March 2012, Team GB 2012 Olympic Kit Revealed

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Jerome Fitzgerald
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1 Welcome to our regular look at news events around the world. In News Focus #3, we go to London, U.K. Great Britain is getting ready to host the summer Olympic Games between July 27 and August 12, Athletes will compete in 26 different sports over 17 days at 34 different venues. The Paralympic Games will take place in the same venues between August 29 and September 9, with around 4,200 athletes from around the world competing in 20 Paralympic sports. Athletes from all corners of Great Britain (Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England) will be competing together in Team GB. A new kit has been especially created for the 500 Olympic and 350 Paralympic athletes of Team GB. Traditionally, athletes from Great Britain wear red, dark blue and white kit to reflect the colors of the British union flag (which is a combination of the Scottish flag [white cross on a blue background], and the English and Northern Irish flags [both red crosses on a white background]). For this year s Olympics, the designer has controversially used more blue in the kit. Some people like it but a lot of people do not. If you are interested in finding out more, then click here. March 2012, Team GB 2012 Olympic Kit Revealed The Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games is on Friday, July 27, And in less than nine weeks the Olympic Flame starts its 70-day journey around the UK. As part of the lead up to the Games, Team GB has launched its new Olympic kit. Team GB athletes modeled the dark indigo blue kit and red shoes. Designer Stella McCartney said the kit was designed to give the athletes the same look, with British competitors in all 26 Olympic and 20 Paralympic sports wearing part of the same 590-piece collection. Stella is the daughter of former Beatle Paul McCartney and heads up her own fashion house, launched in McCartney was creative director at Parisian label Chloe from 1997 and has worked with Adidas on sportswear since Andrew Groves, who runs the Fashion Design course at the University of Westminster, praises McCartney. She understands the modern market, and has created a functional sportswear that is both practical and desirable. However, some people have criticized the kit as being too blue! Scottish Paralympic pentathlete Mhairi Spence twitted: Little disappointed! Doesn't look very GB!! It just needs more RED! Another commentator (@donaldxdonald) twitted: Turquoise, white and blue is the new look. Did the designer look at the right flag? Asked about the criticism, McCartney explained: "I started with the traditional union flag of Great Britain, but I'm really aware of the reds, whites and

2 blues in other nations' flags. Sometimes you are confused when you are watching sports events: Is that runner American? Is that rower French? I wanted to create something that is very recognizable. I softened the traditional look and made it more fashionable. There s a lot of red in there, but in a non-traditional way." McCartney collaborated with Adidas, the official team sponsor, on the GB kit. German-owned Adidas job was to make the outfits breathable and the footwear as light as possible. McCartney's role was to focus on design and she spent a lot of time talking to athletes. They told her that if they feel good, they perform better. You have to come up with a kit that gives athletes confidence, says the designer. You have to make them believe that the kit will help them shave fractions of a second off their times. Across the various sports, the GB kit will comprise up to 175,000 items of clothing for up to 500 Olympic and 350 Paralympic athletes and includes 38 types of footwear alone. Speaking at the launch, triathlete Alistair Brownlee said his trisuit was a fantastic piece of kit considering that it's notoriously difficult to get it right, because it has to be loose for the swim, but tighter for the cycle and the run. Team GB BMX rider Shanaze Reade told reporters that when athletes pulled the kits out of the packets, we just thought 'Wow!' (476 words) [A] READING CHECK Are these sentences correct (C) or incorrect (I)? 1. The Opening Ceremony of the Games is in nine weeks time. 2. There will be 26 different Paralympic sports at the 2012 Olympics. 3. Stella designed almost 600 different outfits for the various GB Olympic and Paralympic athletes. 4. The designer is the daughter of a famous singer. 5. Stella is experienced but has never worked on sportswear before. 6. Mr. Groves says the kit is both functional and attractive. 7. Some commentators say the kit is not red enough and does not reflect the national flag. 8. Stella wanted her design to look like the French and the American kit. 9. McCartney was also responsible for making the outfits more breathable. 10. A triathlete says that Stella has done a good job on his outfit.

3 [B] WORD FOCUS Fill in the blanks using the correct words below. March 2012, Team GB 2012 Olympic Kit Revealed The Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games is on Friday, July 27, And in (1) nine weeks the Olympic Flame starts its 70-day journey around the UK. As part of the lead up to the Games, Team GB has launched its new Olympic kit. Team GB athletes modeled the dark indigo blue kit and red shoes. Designer Stella McCartney said the kit was designed to give the athletes the same look, with British (2) in all 26 Olympic and 20 Paralympic sports wearing part of the same 590-piece collection. Stella is the daughter of former Beatle Paul McCartney and (3) her own fashion house, launched in McCartney has worked with Adidas on sportswear since Andrew Groves, who runs the Fashion Design course at the University of Westminster, praises McCartney. She understands the modern market, and has created a functional sportswear that is both practical and desirable. However, some people have (4) the kit as being too blue! Scottish Paralympic pentathlete Mhairi Spence twitted: Little disappointed! Doesn't look very GB!! It just needs more RED! Another commentator (@donaldxdonald) twitted: Turquoise, white and blue is the new look. Did the designer look at the right flag? Asked about the criticism, McCartney explained: "I started with the traditional union flag of Great Britain, but I'm really aware of the reds, whites and blues in other nations' flags. Sometimes you are (5) when you are watching sports events: Is that runner American? Is that rower French? I wanted to create something that is very (6). I softened the traditional look and made it more fashionable. There s a lot of red in there, but in a non-traditional way." McCartney (7) with Adidas, the official team sponsor, on the GB kit. German-owned Adidas job was to make the outfits breathable and the footwear lighter. McCartney's role was to focus on design and she spent a lot of time talking to athletes. They told her that if they feel good, they perform better. You have to come up with a kit that gives athletes confidence, says the designer. You have to make them believe that the kit will help them (8) fractions of a second off their times. Across the various sports, the GB kit will comprise (9) 175,000 items of clothing for up to 500 Olympic and 350 Paralympic athletes and includes 38 types of footwear alone. Speaking at the launch, triathlete Alistair Brownlee said his tri-suit was a fantastic piece of kit considering that it's (10) difficult to get it right, because it has to be loose for the swim, but tighter for the cycle and the run. Team GB BMX rider Shanaze Reade told reporters that when athletes pulled the kits out of the packets, we just thought 'Wow!'

4 1 (a) a little more than (b) less than (c) exactly 2 (a) candidates (b) runners (c) competitors 3 (a) heads up (b) hopes for (c) holds onto 4 (a) praised (b) commended (c) criticized 5 (a) controlled (b) confused (c) congratulated 6 (a) recognizable (b) resistible (c) relatively 7 (a) cooperating (b) consulted (c) collaborated 8 (a) shave (b) sharpen (c) shoot 9 (a) approximate (b) at least (c) up to 10 (a) nastily (b) notoriously (c) naturally [C] KEY PHRASES Complete these key phrases by matching words in column A and B. column A column B 1 as part of the lead up to the Games a will comprise up to 175,00 items of clothing 2 the kit was designed to give b Adidas on the kit 3 some people have criticized the kit c that gives the athletes confidence 4 McCartney collaborated with d the kits more breathable and footwear lighter 5 Adidas job was to make e it is notoriously difficult to get it right 6 You have to come up with a kit f Team GB has launched its new kit 7 Across the various sports, the kit g the athletes the same look 8 The tri-suit is fantastic considering that h as being too blue

5 [D] SUMMARY Complete the summary by putting the sentences in the order they appear in the news article. a The kit has been especially designed for the 500 Olympic and Paralympic athletes. b Some commentators have criticized the non-traditional design, but many of the athletes have praised the new kit. c 3 The designer, Stella McCartney, worked on the sportswear with the official team sponsor, Adidas. d As part of the lead up to the 2012 Olympic Games, Team GB has launched its new Olympic kit. e Stella wanted a new look that people could recognize very easily. f Adidas focused on technical issues, such as making the kit more breathable. ====== Newsflash #3 Answers [A] READING CHECK Are these sentences correct (C) or incorrect (I)? 1. The Opening Ceremony of the Games is in nine weeks time. (I) The flame will arrive in the U.K. in nine weeks time, but the opening ceremony is not until the end of July. 2. There will be 26 different Paralympic sports at the 2012 Olympics. (I) There will be 20 different Paralympic sports and 26 regular Olympic sports. 3. Stella designed almost 600 different outfits for the various GB Olympic and Paralympic athletes. (C) She has created almost 600 (590) different outfits for various athletes including swimmers and triathletes. 4. The designer is the daughter of a famous singer. (C) She is the daughter of Paul McCartney who became famous with the Beatles. 5. Stella is experienced but has never worked on sportswear before. (I) She has worked with Adidas since Mr. Grove says the kit is both functional and attractive. (C) 7. Some commentators say the kit is not red enough and does not reflect the national flag. (C) 8. Stella wanted her design to look like the French and the American kit. (I) She wanted her design not to look the kit from other countries. She thinks some outfits are too similar and she wanted her kit to be very recognizable. 9. McCartney was also responsible for making the outfits more breathable. (I) Adidas took care of technical issues. 10. A triathlete says that Stella has done a good job on his outfit. (C) Alistair Brownlee says the kit is fantastic.

6 [B] WORD FOCUS Fill in the blanks using the correct words below. 1 (a) a little more than (b) less than (c) exactly 2 (a) candidates (b) runners (c) competitors 3 (a) heads up (b) hopes for (c) holds onto 4 (a) praised (b) commended (c) criticized 5 (a) controlled (b) confused (c) congratulated 6 (a) recognizable (b) resistible (c) relatively 7 (a) cooperating (b) consulted (c) collaborated 8 (a) shave (b) sharpen (c) shoot 9 (a) approximate (b) at least (c) up to 10 (a) nastily (b) notoriously (c) naturally [C] KEY PHRASES Complete these key phrases by matching words in column A and B. column A column B 1 as part of the lead up to the Games f Team GB has launched its new kit 2 the kit was designed to give g the athletes the same look 3 some people have criticized the kit h as being too blue 4 McCartney collaborated with b Adidas on the kit 5 Adidas job was to make d the kits more breathable and footwear lighter 6 You have to come up with a kit c that gives the athletes confidence 7 Across the various sports, the kit a will comprise up to 175,00 items of clothing 8 The tri-suit is fantastic considering that e it is notoriously difficult to get it right [D] SUMMARY Complete the summary by putting the sentences in the same order they appear in the news article. d 1 As part of the lead up to the 2012 Olympic Games, Team GB has launched its new Olympic kit. a 2 The kit has been especially designed for the 500 Olympic and Paralympic athletes. c 3 The designer, Stella McCartney, worked on the sportswear with the official team sponsor, Adidas. f 4 Adidas focused on technical issues, such as making the kit more breathable. e 5 Stella wanted a new look that people could recognize very easily. b 6 Some commentators have criticized the non-traditional design, but many of the athletes have praised the new kit.

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NEWS ENGLISH LESSONS.com

NEWS ENGLISH LESSONS.com London 2012 Olympics opened MANY FLASH AND ONLINE ACTIVITIES FOR THIS LESSON, PLUS A LISTENING, AT: http://www.newsenglishlessons.com/1207/120728-olympics_opening_ceremony.html