ANGLEŠČINA - 8.R - DODATNI - 13.5.2020, T. Plohl Read the text and do the exercise below.

The Paralympic Games

The Olympic Games are a major international sports event. Thousands of athletes from all over the world participate in a variety of competitions. When the Games end, another event starts. It offers athletes with physical disabilities the opportunity to compete, do their best and achieve good results.

The Paralympic Games have become one of the largest sports competitions in the world. There are the Winter and the Summer Paralympic Games. They take place immediately after the Olympic Games and in the same city. The athletes compete in twenty sports at the Summer Paralympics and in five sports at the Winter Paralympics. The most popular paralympic sports are athletics, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby in summer and ice sledge hockey in winter. The athletes are divided into six categories, according to their disabilities The values of the Paralympic Games are courage, determination, inspiration and equality.

wheelchair basketball a wheelchair race ice sledge hockey archery

There have been some incredible athletes in the history of the Paralympic Games. Here are only three of them.

Trischa Zorn is a blind swimmer from California. She is the most successful athlete in the history of the Paralympic Games. She has won 55 medals. Forty-one of them are gold.

Ragnhild Myklebust is a Norwegian nordic skier. She has won 27 medals, of which 22 were gold. She was successful in cross-country races, the biathlon, relays and ice sledge racing.

Neroli Fairhall, a paraplegic archer from New Zealand, was the first paraplegic athlete that participated in the Olympic Games. She was also the first athlete that participated in both – the Olympic and Paralympic Games. She competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Los Angeles.

Photos: wheelchair basketball: Shariffc / Dreamstime.com; wheelchair race: Carmentianya / Dreamstime.com; ice sledge hockey: ROBERTO ZILLI / Shutterstock.com; archery: Shariffc / Dreamstime.com

Choose the right answer. 1 Athletes who compete in the Paralympic Games a have problems with their bodies. b can’t speak. c are the best in the world. 2 The Paralympic Games take place a before the Olympic Games. b at the same time as the Olympic Games. c after the Olympic Games. 3 The Paralympic Games always take place a in the same city as the Olympic Games. b in a different city from the Olympic Games. c in a European city. 4 In the Summer Paralympic Games there are a five different sports. b twenty different sports. c twelve different sports. 5 The values of the Paralympic Games are a ambition and success. b faster, higher, stronger. c courage, determination, inspiration and equality. 6 Trischa Zorn has won a 55 gold medals. b 41 gold medals. c 14 gold medals. 7 Ragnhild Myklebust has won her medals a in three different sports at the Winter Paralympics. b in four different sports at the Summer Paralympics. c in four different sports at the Winter Paralympics. 8 In 1984 Neroli Fairhall a competed in the Paralympic as well as the Olympic Games. b won a gold medal in the Olympic Games. c won a gold medal in the Winter Paralympics. Key: 1A, 2C, 3A, 4B, 5C, 6B, 7C, 8A