lunes, 29 de septiembre de 2014

Listening test: Greatest Olympian ever?

You will hear two people talking about the best Olympian ever during the London Olympics. Read the notes below and listen carefully to the recording. In each of the spaces provided, complete the information required with up to FOUR WORDS. 0 is given as an example.



Greatest Ever Olympian

Example:
0. Michael Phelps has won ...NINETEEN MEDALS.     

1. Sir Steve Redgrave won …………….………… in rowing.   
   
2. It took Hungarian Aladar Gerevich ………………………. to win seven gold medals.
       
3. The  ……………………… stopped Aladar Gerevich from winning more medals.
       
4. The kayaker who is mentioned in the conversation was East German and eventually she competed for ………………...………        

5. It’s easier for swimmers to win more medals because there are ………………..........……… .       

6. A swimmer can win as many as ………………………. in an Olympic Games.       

7. A fencer or a kayaker can win no more than ………………………. in an Olympic Games.





So Michael Phelps is being hailed in the British press as the greatest Olympian of all time with (0) nineteen medals and I’m delighted to say that he’s here today to speak… no, it’s only Susana.
Only?
Michael Phelps, greatest Olympian ever. True or false?
Everyone knows I don’t really know about the history of Olympics.
Well, he’s won (0) nineteen medals, not all gold, because he’s beginning to…
And you’ve got to admit nineteen is not… is quite a lot.
Yeah, but he’s beginning to lose now. The only gold he’s won this time is in a relay event, so he had people helping him. He’s won a silver and stuff. But for me, Sir Steve Redgrave, from the UK, won (1) five golds over five Olympics in rowing, which is a power event. So, for me he’s a little bit better because he went to five Olympics. Phelps only has been to four.
Well, let me just mention that there is an Olympic athlete called Aladar Gerevich from Hungary and he won, I think, seven gold medals in six Olympics.
Yes, I’ve read about him. He did it over (2) thirty years.
Yes, the first Olympics were…
1932.
And the last one in 1960.
Plus, he missed the two Olympics because of the (3) Second World War, 1940…
Everybody missed.
Yeah. 1940, 1944, so he could’ve actually gone from seven to nine…
Yeah.
…if he had been given the chance. Unbeliavable.
Yeah.
And there’s also a… Birgit Fischer, a kayak, kayaker woman from Germany and she won, I can’t remember…
Eight, eight.
Eight gold medals in six Olympics.

Six games.
Yeah.
But she was an East German to begin with and in the end she was rowing for (4) the unified Germany (answer for question 4: two countries).
And also, don’t you think for a swimmer like Michael Phelps… because there are (5) [so] many swimming events, that it’s easier for a swimmer because they do all the same, free style, breast stroke
He has the chance in every Olympics. Every Olympics he has the chance for about (6) forty-seven medals.
Exactly, but a fencer or a kayaker…
(7) One or two.
Yes, exactly, so it’s, he has it easy really.
Yeah, so we need to think about the stars of the past. Is Aladar Gerevich the greatest Olympian ever?
Of course.
And in our lifetime Sir Steve Redgrave.
Well…