New Zealand has 213 athletes competing in a wide range of summer sports at this year’s Tokyo Olympics. For the first time, we have a karate athlete chosen for the Olympics. She is Andrea Anacan, aged 30.
Andrea was born in the Philippines but immigrated to New Zealand with her family when she was 12. She began learning karate when she was only 4 years old but continued her training when she came to New Zealand. Because she is short, just under 1.5m, she has entered the kata type of karate which is judged on style and form not on fighting.
In 2018, she was placed 7th in the world championship in Madrid, Spain.
The Olympics will be different this year in many ways because of the pandemic. No spectators will be allowed which means that Andrea’s family cannot attend the Olympics. They will have to watch her performance online instead.
Different people in Tokyo are protesting about the Olympics. Some of them never wanted the Olympics to happen because of the risks related to Covid-19. Others are protesting because they want to be able to get inside the stadium to watch the games.
Vocabulary:
range: variety. A wide range means there are many different things. A narrow range means that there are not many different things.
form: body position
spectators: people who watch a sport. Note that if it was a show, or entertainment, we would not say spectators, but audience.
protest: complain publicly
Please can we have more articles about the successful Olympic athletes?
I used to use one of these articles every week for my adult English class, over 3-4 years, including past articles.
I have exhausted the supply!
Also they are not posted that often now. Any chance of more regular news bulletins?
Hi Barbara, it’s good to hear you’re using the website regularly; I did too when I was in the classroom. The website is run by myself, a volunteer, with the help of the original founder, Pat Symes. If my job gets too busy, or if I catch a cold, then I have to take a break, but I do strive to get a new post up each week. Remember that there are thousands of articles in the archives that you can draw on too. If you know anyone who would like to volunteer, please let me know.