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Olympic Speed Skating

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Olympic Speed Skating
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Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 4 to 5
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	5.74

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		all-iron, all-steel, world-record, achievement, definitely, oval-shaped, baton, meters, lighter, skaters, outer, races, indoor, oval, onto, traveled
	content words:		Great Britain, Skating Club, Fens Canals, North America, Three British Army, Lawrence River, Quebec City, Amateur Skating Association, International Skating Union, Winter Olympics

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Olympic Speed Skating By Trista L. Pollard

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¹     Who knew that an Olympic sport would come from skating across ice on animal bones? Ice skating began when people in Scandinavia and the Netherlands began strapping animal bones to their shoes for a quick way to glide across the ice. In the beginning, people used skates for travel. With the bones on their shoes, they were able to travel across frozen lakes and rivers. Gliding across the ice took skills. Figure skating became a medal sport in the Olympics in 1908. Speed skating began in 1924.
 
²     Even though ice skating began in the Netherlands and Scandinavia, the first iron ice skate blade was not made there. In 1592, a man from Scotland made the first all-iron blades. Skating started to spread, especially speed skating. The Skating Club of Edinburgh (Scotland) formed in 1642. The first organized speed skating race was held in England in 1763. The race took place on the Fens in eastern England. This race covered a distance of 24 kilometers.
 
³     Speed skating came to North America in 1850. Historians believe that Scandinavian immigrants brought the sport when they came to North America. The skates had longer and sharper all-steel blades. These blades were also lighter. Canada had its first recorded ice-skating race in 1854. Three British Army officers raced on the St. Lawrence River from Montreal to Quebec City. By then, speed skating had become a regular winter sport in Canada. In 1887, the Amateur Skating Association of Canada was started. The International Skating Union (ISU) started in the Netherlands in 1892. Canada joined the ISU in 1894.

Paragraphs 4 to 8:
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