PAGE 14 | Tuesday, July 31, 2012 sunshinecoastdaily.com.auDailyDaily

The London line-up

Athletics – marathonONE of the 47 events on the Olympictrack, field and road events programis the marathon – a long distancerace originally included in theGames in commemoration of thefabled Greek soldier who ranbarefoot from Marathon to Athens todeliver an important message. Therace’s length was extended from 40kilometres to 42.195 kilometres atthe 1908 Games in London so itwould finish in front of the RoyalBox, giving the royal family a betterview. At London 2012 the women’smarathon will be run on August 5and the men’s on August 12 throughthe streets of London.Aussies competing: Benita Willis

(above), Lisa Weightman, JessicaTrengove, Jeffrey Hunt, Martin Dentand Michael Shelley.

Table tennisTHIS sport was first included as anOlympic sport in 1988. There are fourcompetitions – men’s singles andteams and women’s singles andteams. The singles is a knockoutevent. The teams contest is made upof three players representing theircountry and is held in two stages:group round-robin and knockout.The table tennis is scheduled to takeplace from Saturday, July 28 toWednesday, August 8 at ExCel.Aussies competing: Robert Frank(below), William Henzell, JustinHan, Miao Miao, Jian Fang Lay andVivian Tan.PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

COMPETITIONCATEGORY

TOMORROWPART THREETOMORROWPART THREE

Go online by visiting yournewspaper’s website. You’ll find theaddress on the front page. Look forthe NiE logo at the top of the pageand click. This will link you to APN’sNiE webpage.The London Line-Up Online willprovide you with activities to do,videos to watch and direct you tointeresting links associatedwith the Olympic Games.

TASKTIMEONLINE

TASKTIMEONLINE

Aussie athletesWho do you think is Australia’sgreatest Olympian? It’s a questionthat is very difficult to answer.In terms of medals won, IanThorpe (pictured) has won fiveOlympic gold while Tim Sullivan isa ten-time Paralympic goldmedallist. However, theachievements of others to claimthe title cannot be underestimated.◗ Dawn Fraser – a swimmer whodominated the 100m freestyle,winning the event at three Games(1956, 1960, 1964).◗ Herb Elliot – a middle-distancerunner who was never beaten over1500m or a mile in 42 races from1957–1961.◗ Louise Savage – a paralympianwho dominated the world ofwheelchair track and road racingfor well over a decade. She wonnine Paralympic gold medals.At the 2012 games keep an eyeon Sally Pearson (hurdles); JamesMagnussen (swimming); Men’shockey team (The Kookaburras);470 sailing team ( Malcolm Page,Mathew Belcher); Mitchell Watt(long jump); Women’s 4 x 200mfreestyle relay team; SamWilloughby (BMX); Laser sailor –Tom Slingsby; Men’s double scull –rowing: Scott Brennan, DavidCrawshay.

Britain’s capital first to host the world’s top athletesfor top-level multi-sport competition three timesSINCE the modern Summer OlympicGames began in 1896, there have been 27Games held in 22 different cities.Because of the First and Second WorldWars, there were no Olympic Games in1916, 1940 or 1944. Even though theseGames were cancelled they still count asOlympiads.The Games of 1896 (Athens), 1900(Paris) and 1904 (St Louis) were looselyorganised. From then on the Gamesenjoyed strong growth featuring morenational teams and events. Politics beganto have an effect on the Games in a ser-ious way at the 1972 Olympics in Munich,where Palestinian terrorists attackedIsraeli athletes in the Olympic Village.Sixty nations boycotted the 1980 MoscowOlympics to protest the Soviet invasionof Afghanistan, while the Soviets andsome of their allies retaliated by declin-ing to take part in the 1984 Games in LosAngeles. Most Olympic controversies inrecent years have centred on accusationsof bribery, corruption and the use ofperformance-enhancing drugs.The International Olympic Committeeheadquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland,sets and enforces Olympic policy. Thesite of the Games is chosen at least sixyears in advance.

Live from LondonIn the upcoming weeks the world’sattention will be on London as thecity plays host to the SummerOlympic and ParalympicGames. Hosted every fouryears, they representthe pinnacle of inter-national sportingevents. Citiesaround theworld, support-

ed by their national governments, enterthe bidding process in the hope of beinghost city.The City of London began the biddingprocess in July 2003.Some advantages of hosting the Gamesare: it attracts trade and tourism, newfacilities are built, national pride isboosted, there’s an increase in sportinginvolvement, and transport and communi-cation systems are improved.Some disadvantages are: the enormousexpense and costs involved, the difficultyto make a profit and not end up with alarge debt, the added securityneeded to prevent disruptionsand guarantee safety, theadded pressure on in-frastructure like roadsto cope with theinflux of visitors. Itwill be interestingto see how success-ful these Games are.

FACT FILE◗Women were first allowed toparticipate at the modern OlympicGames in 1900.◗ Greece is the only nation to haveparticipated under its own flag in allmodern summer Olympic Games.◗ Montreal hosted the Games back in1976, but the city’s taxpayers were stillpaying for the event up to 2006.◗ The cost to host the 2012 Games isestimated to be $15 billion. (Source:Forbes)◗ Ethiopia’s Abebe Biikila won the 1960Rome marathon barefoot because nopair of running shoes from officialmanufacturers could be found tocomfortably fit his feet.

WHAT’S NEWSCheck out what’shappening at London2012 in the two-pagespread in the SportsPages of today’s

paper.

Are you an Everyday School hero?WINover$12,000 inprizes foryour school includingan iPodforeveryone inyour class!

TO ENTER:TO ENTER: All you need to do is nominate your school when you register your entry to participate in any category in this year’s marathon and community run festival at sunshinecoastmarathon.com.ausunshinecoastmarathon.com.au

An iPod shuffle for everyone in your class.Allez Sport Mooloolaba sports pack for yourteacher valued at $400 including; shoes, shorts,shirt, socks, water bottle and backpack.A $10,000 advertising package for your school toadvertise with the Sunshine Coast Daily.

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PAGE 14 | Tuesday, July 31, 2012 sunshinecoastdaily.com.auDailyDaily

User: Paul.Stuart Time: 07-31-2012 09:35 Product: SCN PubDate: 31-07-2012 Zone: All Edition: Main Page: NIE_01 Color: CMYK