| | Words in the News |
INTRO | | Ten years ago the Berlin wall collapsed and with it East Germany as a sporting superpower. BBC correspondent Harry Peart reported. |
 |  | 11 November 1999 Downfall of a sporting superpower |
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NEWS 1 | |  | Listen to the first part of the report |
| | | Soon after the wall was built, the East German Government decided that domination in sport was to be a major propaganda tool. A disproportionate amount of scarce money was poured into elite sporting clubs. Talent-spottersscouredthe land for potential youngsters as young as eight who had the essentials to become future stars. From 1968, when East Germany first appeared as a separate state in the Olympics, until its last outing in 1988, it won more than 500 medals. During the same period, only the Soviet Union and the United States took home more. From BBC correspondent Harry Peart |
WORDS | | domination in sport: being the leading sporting nation propaganda: information often inaccurate or biased used to influence people
propaganda tool: something used to support propaganda scarce: if something is scarce there is not much of it
talent-spotter: in this case a person whose job it is to go round looking for people with natural sporting ability. Also commonly known as a talent-scout
scoured the land: made a thorough searchthroughout the country
essentials: all the necessary requirements |
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| NEWS 2 | | But the breaching of the wall brought the whole sporting structure crashing down. One month afterwards, public resentment forced the Government to withdraw its subsidies to the sports ministry and the sports clubs. There was public backlash against the privileged elite who had a life of relative luxury and received payments for winning medals. |
| WORDS | | breaching: in this case, breaking through the wall
withdraw its subsidies: remove its financial support
backlash:a strong negative public reaction to a situation
privileged elite: in this case a small group which had advantages the general public did not have
relative: in comparison with a specific group; in this case comparing the East German public with the elite sporting stars |
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