2.

TRIATHLON

Triathlon is a sport that consists of three parts, swimming,

cycling and running. Athletes race against each other. They
swim first, cycle second and run last. Triathlon became an
Olympic Sport in 2000 at the Sydney Summer Olympics in
Australia. In the Olympics athletes swim for 1.5 km, cycle for
40 km and then run for 10 km. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics in China the
women’s gold medal in triathlon was won by an Australian, Emma Snowsill, who
completed the race in just under two hours. Jan Frodeno from Germany won the
men’s gold medal; he finished the race in one hour and 48 minutes.

A popular triathlon event is the Sprint Triathlon. It is a shorter

race. It is half the distance of the triathlon of the Olympics. In
the Sprint Triathlon athletes swim for 750
metres, cycle for 20 km and run for 5 km.
If you think that this is too short for you,
you can try the Ironman Triathlon. In the Ironman competition
athletes swim for 3.86 km, cycle for 180 km and then run for
42.2 km! The fastest athletes can finish an Ironman Triathlon in just over eight
hours!

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3. VOCABULARY
KINDS OF SPORTS

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4. SPEAKING

1. Do you play any sports?

2. Are you a good soccer player? Basketball player? Baseball player?
Rugby player? Tennis player?
3. What kind of sports are you good at?
4. Do you jog more than once a week?
5. Can you play golf?
6. Do you like to watch sports on TV?
7. Do you like watching car races?
8. How often do you go swimming?
9. What is your favorite team sport?
10. What sports do you like to play?