A short history of the Olympics especially for Tim The Tadpole.
Read by Natasha. Duration 10.18
As you may know, there’s a young tadpole who lives in the palace pond with prince Bertie the frog, and his name is Tim. Tim goes to the school for tadpoles, and at the end of every term the school always holds swimming races. Just recently, Tim was very excited because he came second in the backstroke race and he won a silver star. The only problem was that the star wouldn’t stick to him because he was too wet. But all the same, he was very pleased and when he saw Bertie he said
Yippeee ! I won a prize. I’m a champion swimmer !”
“Well done little Tim,” said Bertie, “ When you grow up to be a big green frog like me, you’ll win a medal in the Olympics !”
“Will I? Will I? “ asked Tim. “That’s Grrrreat ! I going to win a medal in the Olympics Er, Bertie, What’s the Olympics?”
“Ah yes,” said Bertie, who likes showing off his knowledge,” It’s when all the fastest, strongest, and most agile athletes from all over the world meet up and see whose best at each sport. It happens every year in a different country and everyone watches it on television.”
“Rubbish !” said Colin the Carp who had been overhearing this conversation. “Don’t go believing anything that comes from Bertie , In actual fact, The Olympics only happen once every four years.”
“Ah yes, didn’t I say that?” asked Bertie?
“No, you didn’t,” said Colin, “Because you’re ignorant.’
“Will I be ignorant too when I grow up?” asked Tim, who didn’t know what it meant. But nobody was listening. Tim didn’t like not being noticed, so he grew more excited and his voice grew more squeaky: “Bertie Bertie do tell me more about the Olympics because you used to be a prince and princes know everything… Why do they only happen every four years. That’s an awfully long time to wait…?
And Bertie said: “Well little Tim. As a matter of fact, Princes don’t know quite everything, but they can find out anything. And I’ll find out the whole history of the Olympics for you. In fact, I’ll ask Natasha about it right away.”
And so Bertie asked me to tell Tim the entire history of the Olympics. As I didn’t actually know it all, I went to the Palace Library to look it up. And so here is the History of the Olympics, especially for Tim.
The Olympics began over two and half thousand years ago in Ancient Greece. In those days Greece was made up of several different states including Athens, Sparta and Corinth, and they were often at war with each other.
But when the games were on, they held a truce, The greatest event was held at a place called Olympia, and that’s why the games were called the Olympics. They were held once every four years in honour of Zeus, Lord of all the Gods. But the Olympics weren’t the only important games – there were three other great festivals of sport too – which is why the Olympics only came round once in every four years.
The longest race and toughest race of all, the Marathon, also takes its name from ancient Greece. In 490 BC, the Greek states came together to fight off a vast and powerful army of invaders from the Person Empire. The battle took place at Marathon, and a soldier called Pheidippides, ran all the way back to the city of Athens. After he had given the people the news that they were saved, he died of exhaustion.
Eventually the ancient Olympics were abolished by the Roman Emperor, Theodosus the First, who was a Christian and didn’t like the games because of they were dedicated to a pagan god. But the Olympics were always remembered as a symbol of human achievement and peace.
Almost 1,500 years later, a French aristocrat called Pierre de Coubertin campaigned to restart the games in the cause of peace between nations.
The first modern Olympics were held in 1894 in Athens , the capital of Greece. The Greek hosts were delighted when the Marathon race was won by a Greek Shepherd, , Spyridon Louis.
The next games were hold in 1900 in Paris, which was at that time hosting a World Fair showing off all the most advanced inventions that people thought would change the world in the Twentieth Century. But the organisers decided to spread the games over five months, and so they lacked any focus and hardly got noticed.
The Oluympic Games continued to be held every four years, and they grew and grew in popularity. , In 1936, the Olympics were held in Berlin, the capital of Germany. The African American Jesse Owens won four gold medals for sprinting and long-jumping.
The games were held again in Germany, this time in Munich in 1972. In those days, the Olympics were almost seen as a kind of competition between the Soviet Union – which was the Communist empire of Russia – and te western world, especially the United States. Many of the Athletes of the Soviet Union, although brilliant at their sports, did not often smile very much in public. But one, a tiny young gymnast called Olga Korbut won the hearts of everyone on both sides of the divide with her charm and skill. She was the first person ever to do a backward somersault on the balance beam during a competition. On the American side, the mustachioed swimmer, Mark Spitz , won seven gold medals, and still holds the record for the most gold medals won in a single Olympic games.
In 1980 the games were held in Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union. America refused to let its a athletes go to the games as a protest against the recent Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. But even without the Americans, the sport was memorable, especially the middle distance races in which the two English runners, Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe competed against each other for gold and glory. The two athletes really didn’t like each other – and their private differences added plenty of interest to the competition on the track.
In recent times, a big problem has been the suspicion that some athletes take drugs to make them stronger and faster. In 1988, in Seoul, Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal after he failed a test for drugs. At the Athens Olympics in 2004, 24 athletes were discovered to have taken drugs.
Now that China is growing in wealth and power, there is a hint of a return to the old East West Rivalry. But as in the times of Ancient Greece, most people see that it’s much better to compete in the sports arena than to fight outside it.
The modern games still keep the ideal of peace, harmony and good sportsmanship, even if they don’t always quite live up to it. History shows that it’s a real struggle for peace and sport to triumph over war and politics, but it’s a goal worth striving for.
And that’s the story of the Olympics – not quite the entire history – but I hope that both you and Tim found it interesting.
And don’t forget there are loads more stories at Storynory.com For now, from me, Natasha, Bye Bye!
22 Comments
I LOVED THIS STORY
I love this story because it gives us enough information about Olymoics history.
thanks
I dont get it
all it is is information
i like stories witch are secret and have spies
i have read berties secret mission
Hi Funny face. There will be more Bertie adventures soon - and no information !
k
silly
this story is to long i got sleepy
thank natasha
alredy u are very good and your story is very good
Hey Bertie, it’s Sarah. The same one who bothered you about the Greek Mythology.So, I was thinking that you could do a story about how the Olympics started in the Greek Mythology version with the king, princess, and the prince, if you know it. If you don’t then always feel free to ask me. I am on storynory daily. I have seen every story on youtube. Oh, that gives me an idea. You could do the Greek Mythology version of the Olympics on youtube. Well bye for now.
P.S.
If you know yesterday was Pakistan’s
independence Day, August 14.If you could do a story on how Pakistan was seperated from India, that would be great. Oh and even a story about the Taj Mahal. Well, write back soon.
Dear Sarah
Glad you are still listening. I thought you might be interested to know that we will be doing another Greek Myth soon. This one is called “The Boy Who Flew Too High” and it’s about Icarus.
Congratulations to Pakistan on its Independence day.
Thank you for your suggestions. I think the partition of Parkistan and India is fascinating but the history of it is way too controversial, tragic, and violent for Storynory.
Are there any myths or stories for children from the region that you would like to suggest?
Bye for now
Dear Bertie,
Like I said, maybe a story about the Taj Mahal. Like who built it, what was the purpose of it being built. That is pretty much it for Pakistan because Islam is very strict so there are no myths about Allah.
But as you might already know, we had aphrophe, the greatest of all phrophets and also the last. Muhhamad(S). You could do a story about him and his lifetime and his whole purpose of his journey. I really think it would teach people the purpose of Islam and its kind but strict beliefs. If not you could always do a story on Hinduism myths which I think are pleasureable and lovely even being a muslim. You might even want to create a whole segment on religious stories. I would love to see that happen because many people just dont understand.
Please write back soon.
Yours truly,
Sarah
IM bertie
Dear Sarah, Many thanks for your suggestions. We do actually have a big project to do some Hindu myths - I can’t say much about it now - but we are planning them for the new year.
I am Bertie and Im so cool blah blah blah
i think storynry is really cool
Dear Sarah, I think that it is absolutely marvelous that you are a muslim and enjoy so many other things that are not from your religiouus beliefs and we will be doing some Hindu myths soon like Bertie said. Maybe even about Islam.
Dear Natasha and Bertie,
Really Natasha?!! Seriosly? OMG! THIS ROCKS!
I can’t believe it thanks so much. This means alot! You know Bertie, I always wanted to know if you really do live in England. Maybe that is whay the timings look so weird here in America for when the comments were posted. Do you do when the the comments were posted by England time? And Bertie, here is a question that might interest your listeners. Does Natasha write for you on your keyboard because you can’t, becaus lol you are a froggy for goodness sake! Bertie, do you know something. I made a storynory banner! Maybe I could send it to you and you could look it over. Please write back soon. P.S. Why is it saying on the comment board that you wrote blah blah i am so cool and all that. I know you would never do that. Please tell me why. Well bye! P.S.S. Bertie who is your best listener. I just have to know! Bye!
Hi Sarah
Of course please do send your Storynory banner to bertie@storynory.com which is indeed in England time.
Looking forward to it
Bye !
Very interesting!!!! Thank You
Dear Bertie,
Of course I will send the banner. I just needto twink it up a bit more. But I was just wondering if you read my whole statement because you didn’t answer all of my questions.
So does that mean you don’t want to or you just plain hate me. Please read my questions over again and tell me your answers. Thank you Bertie. The banner will be ready maybe a week after school starts in America, August 25.
Dear Sarah Sorry I didn’t answer all your questions. The Bertie who wrote “blah Blah” was some kid pretending to me. It happens. As for keyboard tapping, I’ve learned to do that with my tongue.
Dear Bertie,
Thanks Bertie. But I didn’t really say this in a question but is what Natasha said really true?! Because that is pretty exciting news to me because I have been sitting home all summer with my grandma, brother, and birds. Anyways, thanks. And don’t think that just because school is starting I will forget about Storynory. Please answer my one and only last question(maybe)about Natasha soon.
Bye for now.
STOP NAGGING BERTIE SARAH. HE IS NOT SOME BUG YOU CAN ALWAYS BOTHER. GOT IT? IF YOU EVEN POST ONE MORE COMMENT ON STORYNORY YOU WILL BE IN BIG TROUBLE WITH ME. I BETTER NOT SEE YOUR NAME UP HERE AGAIN. UNDERSTAND?