Skeleton athletes wear helmets for safety.

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Let the Games Begin!

The world is coming together in China for the Winter Olympic Games. 

January 31, 2022
By Kathryn Satterfield

Get ready for flips, twists, and twirls. The Winter Olympics kick off on February 4 in Beijing, China, and it will last 17 days. Thousands of the best athletes from countries around the world will compete there, including about 200 Americans. 

“We have athletes who won gold medals in the last Olympics,” says Mike Jankowski, a head coach for the United States. “They are ready to try their best to win again.”

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Figure skating has been a Winter Olympic sport since 1924.

Racing Downhill

Many Olympic sports take place on mountains. For example, Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is one of the most well-known Olympic events. Skiers face sharp turns and big jumps as they race to reach the finish with the fastest time. 

Luge, bobsled, and skeleton are sliding sports. In skeleton, athletes lie facedown on small sleds. They rocket downhill at speeds of up to 90 miles per hour—head first! 

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Brooms are important in the sport of curling.

High-Flying Tricks

Snowboarding is a newer Olympic sport. It made its debut at the 1998 Olympics. The halfpipe event takes place on an icy, U-shaped course. Snowboarders earn points by doing tricks, like flips and going backward.

Another snow sport, freestyle skiing, has the nickname “hotdogging.” One of the 13 freestyle events is called big air. Skiers fly off jumps. They try to go high and far, all while doing flips and spins. 

Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images

To go fast, speedskaters bend close to the ice and swing their arms. 

Competing on Ice

Ice hockey, speed skating, figure skating, and curling are held indoors. Curling has teams of four people. A player slides a stone toward a target. The other players sweep the ice with brooms to help the stone slide farther.

Coach Jankowski knows all the athletes have trained hard for the Olympics. “It is such an honor to represent the USA on the world stage,” he says. “It’s an awesome feeling to be working together as a team to do our best for America.”

What Are the Olympic Rings?

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Created more than 100 years ago, the Olympic rings are a symbol of unity. The five rings stand for the five continents that came together for the 1912 Olympics. 

The rings are blue, yellow, black, green, and red. Those five colors combined with a white background were found on the flags of all nations at that time. 

  1. Why do you think the author starts the article with the sentence “Get ready for flips, twists, and twirls”?
  2. Based on the article and photos, what are some types of equipment needed for the Winter Olympics?
  3. According to the sidebar, what do the Olympic rings stand for?
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