Summer Olympics Events A Reading A Z Level H Leveled Reader Word Count: 223 LEVELED READER H Written by Terry Miller Shannon Visit www.readinga-z.com for thousands of books and materials. www.readinga-z.com
Summer Olympics Events Photo Credits: Cover, back cover, title page, pages 3, 6 (lower), 7 (lower 4), 8, 11 (long jump), 14: ArtToday; page 10 (lower right): Courtesy of Christine Hogan, web site www.chogan.com; page 10, 11 (high jump): Courtesy of Williams College; page 12: Courtesy of Robert Morris University Island Sports Center, Pittsburgh, PA. web site www.rmuislandsports.org; page 5: Ales Fevzer/CORBIS; page 6: Royalty-Free/CORBIS; page 7: Manuel Blondeau/Photo & Co./CORBIS; page 9: William Taufic/CORBIS; page 13: Royalty-Free/CORBIS Summer Olympics Events Level H Leveled Reader 2004 Learning Page, Inc. Written by Terry Miller Shannon Written by Terry Miller Shannon www.readinga-z.com ReadingA Z TM Learning Page, Inc. All rights reserved. Learning Page 1630 E. River Road #121 Tucson, AZ 85718 www.readinga-z.com Correlation LEVEL H Fountas & Pinnell H Reading Recovery 13 14 DRA 14
Places where past games have been held. Table of Contents The Summer Olympic Games....4 Water Sports.............6 Track and Field...........9 Gymnastics.............12 Event Categories...........15 Glossary................16 Index...................16 3 Mexico City 1968 Seoul 1988 Munich 1972 Barcelona 1992 Montreal 1976 Atlanta 1996 Moscow 1980 Sydney 2000 Los Angeles 1984 Athens 2004 The Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympics are held every four years. They are held in cities around the world. 4
swimming water polo Athletes walk in a parade at the start of the games Athletes at the Games play their best. They compete in hundreds of events. Let s look at some events. 5 Water Sports One water sport is swimming. Some swimming races are short. Swimmers swim only two lengths of the pool. Other races are longer. 6
relay race diving breaststroke backstroke butterfly stroke freestyle Divers twist and flip before hitting the water. Some swimming races use only one kind of stroke. In one race, swimmers can choose the stroke they want to use. Another water sport is diving. In diving events, divers jump from high above the water. They get points for how well they dive. 7 8
hammer throw discus Most running events take place on a track. Track and Field These events include running, throwing, and jumping. The marathon is the longest running event. The shortest races are called dashes. 9 shot put javelin In throwing events, athletes win for how far they throw. 10
high jump men s rings women s balance beam long jump In jumping events, athletes jump high or far. In the high jump, athletes leap over a bar. The bar is raised higher and higher until only one person can jump it. In the long jump, athletes leap as far as they can. 11 women s uneven bars men s pommel horse Gymnastics Gymnasts leap, flip and twirl through the air. They need perfect timing, strength, and skill. 12
balance beam rings The balance beam. Only women do the balance beam event. They have to balance on the beam while they turn and flip. 13 A gymnast s arms and shoulders need to be strong to do the rings. Only men do the rings event. They hold onto the rings and flip their bodies in circles. 14
Event Categories There are 28 sports with hundreds of events at the Summer Olympics. Summer Olympic Sports Archery Badminton Baseball Basketball Boxing Canoe/Kayak Cycling Equestrian Fencing Football Gymnastics Handball Hockey Judo Modern Pentathlon Rowing Sailing Shooting Softball Table Tennis Taekwondo Tennis Track and Field Triathlon Volleyball Water sports Weightlifting Wrestling To find out more about the Olympics, go to the Olympics Web site: http://www.olympic.org Glossary athletes people who play sports (p. 5) dashes short running events (p. 9) gymnasts people who leap, flip, and twirl through the air (p. 12) marathon a very long running race (p. 9) Index diving, 8 gymnasts, 12 jumping events, 11 Olympic events, 15 rings, 14 running events, 9 swimming strokes, 7 15 16