The Greek Olympics, held for the Seventh Grade every year as a Montrose Tradition, is a tournament that you participate in through three classes. The first is World History, where you are currently learning about Greek history and culture. The second class is Art, where you make a flag for the city-state you are assigned. The third is P.E., where you compete in 10 different events with your city-state. The city-states competing this year are Sparta, Athens, Syracuse, Crete, Macedonia, Thebes, Corinth, and Thrace. Each team of about four to five girls chooses each person on their team to be part of at least two events.
The events are taken from the actual Greek Olympics, and then as Mrs. Bettinelli likes to say, P.E.-ified. This basically means that events like the Javelin Throw and Discus are actually throwing a lacrosse stick and a frisbee. Other events include the long-distance race, long jump, relay races, and the Chariot Races (Wheelbarrow Races), just to name a few. Two girls sign up for each event barring the all-team events- Relay Race and the Tug of War.
Because of the warmer weather, we were able to hold most of our Olympic Events outside! We began inside with the Chariot racing which was held in heats. This means that four groups began to race but only the top two got to move on to the finals. This happened again and then the final four competed for gold, silver, and bronze.
We then trooped outside where we started off the competition with The Long Distance Race, which was basically around Miracle Field. After that, the events sped by. Some highlights were that with the Discus Throw (Frisbee Toss) the winds completely changed the distance that the final mark would be. While some threw to beat the wind, others that looked as if the frisbee would make it really far, turned around and started curving backward! For The Long Jump, the grass was wet, which made everyone slip after they jumped, giving the event a fun twist.
The final outdoor event was The Relay Race. This was an all-team event also done in heats. Each girl was to run once across Miracle Field, and then hand off the Baton (Marker) to the next girl. This happened three more times before the race finished. If the Baton dropped, the entire team would be eliminated! The relay races were a super fun event because it included racing, teamwork, and carefulness.
After all the hard work and fun outside, we moved inside for the Tug of War and Wrestling (Arm Wrestling). The arm wrestling was held first in the center of the A&A at a table. The requirements to have a fair match are that your feet had to be firmly planted on the ground, you had to be sitting in your chair, and you had to keep your wrestling arm’s elbow flat on the table. If you were a Lefty, you had a chance to get your dominant hand in a quick game of Rock Paper Scissor Shoot! The people who were not currently participating stood in a wide circle around the table and cheered on the athletes.
Finally, we had the Tug of War. This was an entire team event and everyone put up a great fight! This competition was done in brackets meaning that the competitors each went against an opposing city-state. Then we continued on with the winners against the other winners and the losers against the other losers.
The athletes had an amazing time this year! Maggie 7th Grader comments, “The Greek Olympics were an amazing, fun, challenging experience. I was always moved by all my teammates (and teachers). They cheered awesomely! It was an experience that I’ll remember for a long time. I advise the 6th graders to look forward to it and to enjoy it as much as possible! Every single team put in all their effort and skills. The feast was absolutely remarkable and delicious (thank you parents so much)! Congrats to everyone there, I loved doing it and participating.”
Others agreed and their teams even made up inside jokes along the way! City-State Syracuse made up this chant, “If other teams say ‘Syracuse you’re gonna lose’ We would say ‘We got the best hair so we don’t care’ They did decorate their hair with green ivy, which was a great add-on to the team’s outfit!
On the second day, we had our Greek Feast supplied by the parents. We were able to sit down and enjoy wonderful Greek food. Some items on the menu were grapes, hummus, olives, grape leaves, different dips and desserts, and much, much more. We sat with our team and it was really nice to be able to get to know some girls in my class who I haven’t really talked to before!
The final day was the medal ceremony. You would get a medal for getting the top three in each event. Lots of golds, silvers, and bronzes were handed out to the winning athletes. Next, the city-states that had done the best at trivia and crossword puzzles left at our lunch tables, got intellectual certificates. Finally, it was time for the overall winners. Bronze went to Crete and Sparta! Silver went to Athens! And the winners that would get to do a victory lap around the gym holding our Olympic Torch was… Syracuse!!
This year’s Greek Olympics was an amazing experience filled with positivity, teamwork, and friendship. Everyone was super supportive of each other and cheered for everyone, including the other teams. Everyone worked with their city-state to plan and strategize how best to win the events. By being put into your different teams, you got to meet and get to know others that you wouldn’t have talked to otherwise. And, above all, everyone had a good time.
By Gabri Ottaviani ‘30, Faith Editor
