Sports Report: 12 Reasons to Love Skiing and Snowboarding
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
2 Snowboarding Started with a New Invention added a rope to the front so he could pull and steer his new toy Then he and his children stood on the skis and surfed down a snowy hill Poppen’s wife called the new toy the Snurfer Sherman Poppen 2011 Unlike skiing snowboarding is a fairly new sport It was created in 1965 That’s when a man named Sherman Poppen came up with a new idea for his children’s Christmas present In 1972 Dimitrije Milovich created the modern snowboard He founded a company called Winterstick Later other inventors started their own companies Poppen fastened two skis together He 6 Many ski resorts did not like snowboarding But as
Yuri Yoshikawa competes at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano Japan the sport became more popular most ski areas allowed snowboarders on their hills In 1998 snowboarding became an Olympic sport THINK ABOUT IT Why do you think ski areas did not welcome snowboarders Why did they change their minds 1982 Year the first major snowboarding competition was held The contest was held at Vermont’s Suicide Six ski resort Snowboarders traveled at more than 50 miles per hour 80 kph Hay bales were used as crash pads during the event 7
