It’s Old, It’s Cold, But It Still Counts as Gold.

"The summer olympics have 38 sports in total"(Great Olympic Moments pg. 4). After 28 years they decided to create the winter olympics, the first winter olympic was held in Chamonix, France in 1924. Then after 24 more years in 1948 the Paralympics were created, where disabled people were able to compete. In this event the world would gather for 2 weeks and watch their paisanos compete.

His team went on to win the 1955 Minnesota state hockey championship. Brooks then attended the University of Minnesota and played hockey as a Gopher from 1955 to 1959. In 1960 he was asked to join the US Olympic team, but was cut a week before the start of the games. The 1960 team went on to win gold and Brooks later told head coach Jack Riley that he “must have made the right decision- you won.” Brooks went on to set a record by playing on a total of eight US National and Olympic teams, winning bronze in the 1962 world championship. While his playing career is very impressive, his coaching career is where he made the biggest affect.

This miracle game is still greatly known around the world and will not be forgotten by Americans any time soon. In an article titled, "This "Miracle on Ice" is considered to be the single most incredible moment in all of U.S. sports history. When coach Herb Brooks was made the team's coach, he spent a lot of time reviewing and searching for the right people for the team. Seeing as Brooks was the last man cut from the 1960 U.S. Olympic team, He wanted to do everything he could to win gold for his country. Once try outs started Brooks knew who he wanted on his team after one day.

Indeed, some of these teams are entirely made up of NHL stars. Every NHL team has players headed to Sochi, with some teams seeing a significant number of stars competing in the tournament. Russia has predicted to beat Sweden for the gold in the championship game but the Sweden’s are not going away easily. Every Olympic roster for men’s hockey has at least one NHL player on its team with the team USA having twenty-five and Canada having twenty-five. (Richardson) NHL Hockey and Olympic hockey are very different due to each league having their own style of play.

In 1914 Paavo Nurmi joined Turun Urheiluliitto, a local sports club that he was to represent all through his career. On May 29th, 1920, at Turku, he set his first Finnish national record. The distance was 3000 meters and the time 8.36,2. The Olympic Games at Antwerp in 1920 made Paavo Nurmi a star in Finland, a worthy successor of Hannes Kolehmainen. His first Olympic race, the 5000 meters, ended in bitter defeat to Joseph Guillemot of France.

His high expectations for his team and his fearful, powerful motivational techniques led him down a path of greatness that helped him become an inspiration to all. Brooks' 1980 Olympic hockey team consisted of college students whose average age was 22 years, and was full of rivalry because of players being from different universities. This young team was being matched against some opponents who had played and practiced together year-round, for several years. The Soviets had beaten a team of National Hockey League all-stars the year before, and they triumphed over this young U.S. team at an exhibition game in New York a week before the Olympiad (Herb Brooks). Herb did not ... ... middle of paper ... ...out the best in every player that played for him.

when a cook won the 192 meter footrace and became the first Olympic champion. The games, known as the ancient Olympics, were held between August 6 and September 19 every four years while a religious festival was held honoring the great Zeus. The games became so popular that the people of Greece started measuring time by the four years between each Olympics. A set of the four years was called an Olympiad. The name “Olympics” came from the town that the games took place, which wa... ... middle of paper ... ...dal in his country's history.” (Coles) Works Cited “After The Party: What happens when the Olympics leave town?” The Independent.

Shortly after he retired, he was named the Executive Director for Canada’s Men’s Olympic Hockey team. Gretzky used his great leadership skills to help guide the team to winning Gold Medals in 2002 after a 50 year drought. It is easy to see that Gretzky’s presence helped end the streak and earn Canada a medal. While Gretzky had acquired his position with the Canadian team, he also took a position for the N.H.L.’s Phoenix Coyotes. He first bought part of the Coyotes before eventually becoming the team’s head coach in 2005.

Similar to the modern day Olympics, the ancient games were held every four years, and the time between each of the games was referred to as an Olympiad (595). The games would start after the first full moon after the summer solstice (594). The ancient Olympics had action, faith, and fair competition. "A competitor would be surrounded of the largest number of Greeks in peace that he would ever experience. Perhaps as many as 40,000 Greeks would gather for the Olympics Games” (The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization, The Olympics) Spectators traveled from as far as modern day Russia and Spain, most of which by foot to watch the display of athleticism (The Ancient Olympics) Everyone, who was anyone, went to watch

What is very exciting about these two teams, Americans and the Soviets, is that there is a lot of controversy surrounding both teams in their route for the gold. Through comparing the 1980 and 2014 Olympic Men’s Hockey teams and what was found was that only a team of 20 young college kids can change a nation to be optimistic and believe in miracles. Winning in any sport you need the right players and coaches to fit into a certain system to accomplish the goal that you set out for yourselves. Before the Olympics began the USA were in search of a new coach and a new hope not to be a joke compared to other countries around the world. After the long interviewing process of attempting to hire a coach they finally w... ... middle of paper ... ...ct him.