For my A.C.E project the question that I choose to ask was “ How have the winter Olympics devolved over time?” The reason that I choose to do this project was because I hope that I will be able to go to the winter Olympic for snowboard cross or half pipe. I hope that maybe by the time I am trained and accepted into the Olympic they would have a free style snowboarding event. So in my project I have decided to cover one, The hosting of the Olympic games. Meaning the money, planning how people are to watch it etc. Second I am covering what it takes to be an athlete, so how they spend there days, how you get in to the Olympics, and how that has changed from per say the first ever Olympic games. Thirdly because of the death of the Georgian luger I have decided to look in to the health care that is available to the athletes. And lastly, I am looking in to the sports them self, so how the technologies for equipment have developed, or the new sorts that are being added.
The first modern Olympics were held in Greece in 1896. And Originally the sports of figure skating and Ice hockey were played during the summer games. Not very long ago were the very first winter Olympic games held. The first ever winter Olympics were held in Chamonix France in 1924. They are held every four years. The first events that they featured were alpine skiing, cross country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined ski jumping and speed skating. Now they have alpine skiing, cross country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined ski jumping ,speed skating, Skelton, speed skating biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, luge, short track speed skating, ice dance, snowboard cross, and half pipe.( Wiseman, Blaine 2010)
To host the winter Olympics takes a lot of work. To be able to do it, one you need to have the right climate. Two you also need to be able to do it financially. In the 2010 winter Olympics alone they spent 17 million $ on upgrades to the existing features! That’s not including the torch relay, opening or closing ceremonies. The Canadian government gave 36.5 million $ for the torch relay, this includes the events that the torch had to attended. Ridiculous amounts of money are being spent on the Olympics. In the early modern Olympics around 5000$ were spent. IN Vancouver in 2010 an estimated 1.354 billion dollars was spent.
Te way that the winter Olympics are played has changed a lot. The athletes are under a lot more pressure then they used to be. Now they are all about who can go the fastest and push the limits. The Olympic comities are making the courses harder and more dangerous for the athletes competing. The death of the Olympic luger tells us that maybe we are trying to push them to far. Though the technologies have been more advanced when it comes to medical care, us making the courses to hard is a big issue. There are always medical staff on hand to make sure that the competitors are taking care and the technologies like helmets have been improved we are “upping the bar” so to speak. To make sure that they are safe the Olympic comities are tightening the qualification standers making sure athletes do more training runs and slowing down the luge tracks.
The sports that are athletes are doing are changing rapidly. The kind of equipment that they have access to are getting a lot better. For example in the star of figure skating they would attach animal bones to there shoes, now they are made out of leather boots with metal blades attached. Also the standers that they must meet are being upped and getting in to the Olympics is getting much harder. Because more people are competing, they have to do bigger things train harder and do way better. A typical day for them would look like this : They would be up around 6:30 for breakfast, yoga and the morning workout, at 9:30 they would practice there event, 12:00 nap time 2:00 lunch then core exercises 6:00 dinner then relaxing or light stretching. So basically there days are packed full.
In conclusion I have learned a lot about what it take to be and athlete. I learned about how much effort that it takes form everyone to make them work. And its not just the athletes that make the game the games, it is also all the people who put in time money and effort into planning them. I have also learned that we have come a long way from the very first winter Olympics in 1924. The advancements in technologies, and medical care are making it safer and more fun for the athletes’ to compete. This is been a very fun and intresting project for me so far.
