"The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, the important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well. To spread these precepts is to build up a stronger and more valiant and, above all, more scrupulous and more generous humanity." - - De Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games

The Organization For Community Networks (OFCN) will be hosting The Academy's 2009 TeleOlympics from April 13 to May 7, 2009. It is open to school-age children worldwide (ages 6-18) with the ability to send and receive electronic mail over the Internet. The TeleOlympics07 is a project where students go out into their schoolyards on the same day and "compete" in events involving running, jumping, and throwing. Results are then sent electronically to The Academy. This year we are pleased to announce that along with events for handicaped students in wheelchairs we have added events for students requiring crutches or walkers. Special rules have been established for wheelchair students.

Information regarding each school will be exchanged using a listserv called acad-olympics. This listserv will be available as of March 15, 2009. In addition each message will be posted to OFCN's The Academy TeleOlympics08 Discussion webpage.

Details are included below.

DETAILS ON THE TELEOLYMPICS

Group Classifications:

• Class A = ages 16-18
• Class B = ages 14-15
• Class C = ages 12-13
• Class D = ages 10-11
• Class E = ages 8-9
• Class F = ages 6-7

List of Events:

• 50 m run
• tennis ball throw
• long jump (choose either standing or running for your school)
• 200 m run (limited to crutch/walker TeleOlympians)
• 400 m run (for all ages)
• 800 m run (for Class A, B, C, D and E)
• 1600 m run (for Class A, B, C and D)

Educational Activities:

1. Opening and Closing Activities - E-mail exchange. On the Opening Day, each participating school should send a letter to all of the other participating schools, wishing them good luck via the listserv. On the Closing Day, letters of congratulation should be sent to all other participating schools. These letters can include additional information and questions as desired, and potentially lead to establishing permanent keypal relationships with these other schools.

2. In the time prior to the TeleOlympics, schools are encouraged to post reports on the progress of training of their athletes, weather conditions, or other information of interest. Possibilities include stories of the Ancient Olympics, word searches in any language with the subject being the Olympics, or interviews and stories of athletes from their community who have participated in the Olympics. Individual athletes are also invited to share their training programs and results.

3. Participating schools may also begin to contact each other and exchange private e-mail as the registrations are posted. Regular updates of who is involved will be mailed to those participants who have only e-mail contact with Academy One. The listserv is another way to keep in touch but keep in mind that the amount of traffic could get quite large.

4. If you send pictures of your athletes during the competition they will be posted to the website. You can mail your pictures to:
   Organization For Community Networks
   P.O. Box 32175
   Euclid, Ohio 44132-0175
   Or
   You can scan in your pictures and send them electronically to special@ofcn.org as an attachment to an email message.
   

5. The top three winners in each of the events and in each of the boys and girls age classifications can have their names, school identifications, national flags and a short biographical sketch posted. Teachers will be responsible for supplying the biographical sketches of all winners. As an educational activity, all students might prepare their biography in case they are winners. Students can also exchange their biography with students in other countries.

ADDITIONAL CURRICULUM INTEGRATION IDEAS:

For those teachers who might wish to integrate several areas of the curriculum into the TeleOlympics theme, the following are a few suggested activities:

English

• Students could write about their own athletic endeavors or hopes.
• Students could write a story... "If I were an Olympic athlete..." and send to special@ofcn.org. The story will be posted to a special area for Student Authors.
• Students could interview a former Olympian or a current athlete in training.
• Any student attending a major athletic competition could act as an OFCN Student News Reporter and submit their interview to special@ofcn.org and the interview will be posted to a special area for Student Interviews on the OFCN's Academy website.

Math

• Students could practice using metric measurements.
• Students could practice converting between English and Metric systems.
• Students could compute the mean, median and mode scores for the entire class in a given event.
• Students could make a comparison of scores for each 100 meters of the 400 meter run if known.
• Students could conduct a comparison of pre-test and post-test scores in the TeleOlympian Training Program.
• Students could compute the Training Heart Rate Range.
• Students could analyze the pre-test and post-test scores of students from various schools and countries.
• Students could practice graphing scores.

Social Studies

• Students could learn about the communities of other schools in foreign countries. Some of this information is available from reading the registration forms. Students could write to several schools to gain additional information.
• Students could interview their parents and grandparents regarding their athletic endeavors. Students can comparisons between today's equipment, rules, training methods and reasons for competition and those of former times.

History

• Students could research and write about history of the ancient Olympics.
• Students could research and write about the modern Olympics.
• Students could research and write about famous Olympians from their town or country.

Health

• Students could submit recipes which will be placed in a recipe exchange area.
• The students could measure and evaluate the suggested long-term training program during participation.
• The students could analyze the pre-test and post-test scores of students from theirschool or other schools.

Science

• The students could study the anatomy and physiology of physical fitness.

How to join the listserv:

We have changed our listserv software and to access the new listserv for the TeleOlympics2009 click here

To send a message to all subscribers on the listserve: