Tomorrow, the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics will take place at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It will mark the start of three weeks of intense competition when 10,500 athletes from more than 200 countries will be fighting for gold. Since the Olympics will be one of the hottest topics of conversation, we thought it would be useful for you to master some Olympics-related expressions:
1. sportsmanship (noun): being gracious in victory or loss
Ex: The players showed good sportsmanship by congratulating the winning team at the end of the game.
2. on a roll (phrase): in the middle of a series of success
Ex: After winning seven games in a row, the team was really on a roll.
3. trials (plural noun): national performance test to qualify for the Olympics
Ex: The trials for the Brazilian swimming team were held in April.
4. flagship event (noun): most important events of the competition
Ex: The 100m final is definitely one of the flagship events of the Olympics.
5. to blow the competition away (phrase): to win easily
Ex: Usain Bolt runs so fast that he blows the competition away at every race.
6. national anthem (noun): a patriotic song adopted by a country as the representation of its identity
Ex: The newly crowned Olympic champion held back his tears during his country’s national anthem.
7. media coverage (noun): the extent and ways in which an event is covered by the press
Ex: NBC Olympics will provide extensive media coverage of the Paralympics with 116 hours of airtime.
8. to be disqualified (verb): when someone breaks the rules and is eliminated for that reason
Ex: Seven Russian swimmers have been disqualified from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics for past doping penalties.
9. retain a title (phrase): win the same title several times in a row
Ex: In 1968, Wyomia Tyus became the first woman to retain an Olympic title in the 100 meter event for the second time.
10. break a record (phrase): surpass a previous achievement
Ex: In 2016, Renaud Lavillenie broke the world record in pole vault with a 6.16m leap.
If you’re feeling competitive after reading this article, try breaking your own personal record by spending more time on your Voxy account. You may not win a gold medal, but you will see major improvements in your English skills!
