Straight Speed

Olympic sports such as bobsledding, skiing and gymnastics all include the
use of straight lines. In bobsledding the blades are what need to be straight.

In skiing, a skier will move faster when his/her skis are close together.

In gymnastics the uneven bars must be straight and close to one another.

Thinking about these lines can you think of

another characteristic they hold?

What angle do they make?

What kinds of lines are they?

Arc to Arc

In the Alpine Ski Racing event, it is known to be faster for racers to make smaller arcs with their skis in the snow while going around the designated gates, making them have a tighter and more aggressive line to cover less of an area which means less time on the snow. This is ideal!

Instead of comparing times and speeds, you can guess which competitor may be faster by studying the arcs they left in the snow with their skis after each run of Giant Slalom, measuring them in degrees with a compass.
The average degrees of various competitors were recorded below.
Predict who was the fastest!

Bode Miller: 84 degrees
Ted Ligety: 87 degrees
Herman Mier: 81 degrees
Mario Matt: 90 degrees

Ka Splash!

The Olympic Swimming Pool is 164 ft (50 m) long, and 82 ft (25 m) wide, with 9 different lanes spread out along the width.

Look at the picture to the left of the Olympic Swiming Pool. Are there lines of symmetry? Print off the picture, and draw all the lines of symmetry that you see, if there are any there.