The Yomiuri Shimbun - A majority of people expect the Nadeshiko Japan women's soccer team
to win a medal at the London Olympic Games scheduled to start on July 27,
according to a recent Yomiuri Shimbun poll.
Following Nadeshiko Japan's victory at the FIFA
Women's World Cup in Germany last summer, 52 percent of respondents picked
women's soccer as the most likely category for Japan to win a medal among
women's events to be held at the Olympics. Respondents were
allowed to pick multiple sports fields in the survey.
Among other women's sports, the marathon was second
most popular with 33 percent, followed by judo with 28 percent and volleyball
with 18 percent.
In men's sports, gymnastics was the top choice among
respondents at 50 percent, followed by judo with 39 percent and swimming with
26 percent. Rounding out the top four was men's soccer with 19 percent.
Seventy-five percent of respondents indicated
they were "interested" in the London Olympics, with 36 percent
saying they were "very much interested." The results were almost
identical to that of a similar February 2008 poll taken before the Beijing
Summer Olympics. At the time, 74 percent of respondents said they were
interested in the Beijing Games.
Of those polled, 72 percent said they support the
idea of Tokyo hosting the 2020 Summer Olympics.
When asked which sports they like to watch,
professional baseball took the top spot for the 18th consecutive year with 47
percent, followed by high school baseball with 33 percent and the ekiden
long-distance relay with 32 percent. Respondents were allowed to pick
multiple sports categories for this question.
The Yomiuri Giants topped the list of favorite
baseball teams for the 21st straight year with 22 percent.
The survey was conducted on Jan. 21 and 22 in a
face-to-face interview format. In the survey, 3,000 eligible voters were
randomly picked at 250 locations around the country. Of these, 1,638, or 55
percent, gave valid answers.
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VOCABULARY
1.
Majority
(n) - most of the people or things in a group
2.
Poll (n)
- the process of finding out what people think about something by asking many
people the same question, or the record of the result
3.
Respondent
(n) - someone who answers questions, especially in a survey
4.
Marathon
(n) - a long race of about 26 miles or 42 kilometres
5.
Indicated
(v) - to show that a particular situation exists, or that something is
likely to be true
6.
Eligible
(adj.) - someone who is eligible for something is able or allowed to do it,
for example because they are the right age
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1.
Talk about the Nadeshiko team in Japan.
2.
If you were asked to vote, which sports would
you choose?
3.
What can you say about Tokyo hosting the
Olympics?
4.
Discuss about the sports and teams that you
like.
