medals at international competitions around the world. When it was time to select the flag-bearer for the Jamaican team in the athletes’ parade at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, there was universal agreement that the honour should go to Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jamaica’s finest female athlete. Campbell-Brown holds no fewer than seven Olympic medals, three of them gold, in addition to numerous other medals for international athletics. Her record, both on and off the track, is a shining example of how much one person can achieve through hard work and determination.
Campbell-Brown was still at high school when she won her first gold medal at the World Youth Games in 1996. On completing her secondary education, she entered college in the USA. It was here that her serious training began. At the age of 18, she was selected for the Jamaican team at the Olympic Games in Sydney. The women’s relay team won silver, and Campbell-Brown became the youngest Jamaican woman ever to win an Olympic medal. In Athens four years later Campbell-Brown made history by becoming the first Jamaican woman to win an Olympic gold medal. Over the next four years she won a clutch of
‘Heart of Gold’ is a biography . A biography is an account of a person’s life. It includes facts about this person and can also include the writer’s opinion.
1 Where did Veronica Campbell-Brown spend her early years? 2 What difficulties did she face when she was small? 3 How did her life change when she went to Vere College?
4 How old was Campbell-Brown when she won her first Olympic medal? 5 Explain in your own words the meaning of the expression made history . 6 What was the general feeling when Campbell-Brown was selected to carry the Jamaican flag in the Beijing Olympics? a) Most people agreed with the choice. b) Everyone was in favour of the decision. c) Some people felt she did not deserve the honour. 7 How does Campbell-Brown use her position as United Nations Goodwill Ambassador to help girls? 8 Why do you think the writer describes her as a shining example?
• Ask students whether this text is fact or fiction . How do they know that? Elicit examples of factual and fictional texts students have read. • Writer’s point of view (question10): Help students read between the lines to deduce how the writer feels about his or her subject. Students should always be able to support their views with evidence from the text. 9 What do you think is Veronica Campbell-Brown’s greatest achievement? Why? 10 What opinion do you think the writer has of Veronica Campbell-Brown? Provide evidence from the text to support your answer.
35
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog