2 . Louis Tewanima seemed born to run. Like other Hopi people in the late 19th century, Louis ran for his mental and ________ well-being.

In 1907, Louis ________ himself riding on one of the locomotives (火车头) that had amazed him as a boy. With no ________ of the English language, he headed east to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania to learn English.

The ________ in Pennsylvania was much colder. He missed his family and his way of life. He turned to something ________, running. He’d seen the school’s track team practice, so he approached the coach, Warner, and ________ if he could run for him.

After watching Louis run, Warner ________ realized Louis had talent. Warner coached him on applying his stamina (耐力) and ________ to track and field. It wasn’t long before medals, and ________ filled Louis’s room at the Carlisle school, and he became a celebrity in distance ________ in America. Even when he ________ difficulties, Louis prevailed (战胜). He once missed his train to a ________ in Harrisburg. Instead of calling it a loss, he ran 18 miles to the event, arriving on time. He ________ to compete in the two-mile race, and he ________ first!

In 1908, Louis entered his first Olympic, and placed ninth in the marathon. Four years later, he ________ in the 1912 Summer Olympic in Stockholm, Sweden. This time, he ran the 10,000-metre race and finished in second place.

4 . A marathon is a long running race of 42,195 kilometers, Runners must not only be fast, but they must be strong enough to keep their speed up over a very long distance.

On Sunday, Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shocked the running world by smashing the women’s world record for the marathon by over two minutes. Assefa finished the Berlin Marathon in just 2 hours 11 minutes and 53 seconds.

Assefa’s record was far beyond what most people could expect. After all. it was only her third time running a marathon. “I wanted to break the marathon world record.” she said. “But I couldn’t imagine that it would result in a time under 2 hours and 12 minutes.”

When Assefa was younger, she started by running short races, Then she ran the 800-meter race. Her best time in the 800 meters was about 1 minute and 59 seconds. Last March, she ran her first marathon. Then last September, she entered the Berlin Marathon. She won, and set a new women’s record for the course, finishing in 2 hours15 minutes and 37 seconds. This year, she ran almost four minutes faster than she did last year. In both races. Assefa ran faster in the second half of the race than she did in the first half.

Though Assefa made winning the race look easy, she said it was the result of hard work. Assefa was coached by Gemedu Dedefo, who has helped train many Ethiopian star runners. Besides, the shoes Assefa wore are built in such a special way that they collect energy every time the runner lands and give a special spring as the runner’s foot leaves the ground again. Though the shoes are expensive, they only last for a few hours of running.

5 . Chinese sprinter Su Bingtian called himself one of the biggest beneficiaries of sport exchange between China and the Western world in an interview with China News Service (CNS).

31-year-old Su made history in the Tokyo Olympics by setting the new Asian record for men’s 100mat 9.83 seconds in the semifinal and finishing sixth in the final at 9.98 seconds. There used to be the biased view that no Asian sprinter can finish 100m within 10 seconds. Su proved people wrong with his performance. “I never thought we couldn’t do it, but there have been some problems with our concept of training the whole time. Now we did it by finishing at 9.83 seconds. That’s best proof to beat such prejudice,” said Su to CNS.

Su Bingtian of China celebrates after finishing men’s 100msemifinal at 9.83 seconds in the Tokyo Olympics at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan, August I, 2021./CFP

Su believes scientific training plays a key role in his success. “I realized that running as much as possible does not necessarily help you run faster. Scientific training attaches more importance to applying of technique and requires you to do it right instead of doing it a lot. In that way, athletes can save more strength in training and recover faster,” said Su.

According to Su, he did not understand some of the moves coaches asked him to do when he went to train abroad at the beginning. It took him years to realize the importance of scientific training, especially stamina allocation (耐力分配), as well as how to do it on the field. “That’s why I chose to change how I started off at the end of 2014 and acquired a new running pace,” said Su.

Su and his American coach Randy Huntington began to cooperate in 2017. Huntington made detailed analysis of Su’s condition based on “champion model” from the start before arranging specific training sessions for Su to work on. Su said that played a key role in the process of him making breakthrough.

When asked if there will be another “Su Bingtian” in the future, Su’s answer was “Yes, 100 percent.” “People in the future can definitely do what I can do. I’m looking forward to seeing if they can do it better than me. All records are to be broken,” said Su.

When Michael Jordan’s feet     1     (leave) the ground, time seemed to stand still.   The player who became known as “Air Jordan” changed basketball with his graceful moves and jumps. Jordan’s skills were impressive, but the mental strength that he showed made him unique. The secret     2     his success is learning from his failures. “I can accept failure; everyone     3     (fail) at something. But I can’t accept not trying,” Jordan said that losing game     4     (teach) him to practice harder and never give up.

The home crowd erupted when China’s Eileen Gu     1    (win) the Women’s Freeski Big Air gold in Beijing. Gu jumped into the top position with her third run,     2     (score) 94.50. Her total score was 188.25 in the event’s debut at the Winter Olympics. The 18-year-old, who also goes by her Chinese name, Gu Ailing, is a freestyle skier, model and grade-A student with     3    American father and a Chinese mother. She grew up in the United States. It was there     4     she grew to love skiing. By 2018, she was representing the US in the world cup for the sport. Then, she decided to switch from representing the US     5     representing China. The decision met with shock and    6     (confuse) from her growing fan base but Eileen Gu was more than     7     (determine), sharing her reasoning on Instagram at the time. “This was an     8     (extreme) tough decision for me to make...Through skiing, I hope to unite people, promote common understanding, create communication and forge friendships between     9     (nation). If I can help to inspire one young girl     10     (break) a boundary, my wishes will have come true.”

8 . Wilma Rudolph was born in 1940 in a very large and poor African-American family in Tennessee. When she was four years old, a deadly illness made her left leg useless. She had to wear an iron leg brace. Her doctors told her she would never walk like a normal person without the brace. Yet she was lucky in having a mother who encouraged her to have faith and courage.

At nine years of age, the little girl removed the leg brace and took the first step, which her doctors had said was impossible. Then she got the idea that she would like to be the worlds greatest woman runner.

At the age of thirteen, she began to enter races, but she came in last in every race. Everyone asked her to give up. One day, however, she came in next to last. Then there came a big day when she won a race. From then on, Wilma Rudolph won every race that she entered.

In 1957, Wilma went to Tennessee State University, where she met a coach named Ed Temple. He trained her so well that in 1960 she went to the Olympic Games in Rome. There she beat a German girl named Jutta Heine, the greatest woman runner of the day. Wilma had just won two Olympic gold medals both in the 100-metre race and the 200-metre race. Then came the 400-metre relay. Wilma Rudolph had got her third Olympic gold medal in the 17th Olympic Games.

That day Wilma made history as she became the first woman to win three gold medals in the same Olympic Games. Later she said, “The triumph can’t be had without the struggle. I know what struggle is. I have spent a lifetime trying to share the importance of being a woman first in the world of sports, so that other young women have a chance to reach their dreams.”