1 . Elsa Desmond knows she is not going to win a medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics, but she is ________ as the first women’s luge(无舵雪橇)Olympian from Ireland. She was the 26th to ________ the line in the first run of the women’s race on Monday night, ________ than none of the other athletes. However, that did not ________ to her and she celebrated with a large smile on her face.

Although she will not win in Beijing, she has already won some ________ . She had been given many reasons why she could not compete: she is too short, she did not start ________ at a young age, and she could not balance a(n) ________ job with competing in a sport. The biggest ________ simply might have been that Ireland did not have a luge organization. So, she ________ one herself; she had to self-fund.

Now, ________ , she is a luge Olympian. “I’m a doctor in general surgery, I have all these really ________ challenges, but I think everyone has worked as hard as they can to be here. ”She is expected to return to work on this Friday because she was given some time ________ to compete in the Olympics, and now she has ________ parts of her job.

Desmond has to balance these two ________ jobs—sliding a few months out of the year and living a life in medicine. There was a(n) ________ last season when she had to take important medical examinations in hotels in Germany where other sliders from different countries were staying. “I had to stick signs on my door saying ‘Do not disturb, exam in ________ , in about six different ________ .”

Desmond got the honor of ________ her country in Beijing, and being one of two people ________ Ireland’s flag during the opening ceremony on Friday. “I don’t think I can ________ words how excited I was to lead out the team. I really hope that I make my country proud.”