Dialogue anglophone

Interview with a sportsperson

- I’m [name] for the BBC news. I’m here today with Michael Jefferey Jordan, known as Michael Jordan, a retired athlete. He’s considered like the best basketball player of all times. Good [morning / afternoon], I’d like to ask you a few questions about your career.

- Of course, go ahead!

- First, when did you start your career?

- I started playing basketball when I was very young but my amateur’s career began in 1981. At that time, I was a student in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and I became the Atlantic Coast Conference's best player of the Year.

- Awesome! And, if I remember correctly, the Atlantic Coast Conference is a group of fifteen universities managing sports competitions in fifteen sports in the eastern United States. So, this means that you were prodigious before you were a basketball champion. But you didn't practise only that sport, did you?

- You know, when you start practising sport, you don’t know which one to choose. That’s why I tried also baseball and American football. In spite of an insufficient size preventing me from playing in the school basketball team, I was very good in this sport. For this reason, I decided to persevere. And the next year, after a little grown up and after shown my talents for basketball, I was finally admitted in the team.

- So, you were better in basketball than in baseball and in American football and that’s why you gave the best of yourself to finally become a champion in this sport. Nevertheless, how can an athlete become an icon? What is the way you have taken to become a legend?

-  First, I have incredible skills for basketball since I am very young. Then, when you are passionate, you train again and again to be able to give the best of yourself, even after a defeat because when you lose, that means you didn’t practise enough. Finally, I receive some awards and medals contributing to fame. That is why, today, I am considered like, as you said, the best basketball player of all times.

- Oh yes, absolutely. I couldn’t agree more. However, when you explained your beginning in basketball, you talked about perseverance. Do you think that perseverance is one of the values of the sport that allows it to bring people together like very few things can do?

-  Yes, I do. Sport is represented by many values, all as important as each other because they define the behaviour of each athlete. That is why, Sport is so important and unique. On top of that even if you don’t practise any sport, you can share those values through a role model, an ideal or a legend.

- I see what you mean. That is interesting. So, we were delighted to welcome you today, thank you for your time, it was a pleasure to talk to you.

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