South African Olympic High Jumper 'Reaches

By Parke Brewer¹

South African Hestrie Cloete has won the last two women's high jump titles at the World Athletics² Championships. Now she is looking for gold in the Olympics.
The 1.85 meter-tall Hestrie Cloete says she enjoys competing in the high jump because she likes to reach for the clouds. She has an unorthodox motion³ as she approaches the bar, which has been dubbed⁴ the flying bird.
"It happened to me as a kid. When I started jumping, I was doing the swinging arms. Since then I've never stopped. And me and my coach tried to stop it once and then I just stopped in the front of the bar. So for me it's working. I don't care if it looks pretty."
The 25-year-old Cloete admits she has a worse habit that athletes in endurance⁵ events could never have - she smokes cigarettes.
"Well, I'm jumping with my legs, not with my lungs."
Cloete says her husband does not like her habit, but she says she began smoking almost 10 years ago and has not been able to give it up. But she said she will probably stop when she decides to start a family.
Cloete celebrates her 26th birthday on the opening day of qualifying⁷ for the women's high jump.
"I will just wake up and imagine that it's not my birthday, and just let it go by until after the qualifying rounds. And then I will come back [to my room in the Olympic Village] and switch on my phones and see who actually wanted to say Happy Birthday to me."
Hestrie Cloete says when she's not out training she mostly stays in her room at the Athletes Village, reading romance⁸ novels, listening to gospel music and focusing on her event. She knows the favorites don't always win field events like the high jump.
"I think the 12 that will be in the final, for sure, each one of them will fight for the gold. I can not really mention one of them because the high jump is really like, up and down, up and down, for the last two, three years [with different winners]. On a day, anybody can take it."
The defending Olympic champion, Yelena Yelesina did not qualify⁶ for the Russian team, but the two Russians here in Athens - Yelena Slesarenko and Anna Chicherova are strong contenders. Cloete and Slesarenko have both jumped 2.04 meters this season.
Cloete, the silver medalist at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, has confidence that she will have a good performance.
"I think I've been on top of the world, and I've been working for the Olympics for four years now. And if I look back on my four years, it went really well from Sydney on. It was two golds in the world championships, it was a Commonwealth⁹ [Games] gold, it was an Africa gold. So I think the only gold that short in my collection is the Olympic gold."
After winning her first high jump World Championship in 2001 in Edmonton, Canada, Hestrie Cloete said she would retire after the 2004 Olympics. But she told reporters here that she has reconsidered and she will likely continue on, whether or not she wins in Athens. But with a husband who had to stay home in South Africa to work - as he has for much of her career - a win would likely make her decision easier.
Parke Brewer, VOA Sports in Athens.
注释：
unorthodox 非正统的
gospel 福音
contender 竞争者

1 brewer   

n. 啤酒制造者

参考例句：

• Brewer is a very interesting man. 布鲁尔是一个很有趣的人。
• I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. 我决定辞职，做一名酿酒人。

2 athletics   

n.运动，体育，田径运动

参考例句：

• When I was at school I was always hopeless at athletics.我上学的时候体育十分糟糕。
• Our team tied with theirs in athletics.在田径比赛中，我们队与他们队旗鼓相当。

3 motion   

n.打手势，示意，移动，动作，提议，大便；v.运动，向...打手势，示意

参考例句：

• She could feel the rolling motion of the ship under her feet.她能感觉到脚下船在晃动。
• Don't open the door while the train is in motion.列车运行时，请勿打开车门。

4 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 endurance   

n.耐久力，忍耐力，耐久的时期，持续的时间

参考例句：

• She reached the end of endurance.她到了忍受的极限。
• The exercise obviously will improve strength and endurance.这种锻炼会明显改善体力增加耐力。

6 qualify   

vt.取得资格，有资格，限定，描述；vi.取得资格，有资格

参考例句：

• I won't qualify until next year.我明年才具备资格。
• You must qualify yourself for the post.你必须使自己具备担任这一工作的资格。

7 qualifying   

使具有资格的

参考例句：

• players who fail at the pre-qualifying stage 在预选赛中淘汰掉的选手
• A doctoral candidate is required to pass a qualifying examination. 考博士需通过一个资格考试。

8 romance   

n.恋爱关系，浪漫气氛，爱情小说，传奇

参考例句：

• She wrote a romance about an artist's life in Tokyo.她写了一个关于一位艺术家在东京生活的浪漫故事。
• They tried to rekindle the flames of romance.他们试图重燃爱火。

9 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。