Oscar Pistorius and Caster Semenyas running battle to reach starting blocks

Level 3 Advanced
1 Key words
Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text. excel able-bodied converge parameters leg

eligible deprive fibula amputate lane 1. A _______________________ is a part of a race. 2. A _______________________ is part of a racing track that is intended for one runner. 3. If two or more things _______________________, they come from different directions to reach the same point. 4. The _______________________ is the medical term for the outer narrower bone in the bottom part of your leg. 5. To _______________________ means to remove someones arm or leg in a medical operation. 6. An _______________________ person is one who is not physically disabled. 7. If you are _______________________ to do something, you are allowed by law or a set of rules to do it. 8. _______________________ are the limits within which something can be done. 9. If you _______________________ at something, you do it extremely well. 10. If you _______________________ someone of something, you take it away from them or prevent them from having it.

2 Find the information

Decide whether these statements are true (T) or false (F). Then check your answers in the text. 1. Oscar Pistorius is from South America. 2. He is a runner who runs on artificial legs. 3. The Court of Arbitration for Sport is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. 4. Caster Semenya is from South America. 5. Semenya won the 800m race at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin in 2009. 6. Some people think she is really a man.

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2011 NEWS LESSONS / Oscar Pistorius and Caster Semenyas running battle to reach starting blocks / Advanced

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Oscar Pistorius and Caster Semenyas running battle to reach starting blocks

Level 3 Advanced

1

Oscar Pistorius and Caster Semenyas running battle to reach starting blocks
Richard Williams 26 August, 2011 The forecast for the next day in the South Korean city of Daegu was for fine and dry weather, which would please Oscar Pistorius more than any of the other athletes competing in the first weekend of the World Athletics Championships. An average August in Daegu sees 23cm of rainfall, which would not suit the South African 400m runner as he becomes the first athlete to compete for a world title on the track using artificial legs. The curved carbon-fibre blades on which the 24-year-old runs do not take kindly to a wet track. Pistorius was told that he would be allowed to represent his country in the 4x400m relay as long as he and his blades were restricted to the first of the four legs, when the competitors run in separate lanes before converging to fight it out for track space. This person is a special case, Lamine Diack, the president of the IAAF, the sports world governing body, said. If he wants to run in the relay, he must run the first leg in order to avoid endangering other athletes. Pistorius, who was born without a fibula in either leg and had both limbs amputated just before his first birthday, has been giving the IAAF headaches since 2008. That was the year in which, after extensive biomechanical tests, they banned him from competing against able-bodied athletes, only for the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, to overturn the ruling a few months later. Pistorius failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, but in Italy in July, needing a time of 45.25 seconds to qualify for the 2011 World Athletics Championships, he ran 45.07 seconds. It was the 18th best time of the season, more than half a second faster than his personal best. Pistorius is one of two South African athletes at the heart of a debate about human potential and gender differentiation. The other is Caster Semenya, the 800m runner who turned up in 5

Berlin in 2009 and, aged 18, destroyed her rivals in a final that took place a few hours after the media got wind of the IAAFs decision to subject her to a gender test. The next thing to be destroyed was a year of Semenyas career. Both athletes have forced the IAAF to modify its regulations. Pistoriuss appearance led it to prohibit the use of any technical device that incorporates springs, wheels or any other element that provides a user with an advantage over another athlete not using such a device. Earlier in 2011, six months after lifting Semenyas suspension, the IAAF approved new regulations concerning hyperandrogenism, the condition in which women experience an overproduction of male sex hormones. As a result, a woman athlete is now eligible to compete if her level of the hormone controlling the development of male sexual characteristics is below the male range. Semenyas appearance brought sharp remarks from her beaten rivals in Berlin. She is a man, said Elisa Cusma, the Italian who finished sixth, prompting a response from the winners father: Shes my little girl. The results of the tests on Semenya in 2009 have never been released, and her relatively modest performances since returning to competition in 2010 led to rumours that she has been undergoing treatment to rebalance her hormones and bring her within the IAAFs new parameters. The case of Pistorius is just as complicated, and there are no precedents. Is there a trade-off between the handicap of a slower rise from the starting blocks and the tireless nature of carbon-fibre, which does not experience fatigue like human muscles and means that he will be the only runner not slowing down as he nears the finish? And what about technological progress? The company that makes the blades says that they have not been modified since he started using them but another company, working on
N T O FR BE C O DO O M W P W N IA EB LO B SI A L TE DE E D

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Oscar Pistorius and Caster Semenyas running battle to reach starting blocks

Level 3 Advanced
behalf of another athlete, might one day produce devices offering a greater advantage. 10 Having Oscar Pistorius excelling is a very good 11 thing for the kids to be watching, says Sebastian Coe, English former athlete and chairman of the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games. But many able-bodied athletes who would normally applaud Pistoriuss courage and ability might not feel quite so generous were he to deprive them of a medal, just as another success for Semenya would reawaken a sense of injustice among some of her rivals. Sport was an agent of social change when it played a role in ending apartheid in South Africa and this pair of athletes, by placing question marks against previously accepted boundaries, are pointing the way to a less prescriptive future for the human race.
Guardian News and Media 2011 First published in The Guardian, 26/08/11

3 Comprehension check
Choose the best answer according to the text. 1. Why is Oscar Pistorius a special case? a. because he qualified for the world championships with a time of 45.07 seconds b. because he is the first athlete to compete for a world title on the track using artificial legs c. because the Court of Arbitration for Sport allowed him to compete 2. Why can Oscar Pistorius only compete in the first leg of the 4x400m relay? a. because he is faster than the other athletes b. because he could be a danger to other athletes when they converge c. because his blades can only be used in the outside lane 3. Why was Caster Semenyas win in Berlin controversial? a. because some people thought she was a man b. because she destroyed her rivals c. because she had been undergoing treatment to rebalance her hormones 4. a. b. c. What have these two athletes done? They have won world championship events. They failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. They have helped to change regulations and attitudes.

Find the word 4

Find the following words and phrases in the text. 1. a five-word expression meaning to be annoyed by something or to disapprove of something (para 1) 2. a two-word expression meaning an achievement in a race or competition that is better than anything you have achieved before (para 3) 3. a three-word expression meaning to find out about something secret or private (para 4) 4. a verb meaning to include something as a part (para 5) 5. a noun meaning an action or event in the past that is used as an example or a reason for a present action or event (para 9) 6. a noun meaning a feeling of being extremely tired (para 9) 7. a noun meaning the political system that existed in the past in South Africa, in which only white people had political rights and power (para 11) 8. an adjective meaning stating what should happen or what someone should do (para 11)
Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2011 NEWS LESSONS / Oscar Pistorius and Caster Semenyas running battle to reach starting blocks / Advanced
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Oscar Pistorius and Caster Semenyas running battle to reach starting blocks

Level 3 Advanced
5 Verb + noun collocations
Match the verbs in the left-hand column with the nouns or noun phrases in the right-hand column. 1. represent 2. overturn 3. prohibit 4. approve 5. place 6. undergo a. the use of something b. questions marks against something c. a new regulation d. ones country e. treatment f. a ruling

6 Word-building
Complete the sentences using the correct form of the word in brackets at the end of each sentence. 1. In the 4x400m relay, _______________________ run in separate lanes on the first lap. [COMPETE] 2. Semenya has produced _______________________ modest performances since she returned to competition in 2010. [RELATIVE] 3. If Semenya wins the gold medal, it might _______________________ a sense of injustice among her rivals. [AWAKE] 4. The IAAF is the world _______________________ body of athletics. [GOVERN] 5. There is a debate about human potential and gender _______________________. [DIFFERENTIATE] 6. Semenyas _______________________ was lifted after a year. [SUSPEND]

Discussion 7
How well did Oscar Pistorius and Caster Semenya do in their respective events at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu? Should all athletes be allowed to compete in the same competition regardless of whether they are able-bodied or not, and regardless of other issues such as hyperandrogenism? Why? Why not?

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2011 NEWS LESSONS / Oscar Pistorius and Caster Semenyas running battle to reach starting blocks / Advanced

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Oscar Pistorius and Caster Semenyas running battle to reach starting blocks

Level 3 Advanced KEY

1 Key words
1. leg 2. lane 3. converge 4. fibula 5. amputate 6. able-bodied 7. eligible 8. parameters 9. excel 10. deprive

5 Verb + noun collocations

1. d 2. f 3. a 4. c 5. b 6. e

6 Word-building
1. competitors 2. relatively 3. reawaken 4. governing 5. differentiation 6. suspension

2 Find the information

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. F T T F T T

7 Discussion
Teachers note: In the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu, Oscar Pistorius finished last in his semi-final heat of the mens 400m. He ran the first leg of the 4x400m relay heats but was dropped by the South African team for the final. Caster Semenya came second in the womens 800m final, winning a silver medal.

3 Comprehension check
1. 2. 3. 4. b b a c

4 Find the word

1. do not take kindly to 2. personal best 3. get wind of 4. incorporate 5. precedent 6. fatigue 7. apartheid 8. prescriptive

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2011 NEWS LESSONS / Oscar Pistorius and Caster Semenyas running battle to reach starting blocks / Advanced

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N T O FR BE C O DO O M W P W N IA EB LO B SI A L TE DE E D