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Scrapbooking the Olympics

~by Rockester~

My winter 2002 was brightened by viewing the Winter Olympic games in February. How about you? I watched them on television. But hundreds of thousands were actually there in person and I bet they took hundreds of photos each! Do you have an Olympic scrapbook page to complete? You may be one of those lucky ones who saw events in person. Or perhaps you just want to document the main heroes and heroines of the historic 2002 games for your albums?

Either way, here are some great aids for you to create just the right Olympic theme pages. These would be great also for Special Olympic themed pages! My daughter's Girl Scout troop hosted a Mini Sport Olympics for the Brownies at their school playground and I plan to use many of these ideas for those pages. These concepts can also be adapted to sports days at school and family olympics at family reunions.

Have you been to any of the recent Olympics? Don't forget to add in your journaling where they were held. Who was your favorite athlete?

Winter Olympics have been held in
1960 Squaw Valley, USA
1964 Innsbruck, Austria
1968 Grenoble, France
1972 Sapporo, Japan
1976 Innsbruck, Austria
1984 Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzevonia
1988 Calgary, Canada
1992 Albertville, France
1994 Lillehammer, Norway
1998 Nagano, Japan
2002 Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
2006 (planned to be held in) Turin, Italy
 		             Summer Games have been held in:
1960 - Rome, Italy
1964 - Tokyo, Japan
1968 - Mexico City, Mexico
1972 - Munich, Germany
1976 - Montreal, Canada
1980 - Moscow, USSR
1984 - Los Angeles, California, USA
1988 - Seoul, Korea
1992 - Barcelona, Spain
1996 - Atlanta, Georgia, USA
2000 - Sydney, Australia
2004- (planned to be held in) Athens, Greece
 

The Olympic Rings:
The Olympic rings are it's best known symbol. This image was created by Pierre de Coubertin in 1914 to put onto the Olympic flag. It represents the various world athletes at the Olympic Games. Each color is said to stand for a different continent. Blue=Europe, Yellow =Asia, Black =Africa, Green =Australia, Red =America. The plain white background of the Olympic flag is symbolic of peace throughout the games . For this reason, a white background might be a fitting page color for your photos. The five colors of the rings from left to right are blue, black and red across the top with yellow and green along the bottom. The placement of the colored rings does not vary.
 
Rings Logo:
Need the 2002 winter games logo? Here is the logo as a coloring page you can print out as pattern for paper piecing and here is for the specific sports that wouldn't be too hard to use as clip art or do in a simple two-color paper piecing
 
The Flame:
The Olympic flame is one of the most visible symbols of the modern games , it is a tradition from ancient Greece. During the ancient Games, in Olympia, a sacred flame ignited by the sun burned continually. The modern Olympic flame was first seen in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics where it burned constantly throughout the games. The Olympic flame symbolizes purity , the endeavor for perfection and the struggle for victory, it also represents peace and friendship. The tradition of the Modern Olympic Torch began in 1936 at the Berlin Games , to represent a link between the ancient and modern Olympics , and has since remained as an Olympic custom.
 
The Torch:
The torch is lit as it was in ancient times by the sun at Olympia, Greece and then passed from runner to runner in a relay to the host city. It often goes around the world now as a symbol of the coming games. It arrives finally in the host city. There it is used to light a flame in a cauldron at the Olympic Stadium during the Opening Ceremony. The flame burns continuously throughout the Games and is then extinguished at the Closing Ceremony. Here is a great image of it to use for your scrapbooks.
http://www.dltk-kids.com/t/sports/bpostertorch2.html
 
Mottos, Oaths, and Creeds help you Journal:
The Olympic motto is
"Citius, Altius, Fortius" which translates into "Faster, Higher, Braver/Stronger."
This would make a great page title or side addition to the page.
"The Olympic oath is a gesture of sportsmanship that was first given at the 1920 Olympic Games. Each coach and a representative athlete from each country is asked to also make this oath, "In the name of all competitors , I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams."
The Olympic Creed is
"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well."
This would also be a great journaling block on any page even if the person does not win their event.
 
 How about some Olympic quotes?

"I firmly believe that the only disability in life is a bad attitude."
Scott Hamilton, 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist figure skater

“It kind of gives you peace believing in God. Skating isn’t everything. It is a big part of my life and I’m training and have goals to reach. But when I die, it’s not going to matter if I had a gold medal or not. It’s going to be the life I lead and the way I lived it that counts. :” Derek Parra, 2002 Olympic gold medalist speed skating.

“You go out and you do the best you can do and if you win an Olympic gold medal, It's, your dream come true. It gives you so many opportunities to give back to the world...”,Tara Lipinski, 1994 and 1998 Gold medal figure skater

“I really sacrificed a lot of stuff just to be where I am. I've made a lot of mistakes in the past, and I think I've learned from them. I've definitely become a stronger person--mentally and physically -- because of it,” Apolo Anton Ohno, Speed skating 2002 gold medalist

"My grandfather always felt it was not who won the gold, it was truly about bringing the world together in a peaceful setting.” Jim Shea, 2002 Skeleton Olympic gold Champion

 
   Cute Mascots too for Page Additions!
Did you know that every 4 years, new Olympic animal mascots are chosen? In Sydney, Australia 2000 they were the echidna, a kookaburra, and a platypus and in the 2002 winter games they were a hare, polar bear, and a coyote. They represent the principles of the Olympics: Hare (Swifter), Coyote (Higher), Bear (Stronger). These mascots reflect the American West and the tradition of storytelling.  It might be fun to include clip art or a piece of artwork with an animal mascot on it on the album page too.
 
Pins are Popular
You can also use some of your Olympic pins in the album as a page border if you don't mind the 'lumpy' aspect. Perhaps use a pin in each of the four corners so the bulkiness is distributed evenly across the page. Encase them in a memorabilia pocket or back them onto heavy cardstock so the pinback will not puncture other pages in the album.		  
 
Autographs, Kerchiefs, Ribbons, Tags, and Tickets
Don't forget that you can add memorabilia to your pages. Tags, ribbons, tickets and more can be included in memorabilia pockets, page pockets, or in their own page protectors. De-acidify tickets and other acidic papers if needed with spray treatments. Ribbon and cording can act as a natural border to a page and be a sentimental item at the same time!
 
Need More Official Images and Real Photos?
Kodak was the official sponsor of the photography and film for the winter games. Wonder how they got those huge pictures onto the sides of the buildings? Need more photos to fill in your coverage of a specific event? Here is a link to their site which has SLC images, amazing Olympic postcard images, casual crowd shots day by day, sports photo tip help, and more from the 2002 games.
 
Need info on a specific Athlete?
Maybe you just want to journal about your hero but need more facts? Go to Google.com search engine and type in their full name or go to the Olympic Site or the NBC official site
 
Athletic Paperpiecing Images:
If you love to paper piece, there are many sports coloring pages that you can choose summer and winter Olympic sports from. Here are two good multipurpose links:
 http://www.dltk-kids.com/sports/olympics_coloring.htm
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/sportscoloring/index.htm
The Crayola coloring website also has some neat Olympic images that can be made into paper piecings but you do need to register at their site to access them.
 
And for those who love ProvoCraft clip art, they have a new Winter Sports Creatables cd by artist Lori Sume for only $4.95
 
Other sporting items like die cuts, stickers, and so on can be purchased online or at your local stores. Keep an eye out for travel stickers too that pertain to the areas where the Olympics were held. Many sticker companies introduced new sticker lines at HIA recently that would work well for the Olympics.
 
This should get you started on your Olympics 2002 pages! Have a great time researching, creating, and enjoying your sporting pages! Relive those favorite moments, heroic deeds, and sportsmanship lessons. Let the (scrapbooking) Games Begin!

 Happy Scrapping!
 ~Rockester