The Winter Olympics Winter Edition 2014 A Literary Magazine by the Students of Erie Day School A Stroke of the Pen History of the Winter Olympics Interviews with Trevor Bergqvist, Caryn Cadavy, and Bruce Baumgartner
History of the Winter Olympics By: Jamie Rowley, 7th Grade The first multi-sport winter games were the Nordic Games held in Sweden. They took place in 1901and only athletes from Scandinavian countries were eligible to compete. The Nordic Games were held again in 1903 and 1905 and then every four years until 1926. There were several attempts to include winter Olympic sports in the summer games. It wasn t until the 1920 Antwerp Summer Games that one week of the summer games was dedicated to the winter Olympic sports of figure skating and hockey. The Antwerp Summer Games paved the way for separate Winter Olympics. On January 25, 1924 the first official Winter Olympics took place in Chamonix, France. There were twelve events for six different sports. Scandinavians dominated figure skating and skiing events in the French Alps. The Winter Olympics are a celebration of the participating athletes skill, hard work, and determination. Unfortunately, several Winter Olympics have been cancelled due to political unrest. The 1940 and 1944 Winter Olympics were cancelled because of the outbreak of World War II. In 1986, the IOC voted to hold the winter and Summer Games in different years. The Winter Olympics would be held in alternating even numbered years beginning in 1994. The Olympic Games are much more than sports events. They tell the story of our world through the amazing athletes who compete. Letter from the Editor Dear Readers, I am excited for this year s first issue of A Stroke of the Pen to be released. The theme of this issue is the Winter Olympics. The staff has been working hard for two months researching, interviewing, and writing articles. The articles in the first issue for the 2013-14 school year are about the history of the Winter Olympics and the sports involved in the games. The Jamaican Bobsleigh team is highlighted. There are also three interviews in this issue and they are with Trevor Bergqvist, Caryn Cadavy, and Bruce Baumgartner. Cadavy and Baumgartner competed in the Olympics and they reside in Erie. Trevor Bergqvist is a figure skating hopeful whose goal is to compete in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. Other articles include the most popular sports of the winter games, previous gold medalists, and how Sochi, Russia is preparing for the events. We also held a Winter Drawing Contest for students in fourth grade to eighth grade. The winner is featured on our cover and second and third places as well as two honorable mentions are in this issue. The generous donations of many families have made the printing of A Stroke of the Pen possible. I am planning another issue in the spring. I hope you enjoy the first issue of Erie Day School s literary magazine. Ski Jump By: Marcus Diniaco, 7 th Grade Enjoy, Jamie Rowley * Congratulations to eighth grader, Sonya Kisak, for creating the winning cover design. Ski jumping, in my opinion, is one of the coolest winter Olympic sports. Despite what you may think of when you hear "ski jump", it is not necessarily simple. It is an event that requires speed, power, technique, and fearlessness. In ski jumping, the competitors slide down a long steep ramp and jump off to see how far they can land. They wear special skis that can be almost one and a half times as tall as the competitor. The ramp is built to a slope of 35-36 degrees. This may not seem very steep, but keep in mind that the average staircase is about 30 degrees. Many people think that the end of the ramp curves upward, to help launch the skier, but it is actually flat, and the skier must launch themselves. Also, the jumper must lean forward while they jump, otherwise they will get a lot of wind resistance. Leaning forward, and being aerodynamic, will let the jumper fly farther towards their landing. Not as simple as you thought, is it? 2
An Interview with an Olympic Hopeful By: Jamie Rowley, 7 th Grade Trevor Bergqvist, a graduate of Erie Day School 09, has his eyes set on the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. His goal is to compete in these Olympic Games as a figure skater for Sweden. Trevor, a talented, young skater is currently training at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His coaches are Tom Dickson, Christine Krall, and Catarina Lindgren. Trevor has been on the ice since he was ten years old. He played hockey initially then he began figure skating at eleven. After graduating from EDS, Trevor attended an area high school for a year. As his schedule became more demanding, Trevor finished his schooling via Cyber School. Online schooling gave Trevor the flexibility he needed to attend more competitions. Bergqvist graduated from high school in May and is doing a gap year to focus on his skating. He plans to attend Colorado College next fall. Trevor s determination to compete in the 2018 Winter Olympics is the driving force in his life. Trevor begins skating each morning at 10 a.m. and finishes at 5:30 p.m. He takes a short break in the middle of the day for lunch. Trevor goes to the gym in the evening to work-out with weights. At this time, Trevor is competing as a junior; competition groups are determined by age. The junior bracket is one group below the televised figure skaters. The figure skating season begins in the summer and concludes in March. However, the offseason is busy for Trevor as well. He skates often, chooses the music for his programs, and works too. During the offseason, Trevor does find some free time to play Legends of Zelda. Good luck Trevor and EDS is cheering for you! Olympian Bruce Baumgartner By: Lydia Langford-Tyler, 7th Grade Have you ever met an Olympic gold medal winner? You may have walked past one at the mall or perhaps sat in a restaurant near him in town. Bruce Baumgartner, his wife Linda, and three sons live in Edinboro, Pennsylvania. Bruce has won five medals in the winter Olympics. Bruce Baumgartner is a local hero. He is regarded as the greatest freestyle heavyweight wrestler in American history. He has earned thirteen World and Olympic medals including two gold, one silver, and one bronze medal in four Olympic competitions. Bruce was born in Haledon, New Jersey and wrestled during college at Indiana State University. He was the heavyweight runnerup at Nationals two years in a row and took home the national championship as a senior. In the classroom, he was an outstanding student earning the Top 5 Award for his athletic leadership and academic success. He graduated ISU with a bachelor s degree in Industrial Art Education. Bruce Baumgartner went on to graduate school because as he says, I wanted to learn more in school. He won a scholarship to Oklahoma State University and worked as the graduate assistant wrestling coach. In 1980, during graduate school, he was chosen as an Olympic team alternate and was the National Freestyle Champion. In 1981, he won the championship at the World University Games in Romania and the next year was selected to the World Team while earning his master degree in Industrial Arts/Adult Education. Over the next 17 years, Baumgartner defeated every American wrestler he faced in competition. In 1984 he earned his first gold medal in the Los Angeles Olympic Games. He was America s first gold medalist in heavyweight wrestling in over 60 years. He also won a silver medal four years later at the Olympics in South Korea. In 1992, Bruce became the first American wrestler to medal in three consecutive Olympics, bringing home the gold from Barcelona, Spain. During the next six years also earned medals in the Pan- American Games, World Championships and Goodwill Games. By 1996, Baumgartner became one of eight athletes in history to medal in four different Olympics. Beginning in 1984, Bruce Baumgartner accepted a coaching position at Edinboro University. His team received national success during the thirteen years of his leadership. Today, he is the Athletic Director for Edinboro University, earning a great deal of money for scholarships and athletic teams. His is also an international motivational speaker with a message to devote and dedicate yourself to be successful in your career. You may find him on the mat at EUP, wrestling to keep in shape and for fun. 3
How is Russia Preparing for 2014 Olympic Games? By: Hayley Schultz, 7 th Grade With the Winter Olympics beginning in a month or two everyone is asking about how Russia is preparing and will they be ready. Russia is essentially building Sochi from scratch. Right after arriving from the newly built airport there is no way to escape the construction. For Russia this isn t just a major sports event but a point of national pride. President Vladimir Putin has made the Olympics his personal pet project and has used this opportunity to showcase how powerful and prosperous Russia is. He has spared no expense to make sure the games are a success. The current total of money allotted for this Olympics is fifty-one billion dollars! That s more than four times Russia had expected it to be. This Olympics is going to be the most expensive yet. It s surpassing the forty billion China is believed to have shelled out for the Beijing Olympics. The costs are so high because they have to build everything from scratch. Russia is hoping after this Olympics that tourists will start visiting and generate money for Russia s economy. Russia had to build hotels, Olympic facilities such as three Olympic villages, and a media center. Every major highway has been affected by the construction causing horrible traffic for the citizens of Sochi. The 2014 Games will feature 3,000 athletes competing in seven sports and fifteen disciplines for a total of ninetyeight medal events. All of the indoor sports will be held on the Black Sea coast in five new arenas. The high level of security surprises everyone that visits. Every step there is someone checking credentials. There will guards with assault rifles and German shepherds patrolled the venues in groups, although they try to keep a low profile. Russia says the security measures will be exactly as they have been in the past, and it will be no different than if the Olympics were held elsewhere. They vow it will be the safest Olympics in history. A Chechen rebel warlord called on militants to disrupt the Olympics, describing them as satanic dances on the graves of our ancestors. He told his followers to do everything possible to cause havoc at the games. Russia responded saying there will be 37,000 police officers and a complex multilayered security system that will protect athletes and spectators. Another concern for Russia is the weather. The Rosa Khutor resort will host Alpine skiing and other events and has one of the biggest snowmaking systems in Europe. They have two water reservoirs and four hundred snow generators installed on the slopes. They plan to store 195,000 cubic yards of snow for the games. Despite the ongoing construction Russia has made it clear that they will be ready. So far they have achieved a great amount of work in a small amount of time. They have rebuilt Sochi an added all of the stadiums and villages making Sochi the ultimate tourist attraction. The athletes that have been there to see it are confident that they will be ready and that it will be very safe. If these Olympics are a success that would open Russia in terms of vacationing and tourists. That is why it is so essential to Russia to get this perfect. I think Russia has done a great job thus far in preparing and I believe everything will go well. Snowboarding at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games By: Noah Ali, 7th Grade The snowboarding event in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games will be held in Ros Khutor Extreme Park. The events at this park will take place from February 6, 2014 to February 22, 2014. There will be a total of ten snowboarding events at Sochi, Russia which will include Parallel slalom, parallel giant slalom, snowboard cross, half-pipe and the brand new event slope style. Slope style is a type of winter sport in which the goal is to perform the most difficult tricks while getting the most air off of jumps and you are supposed to perform different kinds of tricks. Slope style is one of the most popular sports at the Winter X games and will be making its Olympic debut at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. 4
Caryn Cadavy By: Alexandra Burnside, 7 th Grade Caryn Cadavy was born on December 9, 1967 in Erie. She is a professional figure skater and has won various titles for this skill. She is a World Bronze Medalist, 1988 Olympian, and U.S. Professional Champion. She has competed in many competitions including the 1987 World Figure Skating Championships, in which she won the bronze medal, and the 1989 US Championships, from which she had to withdraw because of ankle problems. Cadavy went to the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, but ultimately had to withdraw from the competition after she came down with the flu. She continued to skate after her experience at the Olympics. She has won medals at the U.S. Championships four years in a row as an amateur: three bronze and one silver. She won first place in the Skate Canada International and the Prize of Moscow News. She is one of the Erie area s most well-known athletes. She was in 6 th place in the 1988 Olympics before she had to withdraw, making her one of the highest placing athletes that our area has ever produced. Since the Olympics, she has coached skating and participated in other figure skating competitions as a professional. She is married and now lives with her husband in Minnesota. Cadavy answered some questions about her skating career and competitive experiences in the following: When and how did you become interested in skating? Did you think then that you would be such a success and role model? I became interested in skating when I was four years old I was introduced to the sport when I was two years old when my dad s side of the family went ice skating on the holidays. I loved skating from the very beginning, and when I was eight years old I told my family I was going to the Olympics someday. What was your training like? Did it interfere with school? My training consisted of early morning sessions before school as well after school. I also studied ballet throughout my career. My skating took months, weeks, years, and many hours of daily practice, which made it hard to go to school full time. Before the Olympics I was skating 6 hours a day and I decided to take my senior year of school in two years. 5 Were you always a good skater? Was skating a natural gift or something at which you had to work very hard? My family introduced me to other sports and activities other than skating when I was younger such as tennis, swimming, piano, and ballet. Ice skating was so natural to me. It gave me a sense of freedom when I skated. The combination of dance, speed, and challenge of technical skills was an exciting sport to be involved in. My ability to skate was quick and easy right from the start but required many years and hours of practice to achieve the technical elements, tests and competitive skills to perform at a high level. What were your non-olympic competitions like? How did they differ from the Olympics and what was your experience in the Olympics like? My non- Olympic competitions were very important to me. I would take each one as a learning experience and stepping stone to try new elements and hopefully achieve higher levels to eventually get me to the National Championship level. I never made it when I was younger at the lower levels and when I was seventeen I made it to Nationals and placed third in the country my first year of my National experience. The next three years I medaled at Nationals, won four Internationals and won a place on the 1988 Olympic team. I was able to compete in the first two events at the Olympics but came down with the flu after my second event. I was unable to skate my long program and had to withdraw due to my illness. My favorite experiences being a part of the Olympics was the Opening Ceremonies and meeting and competing against so many wonderful athletes from all over the world. I overall enjoyed making it to the Olympics since it was a dream I had since I was 8 years old. Being able to represent my country was such and honor and knowing my hard work paid off was such a great feeling. What was your initial reaction to when you found out that you couldn't continue competing in the Olympics? How did you feel and how did it affect the rest of your career, if at all? My initial reaction when I couldn t continue competing in the Olympics was a feeling of great sadness. Being so sick I knew I couldn t continue but it still didn t take away the disappointment of having to withdraw from competing my last event. continued on page 6
I never gave up though, I continued to perform and compete professionally. I was able to win six professional titles throughout my professional career as well as tour all over world. How did your general experience with the Olympics affect the rest of your life? My experience with the Olympics had impacted my life in many ways. It made me understand a greater meaning of love for my sport and accepting anything that came my way. I learned how to deal with adversity and appreciating my gift to skate. My career blossomed as a professional and the overall experience after the Olympics became more and more gratified as the years went on because I grew so much as a person, skater, and performer. Where do you live now and what have you done since the Olympics? I have currently resided for the past two and a half years in Minneapolis, Minnesota with my husband. I teach and choreograph for many skaters in that area. I conduct seminars around the country annually as well as attend charities for cancer and many other causes. What do you remember about your return home from the Olympics and your return to Erie? I remember the wonderful amount of support and comfort I felt from my family, friends and the many fans that followed me throughout my career to the Olympics. Hockey at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games By: Noah Ali, 7th Grade The sport of hockey at the 2014 Winter Olympics will be played at two different ice rinks located about 300 meters away from each other. These two rinks are the Bolshoy Ice Dome and the Shayba Arena. These games will be taking place from February 8, 2014 to February 23, 2014. There will be 444 competitors from 14 different nations. The Bolshoy Ice Dome will seat 12,000 people while the Shayba Arena will only seat 7,000 people, both of these arenas will be international size compared to the North American size used in the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver. The twelve participating nations in the men's hockey tournaments are divided into three groups. In Group A, we have Russia, Slovakia, United States, and Slovenia. In Group B we have Finland, Canada, Norway, and Austria. In the third and final group, Group C, we have the Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, and Latvia. To qualify for the men s tournament you had to be one of the top nine teams in the world ranking and all the other teams had to qualify for the last three spots left in the men's tournament. The eight qualifying teams for the women's teams were divided into two groups. Group A, which consists of Canada, Finland, Switzerland, and the United States. Group B consists of Russia, Sweden, Germany, and Japan. To qualify for the women s tournament you had to have been in the top five teams of the world and Russia gained entry because they will host the 2014 winter Olympic Games and the rest of the teams had to fight for the remaining two spots. On to the Events... By: Marcus Diniaco, 7th Grade How has your marriage affected your skating career? I am blessed that my husband has always and still does appreciate and support my career. How has skating impacted your life and the way you do everyday things? Do you think that skating has been an experience from which you have learned and gained instincts or other ways of life? Skating has been a wonderful sport to be involved in. Teaching me hard work, dedication and understanding how to handle achievements and failures. Skating will forever be a part of me. I apply these experiences throughout my daily life and I teach my students the many lessons I have learned. 6
Winter Olympic Gold Medalists By: Alex Burnside, 7 th Grade Some may say that the Olympic Games are all about trying one s best to succeed, or making acquaintances from different countries and learning about different cultures. Others may disagree. They say that the Games are about the winners, the glory, and the legends made. Some may say that the Olympics revolve around fierce competition, and most of all, gold medals. There are only six countries that have won at least one medal at every Winter Olympic Games: Austria, Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the United States. The United States is the only country in the world to have won a minimum of one gold medal at each Game. Norway, however, is the country with the most winter gold medals and winter medals in total, at 107 gold medals and 303 medals total. Winning a medal at the Olympics is one of the highest honors that an athlete can earn. Training for this event teaches perseverance and hard work. This could be a factor in the widely observed occurrence that the athletes with the most medals are often very successful in other competitions and in other aspects of life, as their training has taught them much about how to work hard to achieve what one wants. Bjorn Daehlie of Norway holds the place as the person with the most gold medals from the winter Olympics. He has won eight gold medals and four silver medals in cross country skiing. He is now a successful business man in Norway in the areas of real estate and fashion. He has made a quarter of a billion kroner, the Norwegian currency, in his real estate business. The woman who holds the most winter Olympic gold medals is Raisa Smetanina of the former Soviet Union. She won four gold, five silver, and one bronze medal in cross country skiing. She holds the title as the first woman in history to win ten winter Olympic medals. She took part in five Olympic Games. She was the most successful athlete, along with Rosi Mittermaier of West Germany, in the 1976 Olympics with her winnings of one silver and two gold medals. The youngest winter Olympian to win a gold medal is Tara Lipinski of the United States. She won her first gold medal at the age of fifteen in figure skating at the 1998 Winter Olympics. She was, and is to this day, the youngest individual gold medalist in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. One of the most well-known American Olympic gold medalists is Shaun White, a professional snowboarder/skateboarder who won two gold medals in the winter Olympics for snowboarding. He has won several other awards in snowboarding as well as skateboarding. Many athletes over the years have had the honor of competing and medaling in the Winter Olympic Games, but few have earned recognition from the entire world. The few that have earned this recognition are viewed by the world as champions, role models, and record breakers. Every year new records are broken and new athletes earn their deserved world-wide recognition. It is certain that Changes in the Winter Olympics By: Mya Tetuan-Lewis, 6 th Grade The winter Olympics have changed over the ages. They started in a small village in France in 1924 with only sixteen nations represented by two hundred forty seven men and eleven women. They have grown to eighty-two nations represented by two thousand six hundred male and female athletes at the last winter Olympics which was held in Vancouver, Canada in 2010. What was once a quaint, small gathering has turned in to a multi-billion dollar extravaganza. The events that were played in 1924 but have been discontinued are the military patrol witch was a medal sport, and a figure skating event called the men s special figures. For a sport to be considered an event in the winter Olympics it needs to be practiced in twenty-five countries and on three continents. At the end of the 1924 Olympics, the USA was tied with Great Britain with a total of four medals each. In the last 2010 winter Olympics the USA increased to a total of thirtyseven medals. The new sports that have been recently added are freestyle skating, short track speed skating, ski joring, and demonstration sports. Some future winter Olympics sports are team alpine skiing, ski mountaineering, skiorienteering, winter triathlon, and last but not least, bandy. There are three categories in the modern winter Olympics events. They are: Ice sports, Alpine snowboarding and skiing, and Nordic sports. 7
The Jamaican Bobsled Team By: Daanish Bhatti, 8 th Grade Beginnings The Jamaican Bobsleigh Team represents Jamaica in international bobsledding competitions. The original team consisting of Devon Harris, Dudley Stokes, Michael White, and Nelson Stokes debuted at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta. They accumulated fame quickly because they were seen as underdogs, competing in a winter sport when Jamaica is a tropical island with no snow. The team had no idea how to even go down a bobsled track and they borrowed sleds from other countries. The other countries were happy to help because it made them look admirable, they were helping out "the underdogs". When the bobsledders participated in the Olympics, they did not make it officially due to a crash on one of the four races. However, they showed significant improvement through the games and impressed many countries with their fast races. The movie Cool Runnings was also based on their perseverance. The characters are fictional and it is more of a "sports movie" as opposed to being a documentary. However, when the teams crashed they used the actual footage of the original event. Although the team carried the bobsled for dramatic effect, however all the shaking hands of the other countries and the friendliness was authentic. Their story remains one of the most amazing stories of the Calgary games. Evolution The team returned to the Olympics in 1992 in Albertville, France, but they finished poorly. They qualified again for the Olympics in 1996 in Norway. There they finished in fourteenth place, surprising all of their competitors. They beat the United States, Russia, Australia and France. Most Popular Winter Sports By: Jonah Britton, 7 th Grade As the Winter Olympics are coming up you are probably wondering what sports to watch. Which ones are the best? Which ones are popular? Which ones are exciting? In this article you will find out the three most popular winter sports, as of last year, and what those sports entail. The most popular sport last Winter Olympics was freestyle skiing. Freestyle applied to skiing covers the events of Moguls, Aerials, Big Air, Half Pipe, Slope Style and Ski Cross. Their scores are judged as follows: 50% marks for quality of turns i.e. snow contact, aggression, and line etc. and 25% are judged by speed. The other 25% are marked by height and how much air time is used. The second most popular sport is downhill skiing. Downhill skiing is when a skier down a marked course made of gates that the competitors must pass through. Competitors can make one practice run before they make the real judged timed run. The winner is the person with the shortest time and passed through all the gates. Lastly, the third most popular sport is the luge. The luge is a sport where competitors lie down on a sled face-up and feet-first. Steering is done by using their legs to flex the sled's runners or applying pressure on the shoulder pads. Out of the three Olympic sliding sports, bobsled, skeleton, and luge, the luge is the fastest and most dangerous. The Jamaican Team's final run was in 2002 at the Salt Lake City islands. They did not qualify for the next two Olympic Games and will not qualify for the current games in Russia. The reason I did this article is because the Jamaican bobsled team is pushing harder than ever and getting ready for the Olympics in 2018. They are also a country whose bobsled team is definitely an underdog. They are participating in a winter sport while their conditions are extremely warm. They are a team that also many people do not know about. They also have to work twice as hard to even qualify to the Olympics. Those were the most popular sports of the last winter Olympics. The most popular sports in the upcoming one will likely consist of at least one these three interesting sports. If you want to see them, you can check the times that will be shown on the Olympic website. 8