Sheet # 5/The Summer Olympics - Marathon
Name: _____________________ Date_____________
Explain and Show Your Work.
The long-distance foot race was first held at the revival of the Olympic Games at Athens, Greece, in 1896. It commemorates the legendary feat of a Greek soldier who, in 490 BC, is supposed to have run from Marathon to Athens, a distance of about 40 kilometers (25 miles), to bring news of the Athenian victory over the Persians. Appropriately, the first modern marathon winner in 1896 was a Greek, Spyridon Louis.
In 1924 the Olympic marathon distance was standardized at 42,195 meters, or 26 miles 385 yards. This was based on a decision of the British Olympic Committee to start the 1908 Olympic race from Windsor Castle and finish it in front of the royal box in the stadium at London. The marathon was added to the women's Olympic program in 1984.
1) The Olympic marathon distance is 42,195 meters (26 miles 385 yards). Round the distance to the nearest thousand. What is this measure in km?
2) It was long considered necessary for a runner to prepare for a marathon by training over that distance. At the 1952 Olympic Games, however, Czech Emil Zátopek set an Olympic record of 2 hours 23 minutes 3.2 seconds; even though he had never run the distance before. Estimate his average hourly speed in km/hr?
3) Jamie is training to run a marathon in the Sydney Olympics. To prepare for the race, she runs 6 km each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On each Thursday and Saturday, she runs 10 km. She does not train on Tuesday and Sunday. At the end of four weeks of training, Jamie will have run the equivalent of how many marathons?
Answer for sheet #5
1)Rounded to nearest thousand: 42,000m
Measure in km: 42km
2)Estimate: about 42000m/(2.4)hrs=17,500 km/hr
3)weekly distance: 6*3+10*2=38. for a month she runs 4*38 km, or 152km. this is equivalent to 152/42 marathons, or 3.6 marathons.