Sports in Great Britain

Sports in Great Britain. The British people like every one else like sports and games. They are called sport-lovers in spite of the fact that some of them neither play games nor even watch them. They only like to speak about sports.

Sport plays such a large part in British life that many idioms in the English language have come from the world of sport. For example, “to play the game” means “to be fair” and “that’s not cricket” means “that’s not fair”. Britain invented and developed many of the sports and games, which now are played all over the world. There are different sports societies and clubs in Great Britain.

Thousands of people devote their leisure time to outdoor and indoor games, athletics, cycling, mountain climbing, boxing and other sports. Horse-racing, dog-racing and motor-racing are among the most popular sports in Britain. They gather many spectators. Football is the most popular game in Britain. It is a team game. There are some amateur teams but most of the teams are professional in England. Such teams as Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are well-known all over the world.

The Cup finals is one of the most important football matches of the year in England; it is always played at the Wembley stadium, near London, which holds 100,000 spectators. The matches between England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland also excite great interest. English people like to play cricket. To many Englishmen cricket is both a game and a standard of behavior. They think that summer without cricket isn’t summer.

Cricket is the English national sport in summer. If you want to play cricket you must wear white boots, a white shirt and white long trousers. It is played with balls, bats and wickets. Girls play cricket too. Golf is a widely spread all over Great Britain game. The Scots are sure the golf is a Scottish game. It is played all the year round. Many people in Great Britain like to play table tennis. Englishmen heard about table tennis in 1880. Then the International Table Tennis Association was formed and the international rules were worked out. Wimbledon is the center of lawn tennis.

Nowadays every summer in June, the British hold the International Tennis Championship at Wimbledon. It’s a great honour for every tennis-player to be the champion of Wimbledon. Horse-racing is a popular sport in Britain. A lot of people are interested in the races and risk money on the horse which they think will win. In England great attention is paid to sports in all the schools, colleges and universities.

English boys like running, swimming and rowing. Boxing is very popular sport, too, to say nothing of football and cricket. In girls’ schools grass hockey is the most popular game. Olympic Games The world’s greatest international sports games are known as the Olympic Games. The Olympic idea means friendship, fraternity and cooperation among the people of the world. The Olympic movement proves that real peace can be achieved through sport. The Olympic Games have a very long history.

They began in 777 BC in Greece and took place every four years nearly twelve centuries at Olympia. They included many different kinds of sports: running, boxing, wrestling, etc. All the cities in Greece sent their best athletes to Olympia to compete in the Games. For the period of the Games all the wars stopped. So the Olympic Games became the symbol of peace and friendship. The Games were for men only. Greek women were forbidden not only to participate but also to watch the Olympics.

In 1896 the first modern Olympic Games took place. Of course, the competitions were held in Greece to symbolize the continuation of the centuries-old tradition. The initiator of these Games was a French Baron Pierre de Coubertin. In 1896 the International Olympic Committee was set up. It is formed by the representatives of all countries which take part in the Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee decides upon the programme of the Games, the number of the participants and the city-host for the Games. Over one hundred and fifty countries are represented in the International Olympic Committee now. Besides, each country has its National Olympic Committee.

Since 1936 the opening ceremony is celebrated by lighting a flame, which is called “The Olympic Flame”. The Olympic emblem is five interlinked rings: blue, yellow, black, green and red. Any national flag contains at least one of these colours. The ancient Greeks had no winter sports. Only in 1924 the first Winter Olympic Games were held in France.

Now they are being held regularly. Summer and Winter Games are held separately. There are always several cities wishing to host the games. The most suitable is selected by the International Committee. After that the city of the Games starts preparations for the competitions, constructs new sports facilities, stadiums, hotels, press centres. Thousands of athletes, journalists and guests come to the Games, and it takes great efforts to arrange everything.

There is always an interesting cultural programme of concerts, exhibitions, festivals, etc. for each Games. Russia joined the Olympic movement in 1952. Since then it has won a lot of gold, silver and bronze medals. In 1980 Moscow hosted the Twenty-Second Olympic Games. The world knows glorious names of our Olympic champions such as Lydia Skoblikova, Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov, Alexey Yagudin. 2004 is an Olympic year. The 28-th Summer Olympiad will take place in Greece in the city of Athens.

Russian athletes are getting ready to take part in it. We hope that they will be a success and win many Olympic medals. We are sure that many new names will be added to the list of our Olympic champions. Sport and Healthy Way of Life. To be healthy is very important. You can work, learn and have fun only when you are healthy. Health is the man’s greatest wealth. Of course, you can inherit some problems from your parents. But you can always keep your health if you want to. We are healthy when all parts of our bodies and of our minds work together properly.

We cannot be happy unless we feel well. The ancient Greeks knew the value of good health. They even named one goddess Hygenia, which means goddess of health. The Romans spoke of a health in a proverb:” A healthy mind in a healthy body”. The body does a great deal to take care of itself, but it is possible to help the body to work at its best. The human body is much more complicated than any machine.

No machine can do all the things the body can do. No machine will work for 70 years or more, day and night, requiring only air, water, food and a few simple rules. The first rule of healthy way of life is to have normal weight, not to be overweight. One of the ways to keep normal weight is to regulate your diet. A person needs vitamins and fibre. One must eat fruit and vegetables every day. Too much food makes you fat. Fat and sugar give a lot of energy. If the energy is not used it becomes fat in your body. If you eat sweet, fat food, even from time to time, you have to exercise regularly.

Physical exercises help people keep fit, have a good gait and figure. They also help you lose weight and work out energy. It is not good to be as thin as a stick, but extra weight can cause serious problems, such as heart problems and diabetics. There are a lot of advertisements both on TV and in newspapers of different pills and drops which can help you become slim and slender in two weeks.

But all those pills cannot work a miracle. Bad habits, such as smoking, drinking alcohol and using drugs, can ruin your health. Regular sports help people to avoid these bad habits. What exercises are better? Swimming, jogging, basketball, football, table tennis, skiing or morning exercises? It’s upon a person to choose. As for me. I eat what I want and as much as I want, and I don’t care how much to eat, because I go in for sport every day and use a lot of energy training and competing.