Waldorf School Hosts 2011 Olympics

The following is a story submitted by Ella Ballin, a sixth-grader at the Waldorf School of Lexington.

On a sunny morning last Friday, May 13, five Waldorf schools from Massachusetts and Montreal met at the Waldorf School of Lexington to compete in the annual Greek Olympics competition.

In the opening ceremony, the fifth-grade classes of all the schools sang and danced.  Then the games began! The students were divided into different groups, identified by a Greek God’s name and a colored sash. The groups took turns competing in six events: The 50-yard dash, discus throw, long run, wrestling, javelin and long jump.

In the 50-yard dash, competitors lined up, and at the sound of the gun, they were off. They pushed themselves as hard as they could until the lead runner ran into the rope at the finish line.

The wrestling involved three different sized rings, which were circles painted on the grass. Two opponents grasped each other’s hands and tried to push the other wrestler out of the ring. They would keep going until someone eventually won.

The long jump involved competitors running down an aisle and jumping as far as they could, landing in soft sand. The judges would check the marks in the sand and the longest jump at the end was the winner. 

After all the groups had finished the events, it was time for the finals. The judges announced the competitors for each event. After many exciting matches, the winners were announced. They represented many schools. For Lexington Waldorf School, event winners were in long jump, discuss and wrestling.

In the closing ceremony, many people got laurel wreaths for their excellent performance in the games. It was a day of excitement, challenge, and fun for the fifth-graders who competed, and for the crowds who cheered them on throughout the day.