France at the Olympics

• French people refer to the Olympics as ‘Les Jeux

Olympiques’ (the Olympic Games) or simply as

‘Les J.O.’

• France has participated in all the Olympics of the

modern era. However, at the 1904 Olympics

which were held in St Louis in the United States,

there was only one French athlete. (In fact,

some people say he was actually representing

the United States and not France.)

Olympics held in France

• France has hosted the Summer

Olympics twice, in 1900 and 1924.

Both times the games were held in

Paris.

• France has hosted the Winter

Olympics three times. In 1924 they

were held in Chamonix. In 1968

they were held in Grenoble and in

1992 they were held in Albertville.

Paris

Chamonix

Grenoble

Albertville

French Olympic medals

• French athletes have won a total of 637

medals at the Summer Olympics and a

further 94 at the Winter Olympics. Nearly

half of France’s medals at the Winter

Olympics have been for alpine skiing.

• In the Summer Olympics the most successful

sports have been fencing, with 115 medals,

followed by cycling, with 86 medals.

France at the Paralympics• France participated in the first international

Paralympic Games, which were held in 1960 in

Rome. French athletes have taken part in

every Summer and Winter Paralympics since

then.

• France hosted the 1992 Winter Paralympics.

• French athletes have been very successful at

the Paralympic Games. They have won a total

of 1,008 medals, of which 340 have been gold.

Les 26 Sports Olympiques

Blue = masculine wordRed = feminine word

l’athlétisme

l’aviron

le badminton

le basketball

la boxe

le canoë-kayak

le cyclisme

l’escrime

le football

la gymnastique

l’haltérophilie

le handball

le hockey

le judo

la lutte

le pentathlon moderne

les sports aquatiques

les sports équestres

le taekwondo

le tennis

le tennis de table

le tir

le tir à l’arc

le triathlon

la voile

le volleyball

French Olympics Topic PackGames, Activities and Resources to Teach French

• The enthusiasm and excitement surrounding the Olympics makes it an ideal topic for teaching French.

• The French Olympics Topic Pack contains photocopiable activities and resources which include:– Flashcards and picture flashcards– word searches, crossword puzzles and other word

games– listening activities– bingo and other games– sentence building activities– background information on France at the Olympics

For more information: www.brilliantpublications.co.uk/book/french-olympics-topic-pack-382