“World record broken!” On Aug 12, 2022, 17-year-old Ma Jiajun from Jilin excitedly posted    1     (he) certificate (证书) on social media, with a picture of him from Guinness World Records.

He has set a new world record for “the most consecutive jump rope triples (连续三摇跳绳)” with 701 times. Ma is more than 180 centimeters tall, but he used to be short and thin in primary school.     2     (build) a stronger body, he took part     3     the school’s jump rope team. At 9, he competed in a national game and     4     (successful) broke a record. “My coach said I have a talent in this sport and suggested that I should keep doing it,” said Ma. So he joined a jump rope club and kept training for six     5     (year).

“The training was much     6     (hard). I needed to practice every day for at least four to fivehours,” Ma said. “The jump rope triple has a high standard for physical ability. Every night     7    I lay on my bed, my arm and back were in pain.” But     8     kind of strong wish to break the record keeps him going. “My favorite TV show is Guinness China Night (《吉尼斯中国之夜》). I always dreamed of     9     (get) a certificate of my own,” he said

After breaking the record, Ma     10     (catch) lots of attention from the public and said “I hope more people could enjoy jump rope, since it’s good for your health and full of fun.”

Irene Schouten did what most people expected of     1     (she) at the Olympics: winning gold for the Netherlands at Beijing 2022.

But the speed skater was not satisfied     2     just being an Olympic champion. She quickly and       3     (elegant) established her position as the queen of the Ice Ribbon with three gold medals and a bronze (铜牌).

It has been a busy period for the Dutch star     4     had her days fully occupied (被占用) between training     5     skating in Beijing. She has also been busy     6     (plan) for her upcoming wedding.

Here is something you should know about Irene Schouten who won the first and last speed skating     7     (event) in Beijing.

Schouten let out a scream (尖叫) and threw her hands in the air as she crossed the finish line of the women’s mass start. Her     8     (three) gold medal at Beijing 2022 was hard-earned. It was worth all the effort. A natural-born long-distance skater, Schouten started skating when she was 8. Watching her first Olympics, Salt Lake 2002, she     9     (attract) by Gretha Smit’s silver winning moment in the 5000m.

That Olympic moment encouraged her interest in the long-distance races in speed skating. “When I was young, I had a strong wish     10     (win) Olympic gold and now I have it,” she said after her 5000m gold in Beijing.

3 . At Seattle’s Garfield High School, a dozen (十多个) basketball players are practicing. These guys take the game seriously at this school. A half-dozen coaches keep everyone focused as Garfield prepares for a Saturday playoff game. In the middle of all this is Brandon Roy, the former NBA All-Star and Garfield’s greatest player. Roy is the head coach.

Bad knees forced him out of pro basketball well before his time. Four years after his forced NBA retirement, he began coaching at Seattle’s Nathan Hale High School in 2017 with no background whatsoever and won a state championship. He moved to his alma mater (母校) the following year and got another state title with a once-beaten team. “Really the thing that brought me to coaching was I missed basketball,” Roy said.

After taking 2019 off from coaching to deal with personal issues, Roy returned and has his team pointed at state again. He owns a 78-5 coaching record.

With his success, others frequently discuss whether Roy wants to move up the ranks as he did as a player. “My ultimate goal is not to coach in the NBA but to build a real strong foundation at my alma mater. I don’t feel challenged to make it to the next level. I feel challenged right here to make it at this level.”

As practice comes to a close, Roy gathers his players around him and his coaches and they talk about the game ahead. Before everyone heads home, he has them shake hands. Players and players. Coaches and players. It’s a show of respect and togetherness.

Mostly, he just listened to his mother and followed her insightful direction to become a topflight coach. “My mom gave me the best advice — she said keep your ego (自我) out of it,” Roy said. “She told me to forget what I had achieved in the NBA and be down-to-earth. She trusted that I’d be pretty good at it.”

4 . On Aug. 7, 2021, Xu Shixiao and her partner, Sun Mengya, won gold in the first women’s canoe double 500 m event at the Tokyo Games. It was also the first Olympic gold medal for China in the event.

    1     Xu was born in a small county in a mountainous area in Jiangxi. Before becoming a paddler, Xu couldn’t even swim since her hometown is surrounded by mountains.

In 2005, the 13-year-old, who was much taller than her peers, attracted the attention of a rowing coach who came to look for potential paddlers in her school.     2    

“Every day my canoe turned over dozens of times. I drank lots of water in rivers,” recalls Xu of her first canoeing training. Xu kept training for a year and she made the final of a national race for teenage athletes out of a dozen paddlers at the centre.

In 2013, the news that women’s canoeing was still not an Olympic event dealt her a heavy blow.     3     Xu gave up her career and found her first job as a saleswoman in a furniture company.

When Xu Shixiao went to work as usual in the furniture company five years ago, she was surprised to get a call from her former coach, inquiring about her willingness to return to canoeing and compete in the Tokyo Olympic Games.     4     “I never thought that one day I could go back to the sport. Now that I have started again, I will do my best,” says Xu.

    5     She is also looking forward to taking part in the Paris Olympics in 2024.

5 . You may have heard of Stephen Curry... basketball player . Many people think he is the best shooter (射手) that ever played the sport And, last year, he was the NBA’s MVP and his team won the final match with the help of him.

Although his dad was on NBA player himself. Stephen didn’t start off with much .When he was young, he could only play old basketballs and no one taught him how to play, because his father was really busy. As he grew older, he had other problems, including his size.

So how did he make it? With a tot of hard work and his passion to basketball, he played day and night, practicing as hard as he could, year after year.

Now that he’s a star basketball player for the NBA, Stephon Curry is giving back. He starts to offer sleeping nets (蚊帐) to families in Africa. Curry has promised to donate (捐赠) 3 nets for every 3-point shot (三分球) he makes. From 2012 to 2015. Curry donated almost 2,500 nets! And he is calling on his fans to do the same. He believes these donated nets can, and do, save many lives.

Stephen Curry is a role model in both basketball and daily life.

9 . A national hero and a world number one in badminton, Lee Chong Wei is surely one of Malaysia's best-known athletes. He has received numerous medals. Lee and Nicol David, who is also a Malaysian player, received the title of Datuk due to the outstanding achievements they had brought to the country.

Having a strong will, Lee continually challenged himself to rise above the competitors, narrowly missing out on the gold medal and taking the silver at the 2012 London Olympics. He managed to win his ninth Malaysian Open title in 2013, breaking a record set by Malaysian athlete Wong Peng Soon in 1954; and in 2014, he had his fifth Japan Open title. Regrettably in late 2014, Lee Chong Wei was forbidden to compete for eight months after testing positive for drugs (药物). The World Badminton Federation (WBF), after investigations (调查) and a hearing, said that they did not think Lee Chong Wei tried to cheat on purpose, so he was allowed to continue to play. His world ranking suffered as a result of the punishment but he's making his way back up.

In 2016, Lee Chong Wei won his 11th Malaysian Open and fifth Malaysian Masters titles. He also beat Lin Dan in the semi-finals and World No.1 Chen Long in the finals of the Asian Badminton Championship to win the prize. He has become the World No.1 player and continued to act as a source of encouragement to future Malaysian athletes wishing to make a name in the world.

10 . Ibrahim Hamadtou of Egypt was just 10 years old when a tragic train accident resulted in the amputation (截肢) of both of his arms. Children are resilient, and Ibrahim didn’t let his life-changing circumstances keep him from playing, working, and eventually growing up to marry and have three kids. Oh, did we mention he’s also a world-famous table tennis player?

“In our village, we could only play, at that time, table tennis and soccer—that’s why I played both, “Ibrahim said. “It was logic to play soccer first due to my case; then I played table tennis as a challenge.”

All it took was one friend’s words to inspire Ibrahim to succeed at table tennis. “I was in the club where I was officiating (担任裁判) a match between two of my friends,” he recalled. “They disagreed on a point, when I counted the point in favor of one of them. The other player told me, do not interfere as you will never be able to play. It was that statement that fired me up to decide to play table tennis.”

And play he did! Ibrahim has earned several honors throughout his career so far, including silver medals in the African Para Table Tennis Championships in 2011 and 2013.

To play, Ibrahim holds the paddle in his mouth and uses his foot to serve the ball. “It took me nearly a year of practice to get used to holding the racket with my mouth and making the serve; with practice and playing regularly this skill was improved,” he said.

This legend now competes against some of the greatest players in the world and has attended the last two Paralympic (残奥会) games. While he didn’t win against China’s Chen Chao at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, he has gained international recognition for his perseverance and incredible talent. That is the face of true determination! Ibrahim is showing other people with limb differences that there’s a spot for them at his table.