People all over the world are fond of sports and games. That is one of the things in which people of every nationality are united. All kinds all physical exercises are very useful to make our bodies strong enough to keep ourselves fit and healthy. The most popular outdoor winter sports are shooting, hunting, hockey ; in the countries where the weather is frosty and there is much snow-skating and ski-jumping. It’s so nice to go to the skating-rink or to the forest on a frosty sunny day.

Summer affords excellent opportunities for swimming, boating, yachting, cycling, gliding and many other sports. Among outdoor games football takes the first place in public interests, this game is played in all countries of the world. The other games that have firmly established themselves in favor in different countries are golf, lawn tennis, cricket, volleyball, basketball and so on.

All the year round people indulge in boxing, wrestling, athletics, gymnastics and track-and-field events. A lot of young woman go in for calisthenics. Over the last few years aerobics has become popular with young girls. It helps them to be slim, healthy and strong. The founder of this kind of sport was a well-known American actress Jane Fonda. Being a great enthusiast of aerobics she has been trying to initiate many young woman all over the world into this sport.

Among indoor games the most popular are billiards, table tennis, draughts and some others, but the great international game is chess, of course. The results of chess tournaments are studied and discussed by thousands of enthusiasts in different countries.

So we may say that sport is one of the thing that makes people kin. To cut a long story short I should admit that everyone must do all he can to be healthy. Physically inactive people get old earlier than those who have plenty of exercises. If you do daily exercises, you feel refreshed, have a good posture and that makes you feel good.

Running is a wonderful sport. We can run all the year round. We can run in a forest, in a park, in a yard or in the street. Running makes us strong and healthy. Everybody feels fresh and ready for more work after half an hour in the open air.

Athletes usually play sports at the sports ground, in a gym, in the stadium, in a sports palace. Different sport competitions take place in the stadium. The stadium is always full of people who come to see a match. There are indoor and outdoor swimming pools and a lot of people go swimming all the year round.

Many people are fond of gymnastics but it’s not an easy sport.

The best athletes take part in the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games have a very long history. They began more than 2 000 years ago in Greece. The Greeks were very fond of music, plays and all kinds of physical exercises. The games took place every 4 years at Olympia. All the cities in Greece sent their best athletes to take part in the Olympic Games. The strongest athletes ran, jumped, wrestles, threw a discus, were boxing. There were also chariot races. The Games were very popular, thousands of Greeks used to watch them. It was a tradition to stop wars during the Olympic Games. The competition lasted five days. The winners got olive wreaths. It was the highest honor. When the champions came home the people greeted them with flowers.

For a long time from 394 till 1896 there were no Olympic games. Since 1896 the best athletes of the world have met again every 4 years. The games have always been exciting. The winners who showed the best results were awarded gold, silver and bronze medals.