2006年VOA标准英语-Age Range at Olympics Surprising

By Steve Schy
Turin
15 February 2006

If you think you are too old or too young to compete in the Olympics, you may be in for a shock. As VOA's Steve Schy covers the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, he found out the age of the competitors spans¹ a surprisingly wide range.

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When most people think of Olympic athletes, they think of young people who are in the prime of life and the peak of their athletic² skills. And for the most part they would be right. Most of the Olympians are in their early and mid³ 20s.

Figures are not available yet for the current Turin Olympics, but at the last Winter Games, the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, the average age for the women was 25, while the men averaged 26 years and eight months of age.
 

Scott Baird   
  
But that does not even get close to the extremes. A new record for the oldest-ever male Winter Olympian has already been set at the Turin Games. Scott Baird, a member of the United States curling team from Bemidji, Minnesota, was 54 years and 282 days old when he competed in his team's opening game.

That surpassed⁴ the previous record set by British athlete James Coates, who competed in skeleton⁵ at the 1948 Winter Games in Saint⁶ Moritz at the age of 53 years, 328 days. Baird told VOA Sports how it feels to set the first record at the Turin Olympics.

"Well, I was a little bit surprised when I found out, but I thought, its pretty cool. I still consider myself an athlete and feel young enough at heart to compete. So I am excited about just being here and being a part of team USA," he said.

But do not look for Scott Baird to take the record to a new level at the 2010 Games in Vancouver, Canada.

"Actually, I am pretty sure this is going to be it for me," he said. "I think 2006 is probably the end of my competitive⁷ curling career. You know, I will go back into just curling leagues and maybe seniors, and might even step back into coaching a little bit in the future."
 

Anne Abernathy  
  
The oldest woman to ever participate in the Winter Games is Anne Abernathy, who is representing the Virgin⁸ Islands at the Turin Olympics. It was the sixth appearance for the 52-year-old, who is affectionately known as Grandma Luge.

Unfortunately, Abernathy broke her wrist when she wiped out during a training run Sunday and was unable to compete this time around. No word yet on whether she will try to make the team headed for Vancouver in 2010.

At the other end of the spectrum⁹, the youngest competitors here in Turin are 14-year-old Sun Zhifeng of China and 15-year-old Manuel Pietropoli of Italy. Sun represented China in the women's halfpipe snowboard event, while Pietropoli is a halfpipe snowboarder from Italy.

Pietropoli is the youngest-ever male competitor at the Winter Games, taking over the title from Germany's Jan Hoffmann, a figure skater at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary.

And although Sun is very young, the women's record belongs to British figure skater Cecilia Colledge. She took part in the 1932 Olympics at Lake Placid¹⁰ at the astonishingly young age of 11.

1 spans   

跨度( span的名词复数 )； 持续时间； 一段时间； （五指张开时的）指距

参考例句：

• A steel railway bridge spans the Yalu River. 鸭绿江上有一座钢铁大桥。
• The wire door was a couple of hand-spans from his face. 铁笼门距他的脸只有一两个巴掌远。 来自英汉文学

2 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

3 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

4 surpassed   

v.超过( surpass的过去式和过去分词 )；优于；多于；非…所能办到

参考例句：

• This realization of our dreams surpassed even our wildest expectations. 我们梦想的实现甚至超越了我们最大胆的估计。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mao's fame surpassed well beyond the limits of China. 毛泽东的名声远远超越了中国国界。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 skeleton   

n.骨骼，框架，骨干，梗概，提要

参考例句：

• A long illness made a skeleton out of him.长期的卧病使他骨瘦如柴。
• Her notes gave us just the bare skeleton of her theory.她的笔记只给我们提供了她的理论的梗概。

6 saint   

n.圣徒；基督教徒；vt.成为圣徒，把...视为圣徒

参考例句：

• He was made a saint.他被封为圣人。
• The saint had a lowly heart.圣人有谦诚之心。

7 competitive   

adj.竞争的，比赛的，好竞争的，有竞争力的

参考例句：

• Some kinds of business are competitive.有些商业是要竞争的。
• These businessmen are both competitive and honourable.这些商人既有竞争性又很诚实。

8 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

9 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

10 placid   

adj.安静的，平和的

参考例句：

• He had been leading a placid life for the past eight years.八年来他一直过着平静的生活。
• You should be in a placid mood and have a heart-to- heart talk with her.你应该心平气和的好好和她谈谈心。