Tag: Olympics

News Sports

Canadian Athletes Working Through Injuries To Compete In Sochi

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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.

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News Sports

Olympic Torch On An Eventful Journey Across Russia

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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).

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News Science Sports

Some Sochi Gold Medals Will Contain Space Rock

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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.

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News Sports

Lance Armstrong Confesses, In Oprah Interviews

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Was there really anyone left who still believed he didn’t cheat?

If so, even they would have to admit that Lance Armstrong did cheat at cycling.

That’s because he himself recently came clean about it, to celebrity interviewer Oprah Winfrey.

The renowned cyclist won seven Tour de France victories–more than anyone else.

The Tour de France is the sport’s most gruelling and prestigious race.

For years, Armstrong has been accused of cheating by using performance enhancing drugs that aren’t allowed in competitive racing.

He always denied it. Vehemently.

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Arts News Sports

Pianos And The Pan American Games

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The Pan American Games are coming to Toronto, Ontario in 2015.

The Games are like the Olympics, but only athletes from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean compete.

It is different from the Olympics because it celebrates culture as well as sports. And that’s where the pianos come in.

The Games don’t start for another three years, but last July a Pan Am project called Play Me, I’m Yours, put 41 painted pianos around Toronto.

The pianos stood for the 41 countries and protectorates belonging to the Pan American Sports Organization. (Protectorates are countries that have their own government but also get protection from stronger countries.)

Each piano was decorated by an artist who lives in Canada but was born in one of the 41 countries.

The pianos were placed in public parks, streets and squares.

Play Me, I’m Yours invited everybody to play. It didn’t matter if you were piano teacher or could only play Chopsticks.

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Sports

Andy Murray’s Golden Year

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Andy Murray is having a good year—a very good year.

All of his career, the 25-year-old tennis player has been plagued by the fact that he has never won a major tennis tournament.

On the weekend, he put that doubt to rest by winning the US Open.

The US Open is one of the big four, “Grand Slam” tennis tournaments.

The others are the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon.

Britain has been waiting 76 years for a male player to win a Grand Slam singles event.

Murray had been waiting all his life.

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News Sports

Highlights From The 2012 Summer Olympics

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Here’s a look at some of the highlights from the spectacular 2012 Summer Olympics.

• U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps now holds the most Olympic medals of any athlete in history. He has 22 Olympic medals, four more than the next highest Olympic medal holder (gymnast Larisa Latynina, from the Soviet Union, who has 18).

Not only that, but he has 18 gold medals—twice as many as any other Olympian.

Phelps won six medals in the 2012 Olympics.

• Four of the world’s top badminton women’s doubles teams were kicked out of the Olympics for throwing their matches.

The women deliberately tried to lose by serving wildly and hitting shots into the net or out of the court. Why?

If they had won their first matches, they would have had to play more difficult opponents. By losing their first matches, they would have been able to play easier, more beatable teams.

However, you’re not allowed to “throw” a match by losing on purpose so they were eliminated from the Olympics.

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News Sports Technology

iPhone App Helps Blind Olympic Torchbearer

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The 2012 summer Olympic Games takes place in London, England starting next month.

From July 27 to August 12, athletes from 203 countries around the world will converge on the city to compete in sports including swimming, cycling and diving.

Before the competitions begin, the Olympic torch is run in a cross-country relay through more than 1,000 cities in the United Kingdom.

The torch was flown to the UK on May 18 and the huge, cross-country relay began.

In the relay, runners hold the torch aloft as they run and when they get to a certain spot they light the next runner’s torch–and so on.

The last torchbearer will light the giant cauldron in the Olympic Stadium in London, to mark the start of the Olympic Games for 2012.

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