The Olympic Spirit Inspires
Go for the gold
Encourage your kids to emulate the athletes with good-natured competitive Olympic spirit.
Beijing spent years preparing for the 2008 Summer Olympics and some athletes spend a lifetime preparing for it. How else could you go for the gold?
In August of 2008, some 10,000 athletes competed with an Olympic spirit for medals and fame in twenty-eight Olympic sports. In this Olympic spirit and tradition each sport had a number of different events bringing the total number of contests over the 300 mark. The winners are now part of Olympic history.
Aquatics filled the biggest gap in the Summer Games: the absence of a swimming event longer than 20 minutes. The two-hour event was seven times longer than the previously longest swim, the 1500 meter. It gave marathon swimmers the same chance for Olympic stardom that marathon runners have had since 1896. Training for the open water swim was dangerous and in the Olympic spirit, the athletes
contended with:
- icy waters,
- big waves
- the absence of lane lines and collisions between swimmers
- dangers presented by sharks, currents and jet skis
However, the swimmers were undaunted, their Olympic spirit high. And although there weren't waves and sharks in the new lake-like rowing basin, fresh water has less buoyancy than salt water so it was still a potential problem for the spirited swimmers during practice and at the events. They remained undaunted though - an inspiration for kids.
Emulating the Olympic Spirit
Can you think of ways kids and their friends can continue to emulate these athletes in a good natured way that encourages a competitive Olympic spirit . . . and get children prepared to meet the challenges ahead? If so, let us know. Cheerleading is not an Olympic event, but the video below is an example of the Olympic spirit in team competition.
Furthering the Olympic spirit - with awards
One way to further the Olympic spirit is to give awards to all who participate in the game or sport as encouragement and inspiration. Make your own with coins of different values, bottle caps or smiley faces 
which would be great to add to your kids scrapbooks. We have listed some kids games in our pages on relay race ideas and Olympic mini games.
More Olympics on the way, more Olympic Spirit to see
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge has made it a personal project to fight obesity and encourage young people to take part in sports through The Youth Olympics. Below are updates of these coming events obtained through multiple news sources.
- 2010 (February) – Winter Youth Olympics – Vancouver
- 2010 (August) – The first Summer Youth Olympics – Singapore. Official Logo: Spirit of Youth
- 2012 (Winter) – The first Youth Winter Olympics – Innsbruck, Austria. An estimated 1,000 athletes aged 14-18 will compete over 10 days in seven sports: biathlon, bobsled, curling, figure skating, ice hockey, luge, and skiing
- 2012 (Summer) – London
- 2014 (Summer) – The International Olympic Committee has started its search for the host city of these games. The Executive Board will select a shortlist in October from the nominations received through the bidding process. The voting will take place in Vancouver during the February 2010 Winter Olympics
- 2016 (Winter) – Bulgaria could host this Winter Youth event; their bid is said to have "serious chances because the requirements for the infrastructure are not so tight." They hope to host the event at Mount Vitosha just outside the capital Sofia.
Check back now and then for updates.
