Activity: Take your students back in time to ancient Greece, where the Olympic Games began, and learn how the modern games have changed and grown in the past century.

1. Explain to your class that the first recorded Olympic Games were held by a Greek king who believed that the Games could help save Greece from plague and war. He established a truce between the warring states of Greece and invited them to come together in peace to compete at Olympia. Using the pages cited below, explore the ways in which the ancient Games differed from the ones we have today.

2. Pierre de Coubertin, a French nobleman who believed the Games would help bring friendship and fair play to the world, revived the games in 1896. Learn about the life of Pierre de Coubertin at the site listed below. Discuss his ideas as a group: do children think that Coubertin had it right — does sports competition bring people together? In what ways?

3. During World War I and World War II, no Olympic Games were held. Discuss with your students why it might be difficult or impossible to hold an international athletic competition during a time of war.

4. In the first Olympic competition in ancient Greece, running was the only sport. In modern times, many other sports have become part of the Games. Go to the site listed below to learn about some of these sports. Have each of your small groups choose one sport on this page, click on the link to learn more about it, and research the following:

• What year did the sport first become part of the Olympic Games?
• What is one piece of equipment necessary to compete in this event?
  
• What is one official rule of this event?

5. The Olympic Games in ancient Greece were for men only, as were the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. In 1900, women were allowed to compete — but only in tennis and golf! Over time, women were admitted to all of the Olympic events. Discuss with your students why some people did not welcome the idea of women athletes in the Olympic Games.

Assign one of the following amazing female Olympians to each of your small groups. Have each group learn about their athletes at the Web sites below, and share the following information with the class:

• When and where was she born?
  
• In what year(s) and what city (or cities) did she compete in the Olympics?
  
• In what event(s)?
  
• What medal(s) did she win?
  
• At least one other interesting fact about her life or career.

6. To extend the previous activity, have each child write about one of these athletes. They might write a story from the perspective of a spectator witnessing one of her Olympic victories, or an article from the perspective of a reporter covering it for a newspaper.

Sites

The ancient games
http://www.upenn.edu/museum/Olympics/olympicintro.html

Pierre de Coubertin
http://www.olympic.org/uk/passion/museum/permanent/coubertin/index_uk.asp

Women Olympians

Wilma Rudolph
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/siforwomen/top_100/8/

Peggy Fleming
http://www.olympic-usa.org/athlete_profiles/p_fleming.html

Mary Lou Retton
http://www.olympic-usa.org/cfdocs/borg/newsTemplate.cfm?spID=20&newsID=2070

Babe Didrikson
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/siforwomen/top_100/2/

Sonja Henie
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/siforwomen/top_100/4/

Nadia Comaneci
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/siforwomen/top_100/9/