雅思口语话题延展之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 world's 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.

Britain's 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 China's 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 China's 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
（有望获胜的）竞争者

tying
打平

taste glory
取得成功，争得光荣