Sports Report: 12 Reasons to Love Skiing and Snowboarding
12 story library more to explore 12 REASONS TO LOVE SKIING AND SNOWBOARDING by Joanne Mattern
1 Skiing Is an Ancient Sport that had lots of winter weather Scientists have found cave paintings that show people using skis They have also found ancient skis preserved in wet places called bogs Norse mythology even had a god and goddess of skiing named Ullr and Skade Old skis from Norway displayed at a museum Skiing has been around for at least 8,000 years Even the word ski is ancient It comes from an Old Norse word skio which meant long snowshoe or long stick of wood Using long sticks to glide over the snow was a quick way to get around in places 4 By about 1,000 years ago farmers hunters and warriors in northern Europe were using skis to get around Later soldiers in the Swedish army trained and competed on skis
Ullr left and Skade By the 1880s downhill skiing had become a popular sport People enjoyed the rush of zooming down a snowy mountain Skiing became very popular in the Alps In 1936 downhill or alpine skiing was added to the Winter Olympics Kalle Heikkinen competes at the 1936 Olympics in Germany 6300 BCE The date of the world’s oldest skis They were discovered in Russia Rock carvings of a skier in Norway date back to 4000 BCE Around 3300 BCE skis with grooves were discovered in Finland 5
