Technology Services, Metric Information and Conversions, NIST Go to Technology Services Home Page Go to NIST Home Page Contact Metric Program Go to Educational Resources Go to Metric Publications Go to Conversion Tools Go to Metric Home Page

The Olympics and the Metric System

Olympic Educational Activities

Your connection to fun facts and activities about the Olympics.


ruler
Mini-Metric Olympics Activity - This is a link to AIMS Education Foundation's "Mini Metric Olympics" page. The site provides activities for estimating and measuring in metric units. The Mini-Metric Olympics activities includes score sheets, badges, and directions for the Paper Plate Discus, Paper Straw Javelin, Cotton Ball Shot Put, Right Handed Marble Grab, Left-handed Sponge Squeeze, and the all time favorite, Big Foot Contest. The site also includes a brief background on the Olympic Symbol, History of Ancient Games, Olympic Motto, Olympic Flame, and Modern Olympic Games.
crayons Sports and Olympic Games Coloring Pages - Download and print sports and Olympic games coloring pages suitable for toddlers, preschool and kindergarten. Activities provided by First-School Preschool and Crafts.
olympicrings U.S. Olympic Base Camp - An interactive website for children with animated animals and sponsored by the U.S. Olympic Committee.
medals
Flex your math skills by solving Medal Math problems by Education World and Winter Olympic word problems.
calculator
Teachers... the Math and Olympics: An Inquiry Unit provides ideas and resources for using the Olympic events to apply math concepts while exploring student interest in sports.

flame

This site sponsors a collection of websites providing links to cross curriculum activities with an Olympic theme. Join the fun!

General Olympic Information

medals Did you ever wonder who held the Olympic Record for skating, cycling, weightlifting, or many of the other Olympic games? Investigate here.
123stand U. S. Olympic Teams - Play Trivia Challenge, learn about the team members, join the U.S. Olympic Fan Club, and other great stuff here at the U.S. Olympic Teams site.
olivebranch
Official Olympic Movement site. Enjoy getting an official view of the Olympic program by touring this site.
greek_disc
Olympic Games Program - Learn about the sports that make up the summer and winter Olympic games. Meet some of the international athletes that will be participating in the Torino, Italy games this February.
olympicrings General Information on Individual Olympic Sports - An interesting site that provides information on the history of different Olympic sports, the rules, and equipment. This is a large Adobe Acrobat file (pdf) that covers all the sports that participate in the summer and winter games.

Winter Olympics:

Metric units are utilized in measuring the event classes, distances, and sports equipment.


biathalon

Biathlon
consists of ten events in the Olympic program. Men and Women compete in a sprint, pursuit, individual and relay.
bullet.gif Background
bullet.gif Equipment
 
bobsleigh
 

SLEDDING

Bobsleigh
consists of three events in the Olympic program. Men and women compete in two-man/two-woman. Men also compete in four-man.
bullet.gif Background
bullet.gif Equipment

Skeleton is considered the world's first sliding sport. Olympic skeleton events consists of four runs timed electronically to 0.01 seconds.
bullet.gif Background
bullet.gif Equipment


curling
Curling is a competition between two teams with four players each. The game is played on ice, and the two teams take turns pushing a 19.1 kg stone towards a series of concentric circles. The object is to get the stone as close to the center of the circles as possible.
bullet.gif Background
bullet.gif Equipment

icehockey

Ice Hockey has a men and womens teams in the Olympics. Women compete in an eight-team tournament whereas men compete in a 12-team tournament.
bullet.gif Background
bullet.gif Equipment


luge
Luge has four parts in which athletes take four runs down the track. Each run counts. The four times are added, and the fastest total time determines the winner.
bullet.gif Background
bullet.gif Equipment
 
figskater


speedskating
SKATING

Figure Skating
historically grew from necessity as a mode of transportation. There are four Olympic Figure Skating events: womens singles, men's singles, pairs, and ice dancing.
bullet.gif Background
bullet.gif Equipment

Short Track Speed Skating consists of eight events. Men and women compete in 500 m, 1000m and 1500m. There is a 5000m relay for men, and a 3000m relay for women.
bullet.gif Background

Speed Skating at the Olympic Games consists of ten events: 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 5000m, for both women and men, 3000m for women, 10,000m for men, and Team pursuit for women and men.
bullet.gif Background
bullet.gif Equipment
skiing
crosscountry
skiing
skijump
skiing
snowboarder

SKIING

Alpine Skiing
consists of ten events: five for women and five for men. The rules are the same for men and women, but the courses differ. In all cases, the time is measured to .01 seconds and ties are permitted.
bullet.gif Background
bullet.gif Equipment

Cross Country Skiing
comprises twelve different skiing events. Women compete in the sprint, team sprint, 10km individual start, 15km pursuit, 30km mass start and the 4x5km relay. Men compete in the sprint, team sprint, 15km individual start, 30km pursuit, 50km mass start and the 4x10km relay.
bullet.gif Background
bullet.gif Equipment

Freestyle Skiing
used to originally be a mix of alpine skiing and acrobatics. The moguls competition consists of a run down a heavily moguled course with two jumps. The Olympic aerial format consists of a two-jump qualification followed by a two-jump final.
bullet.gif Background
bullet.gif Equipment

Nordic Combined
has its 5,000 year-old roots in Norway. It involves ski jumping, which requires physical strength and technical control, and cross-country skiing which demands endurance and strength. All three Nordic combined events consist of a ski jumping competition and a cross-country skiing race.
bullet.gif Background
bullet.gif Equipment

Ski Jumping has been part of the Olympic Winter Games since the first Games in Chamnix Mont-Blanc in 1924. There are three ski jumping events: Individual normal hill, Individual large hill, and Team Event.
bullet.gif Background

Snowboarding was developed in United States in the 1960s. There are six snowboard events on the program of the Olympic Winter Games: men's halfpipe, ladies' halfpipe, men's parallel giant slalom and ladies' parallel giant slalom, men's snowboard cross and ladies' snowboard cross.
bullet.gif Background

Date Created: February 8, 2006
Date Last Modified: July 9, 2008

Metric Program questions:

Phone: (301) 975-3690, Fax: (301) 975-8091, Email: TheSI@nist.gov

Metric Program, Weights and Measures Division, NIST, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 2600, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-2600

If you have any questions regarding this website, or notice any problems or inaccurate information, please contact the webmaster by sending e-mail to: TSWeb@nist.gov
NIST is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.




Web site owner: Technology Services