Zoi wins Olympic Silver

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New Zealand has won its third medal at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics after Zoi Sadowski-Synnott took silver in the women’s snowboard slopestyle final.

The 24-year-old finished second behind Japan’s Mari Fukada, and her medal made Olympic history. With this result, Sadowski-Synnott now has five Olympic medals, more than any snowboarder has ever won.

She was not in the medal spots before the final run, so she needed something special to climb the leaderboard. When it mattered most, she landed a strong last run and earned a big score that pushed her into second place. After learning about her new record, she said it felt “pretty insane”.

This silver also adds to her success at these Games, where she has already won silver in big air. Her earlier Olympic medals include a big air bronze in 2018 and a big air silver in 2022. In Beijing in 2022, she became the first New Zealander to win a gold medal at a Winter Olympics when she won the women’s slopestyle.

Two New Zealand fans in Italy said they were “absolutely ecstatic” after her win. They added that they could not be prouder of Zoi and said she represents New Zealand brilliantly.

How did this story make you feel?

SMART Prep | Quick Question 211189

Many communities in New Zealand use recycling centres to reduce waste. At these centres, people can drop off items such as glass, paper, cans, and certain plastics. The materials are sorted and sent to different places so they can be used again. Recycling does not solve every environmental problem, but it can lower the amount of rubbish going to landfill. It also encourages people to think carefully about what they throw away. For recycling to work well, households need to separate items correctly before taking them to the centre.

Which sentence would best fit at the end of the passage?

  

Did You Know?

How many Olympic medals has Zoi Sadowski-Synnott won?
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has won five Olympic medals, the most for any snowboarder!

Vocabulary

Click on the words in the article. See if you can find them all.
  • medal A piece of metal given as an award. She won a gold medal for her amazing performance.
  • slopestyle A type of snowboarding competition with obstacles. In slopestyle, snowboarders perform tricks on jumps and rails.
  • ecstatic Very happy or excited. The fans were ecstatic when Zoi won her medal.
  • Thinking Question

    What do you think it takes to be a champion like Zoi?

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