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仁傑每週英文系列 - 11.10.23 - Reading - Margaux Isaksen, Pentathlete
Margaux Isaksen, Pentathlete
By Cindy Grigg
The Summer Olympics were held in China in 2008. One of the U.S. athletes there was sixteen-year-old Margaux Isaksen (pronounced mar-GO ee-SAHK-sen). Margaux competed in the modern pentathlon. This competition consists of five events. The events are fencing, shooting, swimming, equestrian jumping, and running. There has been a women's Olympic competition in this event only since 2000.
The pentathlon was invented for the 1896 Olympic Games. This was the first "modern" Olympics the first to be held for many, many years. The founder of the modern Olympics wanted a competition that would use the skills of a cavalry soldier of the times. If the soldier was cut off from his unit, he might have to ride an unknown horse. He would need to fight with both a pistol and sword. He must be able to run and possibly swim to escape. The pentathlon combines all these skills in one event. Since 1996, all five parts are done in one day.
Athletes in the shooting segment use air pistols. They stand, shooting at small targets at a distance of ten meters. Twenty shots must be completed in about fourteen minutes.
Swimming is a 200-meter freestyle race. Best finishing times decide the winners.
The riding part is an obstacle course. Riders "choose" their horses by a random drawing. They get only twenty minutes to warm up on their horses. Then they must ride their horses over a 350meter course. The horses must jump twelve to fifteen obstacles.
The fencing segment lasts for only one minute. The first person to score a hit wins the match. If neither person touches the other with his or her epée (sword), they both lose. Each pentathlete will fence with every other pentathlete once. Total points decide the overall winner.
The running portion is a crosscountry run. Runners run for three kilometers. They are ranked by their scores from the first four parts of the competition, with the leader going first. The first person crossing the finish line is the overall winner of the pentathlon.
Each country sends two men and two women to the Olympics for this event. Here's Margaux's story.
Margaux was born on October 7, 1991. She lives with her mother, stepfather, and younger sister. The family has two cats, three dogs, and seven horses. Margaux began riding early. She remembers breaking her arm when she was three after falling off a horse. Her younger sister, Isabella, wanted to try fencing when Margaux was in eighth grade. Margaux thought it sounded like fun, so she tried it, too.
Her fencing teacher discovered that Margaux was a rider and a runner. He encouraged her to train for the pentathlon. In July 2005, she competed in a nationallevel competition. She came in last.
Instead of giving up, Margaux began swimming three times a week. Her family set up a shooting target for her at home. In 2007, she won a gold medal at the USA Nationals in Colorado Springs. In addition, she won three more gold medals that year at competitions in New Mexico, Poland, and Brazil.
In the fall of 2007, Margaux decided the best way to train for the Olympics was to go to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Margaux still needed to finish high school. Margaux's mother began to homeschool her long distance. Margaux spent a couple of months at a time at the USOTC. There she trained six days a week. She usually did swimming and running five or six days each week. She practiced shooting and fencing four or five days a week. She only practiced riding once or twice a week. She said, "It was rough leaving my mom and my sister and all my animals. But it's been good, and it's totally all been worth it."
The training paid off. In February 2008, she went to Cairo, Egypt. There she competed in the World Cup Finals. She finished in thirteenth place. The next national competition that year was held in Mexico City. She won the silver medal second place! In May 2008 in Budapest, Hungary, she performed well. This enabled her to win a place on the U.S Olympic team to compete at the 2008 Olympics.
Competition in the Olympic modern pentathlon at Beijing was held on August 21-22, 2008. Margaux placed twenty-first in the competition. She said, "It was truly amazing to participate and an honor, too." She was the second-youngest female in history to compete in this event.
Only a month later, she gave her best performance ever in the World Championships in Bulgaria. She won the gold medal for ages eighteen and younger. She became the first U.S. modern pentathlon athlete ever to win a Youth World Championship title.
Margaux has traveled to many different countries in order to compete. Her passport has stamps from Brazil, Denmark, Egypt, England, Germany, Hungary, China, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Bulgaria, and Spain. Plan to watch and cheer her on at the 2012 Olympics in London, England.
Questions
1. How old was Margaux Isaksen when she competed at the 2008 Olympic Games?
A. 16
B. 18
C. 24
D. 12
2. Which of these is NOT something the athlete does in the pentathlon?
A. jumping obstacles
B. shooting
C. fencing
D. swimming
3. About how long does the shooting event last?
A. fourteen minutes
B. one day
C. one minute
D. one hour
4. How long does the fencing event last?
A. one minute
B. fourteen minutes
C. one hour
D. one day
5. How long does a rider have to warm up on his or her horse?
A. fourteen minutes
B. twenty minutes
C. one day
D. one hour
6. Which event comes last in the pentathlon?
A. pistol shooting
B. swimming
C. equestrian jumping
D. running
E. fencing
7. The women's Olympic pentathlon began in:
A. 1896
B. 2008
C. 2000
D. 1996
8. What is the name of the weapon used in fencing?
A. cutlass
B. epée
C. saber
D. sword
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