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1. Skiing is one of the major competitive sports and is extremely popular in many countries. It appeared thousands of years ago in northern Europe and Asia but organized competitive skiing began only in the 19^th century. In 1866 the first ski races were held in Norway near Oslo.

2. There are three basic types of skiing: Alpine skiing, Nordic skiing and Freestyle skiing. Alpine skiing refers to skiing downhill. The term “Alpine” comes from the name “Alps”, the mountain system in Europe. Alpine events became part of the Winter Olympics in 1936. The three basic maneuvers of Alpine skiing are schussing, traversing and turning. Alpine skiing consists of slalom, giant slalom, super giant slalom, parallel slalom and downhill.

3. The downhill is a test of high-speed skiing. It is run on a course with a vertical drop of 800 to 1,000 metres for men’s events and 400 to 700 metres for women’s. As a safety measure, control gates are placed along the course. They direct skiers away from dangerous areas and force them to reduce their speed.

4. The slalom challenges skill in high-speed turning. The course is marked by numbered gates that each competitor must pass through in proper order. The men’s course has a vertical drop of 140 to 220 metres and from 55 to 75 gates. The women’s course drops from 120 to 180 metres and has from 45 to 60 gates.

5. The giant slalom is a test of high-speed traversing, combining elements of both the downhill race and the slalom. The men’s course has a vertical drop of 250 to 400 metres. The women’s course drops from 250 to 300 metres. Both courses must have 30 or more gates set at least 5 metres apart. The super giant slalom is a cross between the downhill race and the giant slalom. The men’s course has a vertical drop of 500 to 650 metres and 35 to 65 gates. The women’s course drops from 350 to 500 metres and has from 30 to 50 gates. The parallel slalom has two or more courses resembling a small slalom course. The courses are from 6 to 7 metres apart. Both men’s and women’s courses have a vertical drop of 80 to 100 metres and 20 to 30 gates.

6.Nordic skiing includes cross-country skiing, cross-country relays, the Nordic combined, ski jumping and biathlon. The term “Nordic” refers to northern Europe, especially Norway, Sweden and Finland where cross-country skiing was a practical means of travel in winter. Nordic competitions were the main event of the first Winter Olympic Games held in 1924.

7. The basic cross-country movement is the “classic” diagonal stride that resembles jogging on skis. The skate is another movement in cross-country skiing which is much faster than the diagonal stride. To climb extremely steep hills, cross-country skiers often use a movement called a herringbone. Cross-country races are contested over 7.5, 15, 30, 50 km for men and 3, 5, 10, 30 km for women. Cross-country relays are team competitions in which every member of the team races an equal distance. They are 4x10 km for men and 4x5 km for women.

8. The Nordic combined normally consists of 15 km cross-country race and ski jumping. The competitors jump first and then enter the cross-country race with the time interval according to their jumping result. The biathlon combines cross-country racing and rifle-shooting. The skiers must shoot at the targets from the standing and prone (lying down) positions and are penalized for every miss. The competitions are 10, 12.5, 15 and 20 km and 4x7.5 km relay for men and 7.5, 10, 12.5 and 15 km and 4x6 km relay for women.

10. Ski jumping is a highly specialized form of skiing in which a skier slides down a steep hill and flies off a platform at the end. Jumpers are evaluated for both the length of their jump and their jumping style. Most ski jumping is performed on a 120 or 140 metre hills. There are enormous ski flying hills were jumps over 200 metres are possible.

11. Freestyle skiing is a form of skiing in which skiers perform stunts. There are two types of freestyle skiing: aerial and mogul. Aerial skiing resembles diving performed on skis. Aerial skiers ski down and leap off a steep hill, performing spins, flips, and other manoeuvres before landing. Mogul takes place on a steep slope with many moguls and two small jumping hills where skiers try to ski quickly down a course while performing jumps and acrobatic maneuvers.

12. All international amateur skiing competitions are governed by the International Skiing Federation (FIS). Skiing equipment generally includes skis with bindings, ski boots and ski poles, but the poles are not used for ski jumping and aerial. Alpine and freestyle skiers must wear helmets and other protection because of the dangerous character of the sport. Also skiers usually wear sunglasses to protect their eyes.

13. The winter sports are actively progressing in Belarus. Many times Belarusian athletes were winners of the Olympic Games and World Championships. These are Alexander Popov, Alexei Aidarov, Oleg Ryzhenkov, Svetlana Paramygina, Aleksey Gryshin, Dmitriy Dashchinski and others. At the last Olympic games in Vancouver there was a complete medal set for Belarus: Aleksey Gryshin won gold medal in freestyle, Sergey Novikov became silver and Darya Domracheva got bronze in biathlon.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 896