Olympics. Reading Comprehension B2

Doesn't time fly? It's Olympics time again. In a few weeks' time, the curtain goes up on yet another Olympiad. The first modern Olympics were held in Athens in 1896, with thirteen nations sending nearly 300 athletes to take part in 42 events and ten different sports. We've come a long way since then: in 1996 more than ten thousand athletes participated and about 3.5 billion people watched the opening ceremony on TV.

Participants in the ten-thousand-minute couch potato marathon ought by now to be in training for this testing period. They will soon be piling up crates of drinks and crisps; they will be finding comfortable cushions and practising groans, gasps, cheers and boos - all without getting off the sofa.

Even the more amateurish part-time followers of the Olympics, like me, will need to sort a few things out, such as which events we are going to follow. And how are we going to show our support - as patriots or just people-watchers? Even when one is supporting an 20 athlete from another country (just because they have a nice face or a nice name), things can get out of control - with peanuts being thrown at the TV screen if our favourite is cheated of a gold medal.

it's all good, clean, harmless fun, but this has not always been the case. Political conflict has increasingly interfered with the aim of the modern Olympics, that of encouraging international friendship. In the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Hitler refused to recognize the achievements of Jesse Owens because he was black, even though he won four gold medals. And in 1996 a bomb was planted at the Games in Atlanta.

Most spectators, though they like to see their compatriots win, have no difficulty applauding members of other national teams, whatever their colour. The problems arise when a choice has to be made between equally worthy candidates for our admiration. On what basis do we choose between a gymnast from Brazil or Greece? The brilliant marathon runners from Ethiopia or Nigeria?

The Olympics are more complicated than team sports, such as football or basketball. It is not difficult to decide who you are going to back in the World Cup, where nationality is the most important thing - most people wave the flag for their compatriots, however badly they play. In such events the system is simple: you back your own country until it is knocked out tennil by some foreigners with unpronounceable names. Then you transfer your support to your second favourite country. Perhaps you spent a good holiday there once.

In individual sports it is a bit harder. The Olympics, although they are an international competition and play the national anthem for each Gold winner, are not about national pride so much as individual excellence. Nadia Comaneci, though she came out of communist Rumania, was adored by people in the West. Europeans who spend half their life complaining about the bad influence of American culture nevertheless seem to have no difficulty admiring Magic Johnson.

It's a melting pot; a coming together of colours and nationalities. The more confident your own nation, the easier it is to cheer for others. Algerian runners, British long jumpers, Chinese divers, American sprinters, Ukrainian swimmers - who cares? They are all exciting and the game is the thing. Anyway, it starts all over again four years later - so relax and enjoy yourself.