雅思口语素材：杰出的奥林匹克运动员们

　　Jesse Owens is considered to be one of the greatest Olympians

　　Beijing 2008 will prove a test for the cream of the worlds sporting talent but will any of the athletes be able to go beyond mere victory and attain greatness?

　　Here are some Olympic legends that set the benchmark by which future Olympic hopefuls must be measured.

　　Britains Sir Steve Redgrave is the only athlete to win a gold medal at five consecutive Olympic Games from Los Angeles in 1984 to Sydney in 2000. As a rower he pushed himself to his physical limits and even defied his doctors by continuing to compete at the highest level after being diagnosed with diabetes .

　　In a TV interview immediately after finishing the race in which he won his last gold medal, an exhausted Redgrave memorably invited the public to shoot him if they ever saw him in a rowing boat again.

　　American Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics in 1936, setting a 20-year world record in the process. He also made a mockery of the distorted racial theories of the German Nazi party which was in power at the time by proving a black athlete could be as good as, or better than, a white one.

　　But what of China? Who are their great Olympians?

　　Probably the most recent contender for the position of Chinas greatest Olympic athlete is Liu Xiang, the 110m hurdler.

　　Liu Xiang took gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics, tying for a world record time of 12.91 seconds. It was Chinas first Olympic gold medal in track and field for a male athlete.

　　Will Liu Xiang win a second gold medal? Will other Chinese athletes taste glory ? The answers will be revealed in August in Beijing.

　　GLOSSARY 词汇表

　　cream

　　精华，精髓

　　attain greatness

　　达到最高境界

　　consecutive

　　连续性的

　　physical limits

　　生理局限

　　diabetes

　　糖尿病

　　shoot

　　开枪

　　made a mockery

　　嘲弄，讽刺

　　Nazi

　　纳粹，法西斯

　　hurdler

　　跨栏选手

　　track and field

　　田径

　　mere victory

　　仅仅是胜利

　　benchmark

　　水平点, 基准

　　rower

　　赛艇运动员

　　diagnosed

　　被诊断为

　　exhausted

　　筋疲力尽

　　world record

　　世界纪录

　　distorted racial theories

　　扭曲的种族理论

　　contender

　　竞争者

　　tying

　　打平

　　taste glory

　　取得成功，争得光荣