Somme snow at the Olympics

Dear Pop,

Thank you for your blog posts. You have asked a lot of questions about the Olympics!

1.  Find Rio de Janeiro on a map.

2. What is the name of the country where we find Rio?
Brazil

3. Ask Mum or Dad if they know where Olympia is.  Where is it?
Greece


4. Search "ancient olympic games" on the web and find which games were played when it all began.
Foot race, chariot race, discus, jumping, running with armour (called the 'hoplite'!)

5. Do they play rugby in the 2016 Olympics?  How many players in each team?
Yes, and they play with 7 players on each team.

6. If you go to the Olympic Games one day, what sport do you think you would like to play?
Football and running. I would like to be a swimmer too.

7. Ian Thorpe.
Swimmer. At the Olympics he won 5 gold medals, 3 silver medals, and 1 bronze medal.

8. Dawn Fraser.
Swimmer. 4 gold and 4 silver Olympic medals.

9. Shane Gould.
Swimmer. 3 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze Olympic medals, all at the same Olympics (Munich)!


10. Murray Rose.
Swimmer. 4 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze Olympic medals.

We read your other blog post about the 100th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme. The Somme is very squigly, and it is very long, and it is in France. We don't know yet why there were Australians fighting in France. France is a long, long way away, even with a plane it would take a long time to get there.

We are going to the snow on Sunday afternoon the 14th of August. We are going to snowboard there; it's a birthday present for me. I'm having lots of fun, or I had lots of fun. Rugby season is now over.

Evie does ballet now. She loses her ballet slippers every week. Luckily she also finds them most weeks. She is very good at ballet.

The Olympic Games 2016

Hi Tully.
The Olympic Games are held every four years and this year the Olympic Games are in Rio de Janeiro.
1.  Find Rio de Janeiro on a map.
2. What is the name of the country where we find Rio?
The name of these games comes to us from a place called Olympia.
3. Ask Mum or Dad if they know where Olympia is.  Where is it?
4. Search "ancient olympic games" on the web and find which games were played when it all began.
5. Do they play rugby in the 2016 Olympics?  How many players in each team?
6. If you go to the Olympic Games one day, what sport do you think you would like to play?
The following Australian athletes won one or more Gold Medals in their sport.  What sport did they play?  Can you find out the year in which they won a medal?
7. Ian Thorpe.
8. Dawn Fraser.
9. Shane Gould.
10. Murray Rose.
You can find most of the answers on the internet or you can ask Mum or Dad.

There will be some exciting sports to watch and some amazing performances by people from all over the world.  I hope you enjoy watching the Games in Rio over the next two weeks.

Love from Pop