The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, will be held on February 12- 28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the resort town of Whistler nearby.

The Winter Olympic Games are a winter multi-sport event held every four years. They feature winter sports held on snow or ice, such as Alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, luge, Nordic combined, skeleton, ski jumping, speed skating,  and snowboard. 

Opening and Closing Ceremonies are unique, large-scale celebrations capturing the spirit and personality of the city, province and country, and are a celebration of the world’s greatest athletes.

The Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony will take place on February 12, 2010. The Closing Ceremony on February 28, 2010.

The Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and the Opening Ceremony for the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games will be held in BC Place Stadium in downtown Vancouver. This will also be the site for nightly Victory Ceremonies presentations.

BC Place Stadium will seat approximately 55,000 spectators for the Olympic and Paralympic Ceremonies and features the largest air-supported stadium roof in North America. The enclosed venue offers state-of-the-art lighting, projection, sound and special effects technology.

Here are some pictures of the BC Place and Vancouver:

The symbol of the Olympic Games is composed of five interlocking rings, colored blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white field. These five rings represent the five continents of the world: America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. This was originally designed in 1912 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games. The Olympic Flag made its debut at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium. At the end of each Olympic Games, the mayor of that host-city presents the flag to the mayor of the next host-city. It then rests at the town hall of the next host-city for four years until the Opening Ceremony of their Olympic Games.

The Olympic Motto

The Olympic motto is the hendiatris Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for "Swifter, Higher, Stronger". The motto was proposed by Pierre de Coubertin on the creation of the International Olympic Committee in 1894. De Coubertin borrowed it from his friend Henri Didon, a Dominican priest who, amongst other things, was an athletics enthusiast. The motto was introduced in 1924 at the Olympic Games in Paris.

The motto was also the name of an Olympic history journal from 1992 to 1997, when it was renamed the Journal of Olympic History.

A more informal but well known motto, also introduced by De Coubertin, is "The most important thing is not to win but to take part!" De Coubertin got this motto from a sermon by the Bishop of Pennsylvania during the 1908 London Games.

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay began on October 30th in Victoria, British Columbia. Click on the picture of the Olympic Torch Relay on the left to see the path that the torch traveled.

 

Sumi	Sumi is an animal spirit who lives in the mountains of British Columbia. Like many Canadians, Sumi's background is drawn from many places. He wears the hat of the orca whale, flies with the wings of the mighty thunderbird and runs on the strong furry legs of the black bear.
Quatchi	Quatchi is a young sasquatch who comes from the mysterious forests of Canada. Quatchi is shy, but loves to explore new places and meet new friends.
Miga	Miga is a young sea bear who lives in the ocean with her family pod, beyond Vancouver Island, near Tofino, British Columbia. Sea bears are part killer whale and part bear. (Miga is part Kermode bear, a rare white bear that only lives in British Columbia.)
Click here to play some games with the Mascots.
Click here to find some coloring pages of the Mascots.

The Medals The Olympic medals awarded to winners are another symbol associated with the Olympic games. The medals are made of gold-plated silver (commonly described as gold medals), silver, or bronze, and awarded to the top 3 finishers in a particular event. Each medal for an Olympiad has a common design, decided upon by the organizers for the particular games. From 1928 until 2000, the obverse side of the medals contained an image of Nike, the traditional goddess of victory, holding a palm in her left hand and a winners crown in her right. This design was created by Giuseppe Cassioli. For each Olympic games, the reverse side as well as the labels for each Olympiad changed, reflecting the host of the games. In 2004, the obverse side of the medals changed to make more explicit reference to the Greek character of the games. In this design, the goddess Nike flies into the Panathenic stadium, reflecting the renewal of the games. The medals for the Winter Olympics do not have a common side as the design for both sides is decided by the host organizers.

The Anthems

The Olympic Hymn, also known informally as the Olympic Anthem, is played when the Olympic Flag is raised. It is a musical piece composed by Spyridon Samaras with words written from a poem of the Greek poet and writer Kostis Palamas.

This website was made using information and pictures from the above links. Please visit them to learn more about the Olympics. I put this site together for teachers to use with their Olympic curriculum. Nancy Bacon