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Glossary №1

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Text “Olympic heroes”

Most people have no problem remembering the last Olympic Games and many of us look forward to the next Games with great excitement. But it’s easy to forget the heroes of the last part of the 20^th century. Who were those sports men and women who were the greatest influences on the athletes of today?

In the athletics stadium, perhaps, the greatest star of all was Carl Lewis. He became an immediate favorite with the fans after winning four gold medals at Los Angeles in 1984, the year when the Russians did not send a team. This was partly because the Americans had not sent a team to Moscow four years earlier. Lewis’s Olympic career lasted for another 12 years until 1996 when he won his ninth gold medal in Atlanta. He could have won the tenth in the 4 x 100 m relay but he wasn’t picked for the team. It is this last medal that Lewis is most proud of.

Among the women who can forget the glamorous Florence Griffith-Joyner, with her long, painted finger-nails at the 1998 Games in Seoul, winning the 100 and 200 m? Her sister, Jackie, followed in her footsteps by winning the long jump. But perhaps the most significant event that year was when Carl Lewis’s great rival, Ben Johnson, lost his gold medal for the 100 m after failing a drugs test.

The Barcelona Olympic Games of 1992 were perhaps the friendliest Games in recent times and this time it was a gymnast, Vitaly Scherba from Belarus, who was in the limelight after winning four golds. At the next games, the medals for gymnasts were shared, with no single competitor dominating. Europeans will remember Melissanidis taking the gold for Greece in the floor exercises and the Ukrainian, Lilia Podkopayeva, winning the women’s event.

In Moscow, many western European nations joined the Americans in refusing to take part, but it was a good year for Britain and there were medals for middle distance runners, Coe and Ovett. In the pool, Cristina Egerszegi from Hungary has won five golds, her first in Seoul for the 200 m backstroke and her last for the same event in Barcelona. All of these medals were for individual events. But Kristin Otto from East Germany won six gold medals in the pool at Seoul, although two of these were for relay races.

With such a rich history, we can be confident that the Games will continue to provide us with more sporting heroes who will be remembered for years to come.

а) Answer the following questions:

1. What sport do you play?

2. Have you ever won a cup or a trophy?

3. Have you ever been injured doing sport?

4. Do you prefer doing sport or being a spectator?

5. Do you go to watch a local sports team?

6. How many hours do you spend a week watching sport on TV?

7. What sports did you have to do at school?

8. Do you think you’re fit? Would you like to get fitter?

9. Do your family and friends like sport?

10. What sport do you hate watching most on TV? Why?

11. Have you ever been to a big sporting occasion?

12. Are there any great sportsmen in your country (town)?

13. Which Olympic Games you think were the most interesting in the history of sports?

2) Read and learn by heart the following glossary:

Glossary №1

athlete

champion

championship

competition / contest

contestant

defeat

final

finish

first place

game

gym / gymnasium

home team

laurel wreath

match

medal

national team

Olympics / Olympic Games

playground / sports ground

record

result

semifinal / semi-final

spectator

sport / sports

sports fan

sportsman

sportswoman

stadium

tournament

trainer / coach

winner

world champion

world record

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