People and Places BBC Learning English 2007

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BBC Learning English
People and Places
High Jumper



Jackie: Hello! Welcome to the programme on bbclearningenglish.com with me,
Jackie Dalton. Today we're going to hear from Donald Thomas he's the
new world high jump champion. High jump is a sport where people try
to jump over a horizontal bar, whoever jumps the highest without
knocking the bar off wins. Donald is 23 and from the Bahamas. The
funny thing is, he never actually wanted to do high jump. There was
another sport that he was much more interested in. What was it?

Donald
Growing up, I always played basketball. I played basketball up until last year in college.
I always dreamt of going to the NBA.

Jackie: Donald always played basketball another sport where being tall and
good at jumping is helpful. What was his dream? Listen again.

Donald
Growing up, I always played basketball. I played basketball up until last year in college.
I always dreamt of going to the NBA.

Jackie: He dreamt of going to the NBA the National Basketball Association,
which is the leading men's basketball league in the United States. So how
did he end up doing high jump? Well it all started as a bet with a friend,
who said "I bet you can't jump higher than two meters!" And Donald said
he could and he wanted to prove it to show it was true to prove it. So
Donald went to a place where high jumpers were practising to show what
he could do. How did other people react when they saw him jumping?



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Donald
They just stopped and was watching*. And, like, formed a circle around the high jump
pit. *note: 'watched' would be grammatically correct here, rather than 'was watching'

Jackie: Everyone was so amazed by how good he was, that they stopped what
they were doing and started to watch. They formed a circle around the
high jump pit.

Donald
They just stopped and was* watching. And, like, formed a circle around the high jump
pit.

Jackie: So that's how it all started. Everyone was so impressed with his high
jump skills that eventually he was persuaded to take it up seriously. And
just over one year later, he officially became the best in the world. You
would think that to become that good so quickly, he would've had to
train to train, to practice - very hard. How much training does he do?

Donald
I just, I just enjoy competing there's no pressure go to practise, or do anything like that.
Like, during the week, I probably practise a little more than five hours a week max. I
don't take it that serious[ly]. I think that's the key to my success just having fun.

Jackie: Donald says he does no more than five hours a week.

Donald
..during the week, I probably practise a little more than five hours a week.

Jackie: Five hours a week! That's probably what most high jumpers do in a day!
But as Donald says, his relaxed attitude is the reason why he's succeeded.



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He uses the phrase 'the key to my success', meaning the reason why he
has done so well. Listen again.

Donald
I just, I just enjoy competing there's no pressure go to practice, or do anything like that.
Like, during the week, I probably practise a little more than five hours a week max. I
don't take it that serious. I think that's the key to my success just having fun.

Jackie: So how did it feel when he cleared 2.35m at the World Athletics
Championships in Osaka?

Donald
I was very excited and motivated. It was a good feeling.

Jackie: Donald was excited and motivated motivated, meaning you feel good
about something and want to do well in it.

Donald
I was very excited and motivated. It was a good feeling.

Jackie: Donald is certainly motivated to do more now. He's going to compete in
the Olympics next. But even when talking about the Olympics, he uses
quite a casual term to tell us he's going to take part. What expression
does he use?

Donald
My plan is just to stay healthy and just to show up at the Olympics and try to be a good
competitor and try to come out on top once again.




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Jackie: Donald says he'll 'show up' at the Olympics. This is quite informal it
makes it sound like the event isn't really important for him. Listen to
some examples of the phrase 'to show up'.

Examples
I might show up at the party for a little while.
He was meant to come at 7 o'clock, but he didn't show up until half past eight.

Donald
My plan is just to stay healthy and just to show up at the Olympics and try to be a good
competitor and try to come out on top once again.

Jackie: A reminder of some of today's phrases:
high jump
to prove something
to train
the key to success
to be motivated
to show up

That's all for this week. We'll have to wait and see if just keeping healthy
and showing up at the Olympics works for Donald. And whether this
kind of attitude is still the key to his success!