to become professionals until the age of 17 or 18 at least. I asked her what was responsible for the pressures on the young players - was it the money that can be earned, the parents, or perhaps the children themselves?

PG: Oh no, it's the parents, without a shadow of a doubt. They want to push their children. I get letters from parents saying, 'My little Johnny enjoys playing tennis all day, and he'd like to learn only that and be trained by a professional coach', and quite frankly I just don't believe it.

I: But what about the youngsters themselves? Robert, a 100-metre and 200-metre runner gave me an idea of his training programme, and his own very simple way of avoiding trouble.

R: Well I train under a coach for three days a week, and then decide how much running to do. If I've trained hard, then maybe I run five miles, you know, if not so much, then eight miles. Well, of course, I'd like to go to the next Olympics and represent Great Britain, and of course I'd like to win a gold but there are lots of other things I like doing with my life too. I play in a rock group and I'm also a keen photographer. Well, I suppose for me the most important thing is enjoyment. If, if you win, you're happy, and if you lose, it's the same. I mean if you start getting upset every time you lose, I think it's time to stop.

Ex. 11. Make a table of advantages and disadvantages of professional sport giving your arguments to prove your viewpoint.

Ex. 12. General discussion of the professional sport. The group is divided into two teams: one is the apologists of professional sport, the other is antagonists. Use the table and the arguments of the Ex.11.

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AMATEUR SPORT

Ex. 13. Study the text:

NO SWEAT? NO EXTRA YEARS

Harried executives may shoehorn an occasional squash gameor a round of golf into their overscheduled lives. Office clerks may sometimes trade a quick bite for a gym class during lunch hours. But if they want to get more out of their exercise routine, than acompetitive attitude or a leaner look, they are going to have to step up the pace. At least, hat is the conclusion of a Harvard study reported last week. The research tracked 17300 middle-aged men over 20 years and found that those who exercised vigorously almost every day lived longer than those who broke a sweat only once or twice a day.

Only two weeks ago, another study determined that any improvement in fitness translated into longer life. Such low intensity activities as gardening and walking the dog could be as beneficial as rigorous workouts. However, even if moderate exercise does not always prolong your life, it improves your quality of life. So the best exercise that you can do probably turns out to be something that you enjoy — whether it is a strenuous workout or just a brief walk. All it takes is getting up from the couch, turning off the TV and striding — briskly — out of the door.

Ex. 14. You are a doctor and you are trying to persuade your patient of the multiple benefits of physical activities.

A WOULD-BE SPORTSMAN

Timothy was keen on sport, especially football, which everybody played at break. Being light and agile, he was rather good at playground football, where you needed to dodge not just the opposing players, but other players in other games sharing the same pitch. But the school game was rugby, which he hated. He didn’t like getting banged and knocked like you did in rugby, and he didn’t have the courage to tackle other play­ers round the legs when they were running. He learned to run about on the edge of the play, looking as if he were interested, without actually touch­ing the ball or another player. Sometimes he would fall over on purpose to get his knees muddy so that it would look as if he had tackled some­body. It was the same with cricket in the summer. He enjoyed playing in the playground, and with an old tennis ball that had had most of the fur rubbed off it he could turn off-breaks quite sharply. But cricket with a real ball, hard and deadly, was a different matter. The only other school sport was running, and he was no good at that either. Usually he was elimi­nated in the heats before Sports Day, and so he would sit with his par­ents to watch the races, and see the winners go up at the end to receive their cups.

“It’s a shame they don’t give cups for lessons,” his mother would say.

“Then you’d win something, Timothy.”

But Timothy coveted athletic success, and coming first in Art or Maths gave him only a fleeting satisfaction. Sport was his chief interest in life. Sometimes his father took him to watch Charlton Athletic in the football season, and Surrey in the cricket season. He followed the fortunesof these teams in the Daily Express with passionate interest, and enacted their triumphs in fantasy, kicking a ball in the street against the front garden fence, or batting for hour after solitary hour, a rubber ball suspended by a string from the clothes-line in the back garden. But his achievements stopped short in the street or the playground. They passed into no records, were engraved upon no trophies, brought no credit to his school, and reflected no glory upon himself. He was resigned to a life of humble obscurity.

David LODGE, Out of the Shelter, 1970

Ex. 15. Choose one of the following tasks on the text above:

a. retell the text on Timothy’s part;

b. you are Timothy’s father. Tell about your son;

c. you are Timothy’s teacher of PE. Tell what you think about Timothy;

d. you are a school psychologist. Describe Timothy’s personality.

Ex. 18. Let’s talk about amateur sport. There are some phrases and ideas to guide you:

The reasons and imperatives (common, medical, pleasure, socialising etc.)

The idea of healthy living (components).

Sport for physical fitness and health, psychological health included.

Individual and social benefits.

Governmental concern.

Somatic disorders have roots in psychological disorders, ‘seasonal’ fitness, to win self-confidence, to feel better, to reduce the number of sick-leaves significantly, to become more attractive, to impress people, to work harder, to be more energetic, to set and reach an aim, to socialise, to be promoted, to make a better career.

Ex. 19. Write an essay on your life in sport.

UNIT 11: SPORTS AND GAMES

Ex. 1. Study the text:

Sport activities date back to ancient times. Naturally enough, our ancient ancestors couldn’t afford doing sport just for pleasure. With all difficulties and dangers of life they had to be very practical in everything, they couldn’t waste time on anything but needs of existence. The activities, which we may call now ‘sporting’, were used for physical development, which was a matter of vital importance for a person and the community in the whole. We may suppose that the first necessity activities were running, jumping, stone and dart throwing, and a sort of weightlifting. We assume that children were trained in those activities from early age, because at the age of 10 -12 they were hunters and warriors providing the survival of their tribe.

The next stage in the development of the mankind was the stratification of the society. One group received a greater part of the common product. This separation brought about a new social phenomenon – leisure. The rich turned sport activities into a show, organised competitions and orgies of slaughter. Who do you think enjoyed those shows: patricians or plebeians?

In the Middle Ages the situation didn’t change much. Leisure and the right to have entertainment belonged mainly to the nobles. They had their own physical training and practised in archery, fencing, equestrian sport and some other activities, necessary for knights. Common people enjoyed watching archery contests and knight tournaments.

With the rise of labour efficiency after the Industrial Revolution people didn’t have to spend all their time on the needs of existence, they received some spare time and spare money, which could be spent on entertainment. This period is characterised by the rise of spectator sports. Some people experienced in boxing, weightlifting and equestrian sport could earn their living joining circuses or participating in some contests for money.

The real surge for spectator sports occurred in the 20^th century. Such sports as football, basketball, ice hockey appeared. The matches in these sports gather huge audiences. Sport has become a very profitable business. Bets are made on the results of football and ice hockey matches, extra-class professionals earn incredible fees; sportsmen are bought and sold at fantastic price.

Nowadays the attitude of people towards sports and games vary from stubborn nihilism to blind fanaticism. Some people exercise sports as a part of their profession. Physical fitness is a matter of primary importance for soldiers, firemen, policemen, rescue teams and people of some other professions. Among the rest of the mankind there are two groups of people: those who do sport professionally and those who are amateurs. The amateurs in their turn may be divided into ‘active’ amateurs and ‘passive’ ones. The ‘active’ amateurs do sports for pleasure and for keeping in good shape and fitness, while the ‘passive’ ones enjoy watching sports and games at stadiums and on TV munching a hot-dog and washing it down with a pint of beer.

Ex. 2. Answer the questions:

1. What were the reasons for physical exercises for our distant ancestors?

2. What social and economic changes facilitated the rise of spectator sports?

3. People’s attitudes towards sports differ a lot. What are these attitudes?

Ex. 3. Imagine you are a Stone Age warrior, a Middle Ages knight or a lady, or a 19^th century circus weightlifter. Try to explain why you or your contemporaries do physical exercises.

Ex. 4. Study the text and dwell upon the following points:

a. ancient Greece Olympiads;

b. the revival of the Olympic movement;

c. the modern Olympic Games.

THE OLYMPIC GAMES

The Olympic Games were originally an ancient Greek religious festival in honour of Zeus, held in Olympia near Mount Olympus, the mythical home of the gods. The initial date for the beginning of the Games was 776 B.C. They were held every four years, in the middle of the summer; the main condition of the festival was that there should be peace throughout Greece. The ceremonies included contests in oratory, poetry, music, and art, as well as in athletic skills like wrestling, throwing the javelin, chariot races and running.

The Olympic Games were an exclusively male festival, open to young men from all the Greek cities. Women were not allowed to compete in the Olympic Games, or even to attend and watch them, though there are legends of girls having done so in disguise. The victors were traditionally crowned with olive leaves. The importance of the Games in Greek life was so great that the Olympiad, the four-year interval between Games, was a main unit of the Hellenic calendar. To be a victor in the classical Olympic Games was a great honour not only for the athlete, but for his city.

The classical Games continued for over a thousand years. Factionalism and controversies over the status of competitors became so fierce and disruptive in later years that the Games were finally suppressed by the Roman Emperor Theodosius in A. D. 392 as a disturbance of the Pax Romana or Roman peace.

With growth of interest in sport in the nineteenth century, and the organisation of annual and traditional sporting contests, especially between schools and universities, the idea arose of reviving the Olympic Games in the modern world. A Frenchman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, was the enthusiast whose personal drive and initiative brought about the inauguration of the modern Olympic Games in 1896 with the participation of 311 athletes from thirteen countries, competing in nine sports.

At first the modern Games were limited to men. Women first competed in the Games in 1910, playing golf, but real women's participation only began in Paris in 1924 with the inclusion of women's athletics in the programme. In recent Olympiads the women's programme has been greatly extended.

Winter sports were brought into the Olympic programme through the organisation of special Winter Games, first held in France at Chamonix in 1924, with competitions in ice hockey, speedskating, figure skating, and skiing. These are still the basic events of the winter programme, with the addition of bobsleigh and toboggan races, and now ice hockey.

The most impressive moment in the opening ceremony of the Games is the taking of the Olympic oaths. First a representative athlete from the host country, holding a corner of the Olympic flag, takes the following oath on behalf of all the participants:

"In the name of all competitors, I promise that we will take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams."

After the representative athlete, a judge from the host country takes an oath on behalf of all those judging and officiating in the Games.

The Olympic flag has a motif of five interlocking rings on a white background. The five rings represent the five inhabited continents of the world and symbolise universal brotherhood. The six colours, the white of the background and the blue, yellow, black, green, and red of the rings, represent the nations of the world, since every national flag contains at least one of these colours. The ceremonial embroidered flag, by the Olympic rules, must reside in the principal municipal building of the host city until the next Games.

The motto of the Games "citius, altius, fortius" (Latin - faster, higher, braver) puts the emphasis on personal not team performance and achievement. Officially there are individual and team victors but no victor countries; from the very beginning of the Games, however, the Press has made an unofficial count of the medals won by the sportsmen of each participating country and has kept an unofficial points score.

***********************************

PROFESSIONAL SPORT

KINDS OF SPORT

Ex. 5. Study the following information and make a list of the events:

TRACK AND FIELD EVENTS

A multifaceted sport, track and field includes a wide variety of walking, running, jumping, and throwing events. Both men and women participate, but the events for men and women are somewhat different.

When two teams compete, the contest is called a track meet. Track and field events, called athletics in England and some other countries, may take place outdoors or indoors. Most track meets take place in an open stadium that has a grass infield surrounded by an oval track measuring 400 meters (440 yards).

The International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) is the governing body for track and field sports.

The most famous track and field competitions take place every four years during the summer Olympic Games.

RUNNING EVENTS

DASHES. The 100-meter dash, which attracts the "world's fastest humans," requires all-out speed over the entire distance of the race--often called sprinting. The 200- and 400-meter dashes are run around one or more turns. The 800- and 1,500-meter races are not technically sprints, though they require sprinter speed as well as endurance.

DISTANCE RACES cover 3,000, 5,000, or 10,000 meters. A marathon course measures 42,195 meters, or 26 miles 385 yards. Cross-country courses take runners over natural terrain and across natural barriers. Men generally race at least 12,000 meters cross country and women between 2,000 and 5,000 meters. Distance runners must have endurance, stamina, and mental toughness.

RELAY RACESare 4 x 100- and 4 x 400-meter sprint events. A relay is a four-member-team event in which each member runs an equal part, called a leg or split, of the total distance.

HURDLES. The 110-meter (100-meter for women) and 400-meter hurdles are sprint events with 10 flights of hurdles placed at intervals across the running lanes. The hurdles are a few inches higher in the shorter race for both men and women, but in both races the men's hurdles are higher than the women's.

STEEPLECHASE. The 3,000-meter steeplechase requires both the skills of a hurdler and the endurance and stamina of a long-distance runner. The race includes 28 barrier-hurdles and 7 water jumps. Runners are allowed to hurdle in the usual way or step onto the sturdy hurdles in order to clear them.

WALKING EVENTS. The most common walking events cover distances of 20,000 and 50,000 meters (20 k and 50 k). Walkers must maintain unbroken contact with the walking surface, heel-to-toe walking, and the supporting leg must be straight.

JUMPING EVENTS: the high jump, the pole vault, the long jump, the triple jump.

THROWING EVENTS: the javelin, the discus, the shot (a 16-pound ball for men and less than 9 pounds for women), the hammer throwing.

TWO-DAYS EVENTS: The decathlone (the 100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, and 400-meter dash are held on the first day; the 110-meter hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw, and 1,500-meter run, on the second). The heptathlon is a two-day event for women. The 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, and 200-meter dash are held on the first day; the long jump, javelin, and 800-meter run, on the second.

GYMNASTICS

The two kinds of gymnastics most commonly seen in competition are artistic gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics. Artistic exercises are performed on apparatuses and mats. There are six events for men: floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, and horizontal bar.

For women there are four events: floor exercise, uneven bars, vault, and balance beam. Competition is divided into required, or compulsory, and optional exercises.

Rhythmic gymnastics is a mixture of ballet, acrobatics, and juggling in which rhythm, grace, flexibility, and dexterity in handling implements are demonstrated. Gymnasts perform to music while using balls, ropes, hoops, ribbons, or Indian clubs.

VOCABULARY

KINDS OF SPORTS AND GAMES

WINTER SPORTS:

Figure skating, skate sailing, ice hockey, speed skating, curling, ice yachting, toboggan (sledge), bobsleigh (bobsled), skiing, slalom, cross-country skiing.

WATER SPORTS AND GAMES: swimming, diving, water polo, surfing, skin diving, rowing, canoeing, sailing, surfing, water skiing.

AERIAL SPORTS: gliding, hang gliding, aerobatics, parachuting, ballooning.

BALL GAMES: football, soccer, handball, grass hockey, rugby, American football, basketball, baseball, cricket, croquet, tennis, volleyball, golf.

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Ex. 6. Study the text and identify the main points of criticism of competition in sports and games:

THIS SPORTING SPIRIT

I am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations, and that if only the common peoples of the world could meet one another at football or cricket, they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield. Even if one didn't know from concrete examples (the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance) that international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred, one could deduce it from general principles.

Nearly all the sports practised nowadays are competitive. You play to win, and the game has little meaning unless you do your utmost to win. On the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved, it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise: but as soon as the question of prestige arises, as soon as you feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced if you lose, the most savage combative instincts are aroused. Anyone who has played even in a school football match knows this. At the international level sport is frankly mimic warfare. But the significant thing is not the behaviour of the players, but the attitude of the spectators: and, behind the spectators, of the nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and seriously believe - at any rate for short periods - that running, jumping and kicking a ball are tests of national virtue...

Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence : in other words it is war minus the shooting. Instead of blah-blahing about the clean, healthy rivalry of the football field and the great part played by the Olympic Games in bringing the nations together, it is more useful to inquire how and why this modern cult of sport arose. Most of the games we now play are of ancient origin, but sport does not seem to have been taken very seriously between Roman times and the nineteenth century. Even in the English public schools the games cult did not start till the later part of the last century. Dr Arnold, generally regarded as the founder of the modern public school, looked on games as simply a waste of time. Then, chiefly in England and the United States, games were built up into a heavily-financed activity, capable of attracting vast crowds and rousing savage passions, and the infection spread from country to country. It is the most violently combative sports, football and boxing, that have spread the widest. There cannot be much doubt that the whole thing is bound up with the rise of nationalism - that is, with the lunatic modern habit of identifying oneself with large power units and seeing everything in terms of competitive prestige.

George ORWELL, "This Sporting Spirit," Tribune, 14 December 1945.

Ex. 7. Take George Orwell’s point of view and prepare a short irate speech against the notorious slogan ‘Sport Unites Peoples’.

Ex. 8. Study the text:

VICIOUS AND DANGEROUS SPORTS SHOULD BE BANNED

When you think of the technological progress we have made, it’s amazing how little we have developed in other respects. We may speak contemptuously of the old Romans because they enjoyed the orgies of slaughter that went on in their arenas. We may forgive them because they lived 2000 years ago and knew no better. But are our feelings of superiority really justified? Are we any less bloodthirsty? Why do boxing matches attract such universal interest? Don’t the spectators hope they will see some violence? Human beings remain as bloodthirsty as ever they were. The only difference between ourselves and the Romans is that while they were honest enough to admit that they enjoyed watching hungry lions tearing people apart and eating them alive, we find all sorts of arguments to defend sports which should have been banned long ago.

It is incredible that in this day and age we should still allow hunting or bull-fighting, that we should be prepared to sit back and watch two men batter each other to pulp in a boxing ring, that we should be relatively unmoved by the sight of one or a number of racing cars crashing and bursting into flames. Let us not deceive ourselves. Any talk of the sporting spirit is sheer hypocrisy. People take part in violent sports because of the high rewards they bring. Spectators are willing to pay vast sums of money to see violence. Millions of people are disappointed if a big fight is over in two rounds instead of fifteen. They feel disappointment because they have been deprived of the pleasure of witnessing torture and violence.

Why should we ban violent sports if people enjoy them so much? you may well ask. The answer is simple: they are uncivilised. For centuries man has been trying to improve himself spiritually and emotionally — with little success. But at least we no longer tolerate barbaric practices which were common in the past. Prisons are no longer the grim forbidding places they used to be. Social welfare systems are in operation in many parts of the world. Big efforts are being made to distribute wealth fairly. These changes have come about not because human beings have suddenly and unaccountably improved, but because positive steps were taken to change the law. The law is the biggest instrument of social change that we have and it may exert great civilising influence. If we banned dangerous and violent sports, we would be moving one step further to improving mankind. We would recognise that violence is degrading and unworthy of human beings.

Ex.9. In the text above you’ve read unpleasant but truthful picture of the barbaric nature of the humans.

What sports does the author consider dangerous and vicious? What other sports do you consider dangerous? Do you share the author’s viewpoint? Do you think that these sports influence the rate of crime in the streets? What measures can be taken to limit violence in sport?

Ex. 10. Study the interview and speak about pros and cons of early start of sporting career.

CHILDREN IN SPORT

I: Hello, and welcome to today's 'You & Yours'. On today's programme we look at children who are trying to be champions in the world of sport, and the pressures they can be under to win, win, win. Now I spoke to Allan Baker, the former British Athletic coach, and he had this to say.

AB: Well, the problem is that you want to find these children at quite a young age, to train them and motivate them as early as possible. At that age they don't have social problems, you know they don't have boyfriends or

girlfriends, so they give their sport the whole of their life. But they're so young that they can lose their childhood, and they're adults before they're 16. But of course they're not adults at all. Physically they can be quite developed, but emotionally they're still children. Everybody’s looking for the new young star of the future, because there's a lot of money to be earned.

I: Tennis is one of the sports where youngsters can play against their elders with more than a chance of success. In America there are tennis schools which accept children from as young as 9. So from the age of 9 a boy or girl is playing tennis for four or five hours every day, and doing ordinary school work around that. I spoke to the team manager of the English Lawn Tennis Association, Pam de Gruchy.

PG: You see, we've already seen two 14-year-old American girls, that's Tracy Austin and Andrea Jaeger, playing at Wimbledon, and now, both at 18, they are now already showing the pressures on their bodies and their minds, and people are beginning to question whether this is a good thing for children. A 14-year-old just can't cope with the pressures of Wimbledon, the tournament, the Wimbledon crowds, and the press reporters. Well, I say to my girls, 'Stay at home, stay at school, do the things that teenagers like doing. If you like swimming - swim; if you like going to dances, just go!' And if when they're older they'd really like to be a professional tennis player, well, they'll be a little older than the Americans, but they'll be better people for it, of that I'm perfectly sure.

I: Pam de Gruchy thinks that young players shouldn't be allowed to become professionals until the age of 17 or 18 at least. I asked her what was responsible for the pressures on the young players - was it the money that can be earned, the parents, or perhaps the children themselves?

PG: Oh no, it's the parents, without a shadow of a doubt. They want to push their children. I get letters from parents saying, 'My little Johnny enjoys playing tennis all day, and he'd like to learn only that and be trained by a professional coach', and quite frankly I just don't believe it.

I: But what about the youngsters themselves? Robert, a 100-metre and 200-metre runner gave me an idea of his training programme, and his own very simple way of avoiding trouble.

R: Well I train under a coach for three days a week, and then decide how much running to do. If I've trained hard, then maybe I run five miles, you know, if not so much, then eight miles. Well, of course, I'd like to go to the next Olympics and represent Great Britain, and of course I'd like to win a gold but there are lots of other things I like doing with my life too. I play in a rock group and I'm also a keen photographer. Well, I suppose for me the most important thing is enjoyment. If, if you win, you're happy, and if you lose, it's the same. I mean if you start getting upset every time you lose, I think it's time to stop.

Ex. 11. Make a table of advantages and disadvantages of professional sport giving your arguments to prove your viewpoint.

Ex. 12. General discussion of the professional sport. The group is divided into two teams: one is the apologists of professional sport, the other is antagonists. Use the table and the arguments of the Ex.11.

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AMATEUR SPORT

Ex. 13. Study the text:

NO SWEAT? NO EXTRA YEARS

Harried executives may shoehorn an occasional squash gameor a round of golf into their overscheduled lives. Office clerks may sometimes trade a quick bite for a gym class during lunch hours. But if they want to get more out of their exercise routine, than acompetitive attitude or a leaner look, they are going to have to step up the pace. At least, hat is the conclusion of a Harvard study reported last week. The research tracked 17300 middle-aged men over 20 years and found that those who exercised vigorously almost every day lived longer than those who broke a sweat only once or twice a day.

Only two weeks ago, another study determined that any improvement in fitness translated into longer life. Such low intensity activities as gardening and walking the dog could be as beneficial as rigorous workouts. However, even if moderate exercise does not always prolong your life, it improves your quality of life. So the best exercise that you can do probably turns out to be something that you enjoy — whether it is a strenuous workout or just a brief walk. All it takes is getting up from the couch, turning off the TV and striding — briskly — out of the door.

Ex. 14. You are a doctor and you are trying to persuade your patient of the multiple benefits of physical activities.