Ninguno

English for the Games Readers
Level 2
Heroes
(CEFR A2 – 3,000 words)
By Barry Tomalin, British Council

www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish

AcknowLEdGEmEnts
Programme manager
Michael Houten, British Council
Project manager
Paul Sweeney
series editors
Suzanne Guerrero and Mandy Loader
section 19
Andrew Longmore, Style, The Sunday Times – 21.08.11
All images © British Council
iiEnglish for the Games Readers | Level 2

contents
Before you start................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1. Stockholm, 1912 – Jim Thorpe ............ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2. Paris, 1924 – Eric Liddell .................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. StMoritz, 1928 – Sonja Henie ............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. Los Angeles, 1932 –
Yasuji Miyazaki, Masaji Kiyokawa and Kusuo Kitamura . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5. Los Angeles, 1932 – Babe Didrikson .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6. Berlin, 1936 – Jesse Owens ................ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 6
7. Helsinki, 1952 – Adhemar da Silva ........ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
8. Helsinki, 1952 – Emil Zatopek ............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
9. Helsinki, 1952 – Lis Hartel .................. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
10. Mexico City, 1968 – Bob Beamon ....... . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
11. Mexico City, 1968 – Dick Fosbury ....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
12. Montreal, 1976 – Nadia Comeneci ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
13. Moscow, 1980 – Yuriy Sedykh ........... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
14. Calgary, 1988 –Michael ‘Eddie the Eagle’ Edwards . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
15. Barcelona, 1992 – Elana Meyer and Derartu Tulu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
16. Atlanta, 1996 – Haile Gebrselassie ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
17. Sydney, 2000 – Steve Redgrave ......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
18. Athens, 2004 – Tanni Grey-Thompson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
19. Beijing, 2008 – Oscar Pistorius .......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
20. Beijing, 2008 – Usain Bolt ................. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Activities ......... ................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Answers ............................................. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Sports/events reference ....................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Irregular verbs . ................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Vocabulary ..... ................................... .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
English for the Games Readers | Level 2

1

Gold medal
Silver medal

Bronze medal

Podium

2

English for the Games Readers | Level 2

Before you start
Find the information and write the
names and chapters of the athlete.
1.

the fastest man on earth

2.

a perfect ten

3.

the blade runner

4.

Eddiethe Eagle

5.

‘We did it for Africa’

6.

triple jumper

7.

figure skater

8.

horse rider

9.

five consecutive gold medals

10.

wheelchair athlete

the
Find rs on
e
answ e 17!
pag

English for the Games Readers | Level 2

3

1. stockholm, 1912

Jim Thorpe, USA, athlete
Jim Thorpe was an American athlete of Native
American descent. He was a runner. He...