Category Archive: Sport

On that unfortunate December day in 1984, the life of 17-year-old Frenchwoman Pascale Berkovich hung in the balance. Trying to jump on the departing train, the girl fell under the wheels. Eyewitnesses called an ambulance, and after half an hour Pascale was on the surgical table. Skilled doctors saved her life, but they had to amputate her legs.
The girl had time to think about the terrible tragedy that turned her into a human stump. She thought that if she survived, she could never do her favorite gymnastics. Moreover, she couldn’t go to college anymore. Suddenly the girl realized: everything that she knew so far, what she enjoyed, what she lived for – all that had gone. Merciless steel wheels grinded her legs, turned a healthy flowering girl into a weak invalid. She was horrified to realize that she would spend the rest of her days in a wheelchair. But time passed, and she said to herself: “You must not give up! You must fight for every day, hour, minute. Live with hope and faith!”
The recovery was incredibly difficult for Pascale, but she was strong and brave. In many ways, the move from France to Israel in 1985 helped her. Doctors gave hope. They told her: “You will return to normal life. You will be happy!”
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Basketball is one of the few sports in which there is no dispute who is the greatest player of all time. The answer is the same for everyone – Michael Jordan. The words “Jordan” and “basketball” are synonymous. He was an Olympic champion in 1984, 1992, and NBA champion in 1991-1993, 1996-1998.
Michael Jordan was born on February 17, 1963. Little boy often played baseball and basketball with his father and brothers. However, he wasn’t taken to the school basketball team. After a year of hard training the future legend became a part of the school team. Later the young player received an invitation from the university team of North Carolina, where his family moved from Brooklyn. The debut season was great and he became the best NCAA newcomer. He came, he saw, he conquered was Jordan’s motto.
For the next two seasons, the young star was one of the top five stars of the League. And in the summer of 1984 he decided to participate in the NBA draft, which gave the world such stars as Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley. It’s hard to believe now, but Jordan heard his last name only the third in the list of newcomers. The Chicago Bulls representatives got the lucky ticket, not knowing how lucky they were.
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James Walter Braddock, also known as Jim Braddock, was an American professional boxer, world heavyweight champion. His nickname was Cinderella Man. Braddock, just like the fairy-tale character Cinderella, went from being a poor person to becoming a rich person – although he didn’t marry the handsome prince.
During the 1930s, Jim Braddock became a champion for the common man, a symbol of the fight against poverty, and a hero for millions of Americans who were trapped in a desperate and helpless situation. Just recently Braddock’s story has been turned into a major film starring Russell Crowe.
When the stock market crashed in 1929 and the Depression started millions and millions of Americans lost their jobs, houses, all their savings. There was no food. The whole life came crashing down.
When the Depression started, people reacted in different ways. Some packed up and headed out west to look for work. Others hung around looking for any part-time work they could pick up. Some signed on for government benefits. And others even committed suicide. Braddock, like many others in the same situation, decided that he would never give up.
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Jack Johnson was an American boxer and perhaps the best heavyweight athlete of his generation. He was the first black world champion in 1908-1915 and became infamous for his relationship with white women. From 1902 to 1907, the boxer won more than 50 matches. Johnson’s career was legendary, for 47 years of fighting, he was knocked out only three times, but his life was full of problems. You know, Johnson, while still alive, wasn’t recognized as a champion, and supporters of extremism were constantly looking for “great white hope” to take away his title. They asked heavyweight champion James Jeffrey to fight with Johnson in Reno, Nevada, in 1910. However, their “hope” was defeated in the fifteenth round.
As a boxer, he achieved some of his greatest victories already being close to defeat. Outside the ring, he was attacked by the racists of America, and in response showed his arrogant position and publicly violated racial taboos.
After the end of his boxing career, the great fighter, nicknamed The Galveston Giant, being a cello amateur and violinist, a connoisseur of Harlem nightlife, opened his own Club Deluxe. He died in a car accident near Raleigh, North Carolina, in June 1946.
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Alina Zagitova is a Russian figure skater who performs in women’s singles. She is Olympic champion (2018, Pyeongchang County, South Korea) in personal competitions, silver medalist in team competitions, champion of Europe (2018), the Grand Prix winner (2017), World Champion among juniors (2017), champion of Russia (2018), Honored Master of Sports of Russia (2018). In January 2018, she held the 5th place in the rating of the International Skating Union (ISU).
Alina Il’nazovna Zagitova was born on May 18, 2002 in Izhevsk, Udmurtia, Russia. Her father, Ilnaz Zagitov, is a hockey coach. Alina has a younger sister, who is also engaged in figure skating. The girl’s parents named her after the artistic gymnast Alina Kabaeva. Zagitova gave up figure skating for seven times and returned. In her childhood she was fond of drawing.
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Grover Cleveland Alexander was an icon for his generation of professional baseball players. He was a phenomenal pitcher, who established major-league records, many of which still stand today. During World War I he served as an army sergeant in France. He lived through Prohibition, two marriages and divorces from the same woman, the Great Depression, and ill health due to epilepsy, alcoholism, and cancer.
Grover Cleveland Alexander was born on February 26, 1887 in Elba, Nebraska. He was the youngest of thirteen children (twelve boys and one girl). Baseball was mostly an interesting past time for Alexander until 1909.
Although Alexander worked for a time as a telephone lineman for the Howard Telephone Company, he managed to play on local teams for the fee of five silver dollars. Then he began playing baseball for independent clubs and in 1909 he signed his first contract with the Galesburg Boosters.
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Michael Phelps is a swimming sensation who’s made sports history. Since 2001, he has broken and reestablished several new world records in competitive swimming. His success at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens was amazing (six gold and two bronze medals) and at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing he won eight gold medals!
Michael Fred Phelps II was born on June 30, 1985, in Baltimore, Maryland. He began swimming at a very young age, following in the footsteps of his father Fred. His sister, Hilary, swam for the University of Richmond and his sister, Whitney, swam at the 1996 Olympic Swimming Trials.
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