Tomorrow is the last day of the London 2012 Olympic Games. I can’t believe the games are almost over and we will have to wait another four year to see such amazing athletics! I hope you have been enjoying the games as much as I have and that you have been learning English vocabulary through this blog to help you think and talk more in English about these games and sports in general. As a closing post to this series on the Olympic Games I want to highlight some vocabulary you can use to talk about winning in competitions. Also as one last tribute to the amazing athletes of the Olympic Games I wanted to share with all of you a wonderful website that looks at Olympic athletes and the physics that allow them to succeed in sports. The best part of this website are the visuals. The site uses something they call an ‘infogragh’ which is a mix of written information and graphics to tell information. This is great for ESL learners as there are a number of ways for you to gather contextual clues to understand new words without having to look the words up in a dictionary. I highly recommend looking at this website to learn more about the physics of athletes’ bodies and to practice your English.
Link: http://www.npr.org/2012/08/09/158455089/olympics-physics
Now here is some vocabulary you can use to talk about athletic competition results, particularly winning!
the thrill of victory – this is a phrase that is used to describe the positive emotions associated with winning a competition
the agony of defeat – this is a phrase that is used to describe the negative emotions associated with loosing a competition
Example: During the Olympics Games athletes from around the world experienced the the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat as they competed to win medals.
to dominate – to control with superior authority or performance
Example: The Chinese dominated in the diving competitions.
to sweep the field or to make a clean sweep – to win a competition easily and completely
Example: The Jamaicans swept the field in the 400 meter dash track and field event. or The Jamaicans made a clean sweep of the 400 meter dash.
a blowout – a decisive defeat
Example: The final game of men’s Basketball in the Olympics was an American blowout.
