Inspired to Run

S everal other Special Olympics athletes from Ireland and Great Britain are also taking part in the Torch Relay. They include Daniel Bendle, who made his debut as an Olympic torchbearer earlier this month. Daniel had a special motivation to do his best in the London 2012 Olympics Torch Relay: he was running in memory of his mother, who died two days before the event. David said, “I ran for my mum, (because) I know she would be smiling.”

Daniel has been swimming with Special Olympics since he was 11 years old. Now 20, he’s been encouraged to take his skills to the next level. Daniel has found work as a lifeguard and swim coach for people with and without disabilities. Says Daniel, “Special Olympics have introduced me to a whole new world. I have made so many friends and become part of something.”

Daniel is one of 10 Special Olympics athletes chosen for the Torch Relay through the Coca-Cola Future Flames campaign. Among them is Omar Haddad, a gymnast who won five gold medals at last year’s World Summer Games in Athens. Omar is also star of an award-winning short film that illustrates how encouragement can help people with disabilities transform their lives through sport. In all, more than 60 Special Olympics athletes and coaches have been chosen as Olympic Torchbearers, including Jacqueline Minchin, a swimmer and part-time clerical assistant who is also a spokesperson for employment of people with disabilities. Coaches chosen to take part include Val Hanover, a winner of BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year “Unsung Hero Award.” She is retiring after three decades of dedicated work with Special Olympics athletes. Val is definitely leaving on a high note, especially after her victorious run with the Olympic Torch Relay.

www.specialolympics.org/.../Special_Olympics_Stories_from_Around_the_ World.aspx

C) Questions to the Text:

1. What is the essence of the trail inspired by a number of athletes?

2. What was Stephanie Handojo remembered in last year’s Athens for?

3. Who nominated Stephanie for taking up the Olympic Torch and how did they motivate their choice?

4. Whom is Stephanie accompanied by on her way? What are his sports achievements?

5. Why was Daniel Bendle inspired to run? How was he succeeding in sport?

6. How many other torchbearers were chosen as torchbearers and which of them are mentioned in the article?

d) Look at the pictures below. Define each kind of sport; speak about the armour, the rules of each game, the playing area, etc. Use the topical vocabulary while discussing the pictures.

IX. Conversational Situations

1) Telling a story. Prepare a piece of information about some kind of sport or game and supply it with names of the sportspersons who represent this activity (make sure your topic differs from other students). Saturate your story thoroughly with the topical vocabulary. Tell it in the class to other students and be ready to answer their questions.

2) Sharing experience.

a) Find interesting information about any sportsman/sportswoman (short biography, their beginning in sport, the way to success, achievements, etc.). You will be giving an interview to your fellow students in the class. Use your topical vocabulary both in your questions and answers.

b) Prepare and act out dialogues. Make use of the topical vocabulary and the following situations:

♦ Two friends have decided to take up mountaineering and managed to climb⁶ a rocky cliff. While sitting on its top they’re sharing their triumph and discussing other extreme sports. When they decide to go down, it occurs to them that they are scared⁷ of doing it.

♦ Two friends are watching the Cup Final in a sports bar and are very cheerfully and devotedly shouting for their team.

♦ A young man comes to a weight room in order to start training and become muscular and athletic. His coach who is too much enthusiastic about sport and his job is giving instructions to him.

♦ A girl is trying to persuade her mother that it is vitally important for her to take up the career of a gymnast; she is suggesting all the advantages of this sport. The latter finds it too dangerous and unrewarding.

♦ Two friends cannot decide where to go and what to buy tickets for: to a football match or to the boxing ring (both befall on the same day). They are trying to guess which of the events would be more spectacular and which sport is more interesting in itself.

c) Find information about the origin and the essence of the Olympic Games and share it to your fellow-students. Discuss the sports events that are held during the Games and the whole procedure in itself. What is your opinion about the commercialization of the Olympic Games? Do you think taking drugs by athletes may be approved of and justified by their fantastic results and victories?