2009 Use of English Topic 1

1. Your school has voted a celebrity artist or athlete 'Person of the Year' for 2008. You are a reporter for the school magazine. You have interviewd the winner. Write an article for your school magazine showing how his or her experience of failure before finally succeding might inspire the personal development of students. Give your article an appropriate heading.

Title: Skating to Success

Last month, our students voted an underdog to be Person of the Year -- Lu Chen, the 1998 Olympic bronze medalist in figure skating. 

This was not the first time she was an underdog, however.

Until her awe-inspiring performance at the Nagano Olympic Games, Chen Lu has given every indication that she was "history" in the world of figure skating. Just the previous year, she did not even qualify for the long program at the World Championship. Coming into the 1998 Olympic Games, no one in the skating world was giving her much of a chance – not even the Chinese figure skating federation.

“The federation told me to retire. They wanted me to coach, but I thought I was too young to start coaching.” Chen said. “But I told them after 1998, I would be done.”

Her path to the 1998 Olympic Games was anything but easy. After skating away with a surprise world championship title in 1995, she finished second behind Michelle Kwan the year after.  Then everything started to go wrong. She gained weight; she fought with her coach; her spins travelled and travelled; and her triple jumps -- for a long time a staple in her programs -- deserted her. When she arrived in Switzerland to compete at the 1997 world championship, she had only trained for two weeks. A pop in the lutz and the axel landed her in 25^th place, one place below the cut to qualify for the free program.  She left the ice rink in tears.

“I walked around in the parking lot, crying and crying. But I knew I needed a fresh start.”

A fresh start awaited her in Fall 1997.  The Chinese federation assigned a new coach to Chen, and she started practicing her triple jumps again.  In October of last year, she went to Vienna to qualify for an Olympic spot.  Though scared to death, she landed enough triples there to win.  She also finished top four in both her Grand Prix events. Slowly, her confidence was coming back to her. Everything came together on the night of February 18, 1998 during the Olympic long program. 

“ When I went to Nagano for the Games, I did not know whether I can do it or not. It’s so hard to get an Olympic medal. So all I could do was try.  And now I did it. I am so proud of myself.  I skated a good program.”

A good program was an understatement. Struggling with her triple lutz all year, she pulled a gigantic one in the short program, drawing applause from even Frank Carroll, the coach of her arch rival, Michelle Kwan.  In the long program, she knocked off 6 triple jumps, with one in combination near the end.  Her interpretation to the music, Butterfly Lovers, was exquisite, and she skated with a freedom that made the audience think she was indeed the butterfly.

In her speech during the Person-of-the-Year Awards ceremony, Chen told our students the key to success was hard work and perseverance.

“I want you all to work hard, because if you do not work hard, you will not get the results.   And believe in yourself.  Just try your best and you have nothing to regret.”