The Cursed Cupid

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Activity 3

A. Michael Phelps and Zheng Tao are both great swimmers in their own field. Michael Phelps’ signature move is the butterfly while Zheng Tao won using his won technique of changing dolphin to butterfly strokes with his body.

B.

Paralympic and Olympic Games are one of the most anticipated sports event in the whole world with different representatives of each countries competing for the 1st prize and taking world records. Zheng Tao and Michael Phelps are both swimming legends in these said competition, with Zheng Tao winning five times in Paralympics and Michael Phelps winning a total of 28 Olympic medals.

Both Zheng Tao and Michael Phelps are said to have difficulties in the video at that time. Zheng Tao suffered lower back injury on 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio De Janeiro but still broke a world record which he set by himself before. While Michael Phelps swam blind after having an injury before the competition but still won another gold medal for his Olympic medal collections. These things just proved that everything can be achieved even if there’s some problems who wants to stop you. Their dream is to become the best in swimming in their field which they become.

Swimming is a difficult sport. It isn’t like basketball, volleyball or football which you may have your team to help you. This sport could only be done by yourself where you compete with other individuals. Athletes also needs to defy gravity with their speed in swimming in water. Michael Phelps and Zheng Tao’s achievements only proved that everything is not hard if you want to achieve it.

Activity 4

A. Filipinos could become a world champion themselves if they train hard enough to achieve it. As our country is being surrounded by water, there are many ways to hone the athletes' skills in swimming.

B. I think Filipinos have. But since the Philippines aren’t hyping the Olympics or any sports events like how the other countries are doing, many people already lose their interest in swimming.

C. The standard Olympic swimming pool is made for the swimmers and the athletes. By this, their standard measurements exceeds those in the residential pools.

D. The athletes skill levels are more prominent than the regular swimmers who only swim because it’s their hobby. Swimmers are professional and trains regularly to maintain their strength and speed.

E. Just like what stated before, because of the training, the movements of the arms, legs and body, exceeds those who only swim for leisure. Their movements are precise and calculated to compete for the gold medal.

Activity 5

Paralympics and Olympics are both recognized by the world as the most anticipated sports event. With many athletes who seek for recognition and success, there are still people who stand out among them, becoming a sports legends we know today.

For Olympics, we had the most medaled Olympian in the history. Accumulating 28 Olympic medals in which 26 are gold before his retirement in 2016, Michael Phelps is one of the legends who inspired many swimmers in sports industry. Next is Mark Spitz who had the world record of most medal gained in a sports event but was later broken by Michael Phelps after 36 years. Celeb Dressel is also one of the biggest names in swimming in which by far he won 7 gold medals and never lost in a single match. Katie Ledecky is known to be the greatest female swimmer of all time with his 7 Olympic gold medals and breaking many world records. Lastly for this list, we have Ryan Lochte who is also known to be the most decorated swimmer according to the number of medals won, only second to Michael Phelps.

For the Paralympics games, first on the list is Maksym Veraksa, also known as the world’s fastest paralympic swimmer having a world record of 22.99 seconds in men’s 50m freestyle S12. Itzhak Mamistvalov was diagnosed to have cerebral palsy in which made him use only his right hand in swimming. However, he still won 4 Paralympic medals despite this difficulty. Sara Carracales Garcia also has cerebral palsy but still accumulated 10 Paralympic medals. Next on the list we have Zheng Tao who also known to be the “armless swimmer”, winning 9 medals in his Paralympic career. Lastly, Béatrice Hess is regarded as one of the best swimmers in the world, having 25 Paralympics medals.

Activity 6

Paralympics is a counterpart of Olympics in which the athletes are affected by some form of physical or intellectual disabilities and Zheng Tao is one of them. His arm was lost since he was a child due to an electric shock. Zheng Tao is a representative of China for the said competition. He is a disabled person in which he is famously known as the “armless swimmer”. But even if he is disabled, he still doesn’t stop in achieving his goals in life.

Some of the challenges he met on Paralympics are the injuries he needs to endure for the competition. Just like what happened in the 2016 Summer Paralympics, he suffered from a lower back injury before the game but still he won the gold medal. The first challenge he met just right after participating in Paralympics is the high expectations of the people surround him and also the criticism of some people. Many athletes encountered this criticisms as being an athlete isn’t a clear profession like being a doctor or engineer. But those criticism just made Zheng Tao and the other athletes stronger and better.

On the next competition, he then caught a stomach flu and this affected his endurance and strength and so, he lost to his fellow teammate, Xu Qing but he still wom the silver medal.

Activity 7

Michael Fred Phelps is the most be medaled Olympian of all time in which he won a total of 28 medals. He is also known to be the greatest swimmer of all time as he broke many world records.

In his early life, before he started his swimming career, he is the youngest child in his family. At the age of 9, his parents got divorced in which largely affected his and his siblings. In the next year, he was diagnosed to have an ADHD. In this year, he also began to train and compete in different swimming competitions in which he proudly won.

On his first Olympic game in the year 2000, he catch the attention of many as he is the youngest male athlete who qualified in the US Swim Team. However, at this time, he haven’t got his first medal yet but he still finished fifth in the finals.

In 2001 World Championship, he broke a world record and set another one as the youngest male athlete to set a world record in swimming. He also won his first ever gold medal in the world championships. This is the start of his bright career in swimming.

By 2016, he announced his retirement in the sports scene but his achievements will still be upheld by those he inspired.