Complete the passage below using the correct form of the

verb in brackets (present perfect or simple past)

The Olympic Games

BEGAN
The original Olympic Games (1.begin) ___________________ around 800 BC in
HAVE CONTINUED
Ancient Greece, and (2. continue) ___________________until they (3be)
WAS
___________________abolished by the Roman Emperor Theodosius in AD 393. The
TOOK PLACE
first modern Olympics (4.take place) ___________________in Athens in 1896, and

since then, more than a dozen different countries (5.stage)

___________________the
HAVE STAGED Summer Olympics. The cities of Athens, Paris, London,
HAVE STAGED
Berlin and Los Angeles (6.stage) ___________________the Olympics twice.
BECAME
In 1956, Australia (7. become) ___________________the first country outside

Europe and
WAS
America to stage the Olympics, while Mexico (8.be) ___________________the first

Latin American country to stage the Olympics, in 1968.

HAVE TAKEN
Many of the greatest athletes in the world (9. take part) ___________________in
HAVE EQUALED
the Olympic Games, but no one (10. equal) ___________________the achievements

of the great Finnish athlete, Paavo Nurmi, who between 1920 and 1928 (11.win)
HAVE WON
___________________nine gold and three silver medals.
HAVE SEEN
The Olympic Games (12.see) ___________________many tragedies and triumphs. For

example, in the marathon of 1908, the little Italian, Dorando Pietri (13collapse)

___________________five
COLLAPSED times in the last part of the race, but (14.come)
___________________first
HAVE COME - only to be disqualified because spectators (15.
HELPED
help) ___________________him over the finishing line. And in 1936, the

famous black American

athlete Jesse Owens (16. break) ___________________six

BROKE world records in

a single day!

From the first modern Olympics in Athens, when only fourteen

HAVE PARTICIPATED
countries (17participate) _______________, the Olympics (18grow)
HAVE GROWN
___________________to include over 140 countries. Gold, silver and bronze
HAVE GONE
medals (19go) ___________________to over 8,000 men and women.