Famous Australians

Cheryl: So Nick, I've never actually been to Australia. Can you tell me about any famous people that live there?

Nick: Well, one famous person, his name is Ian Thorpe.

Cheryl: Ian Thorpe.

Nick: Ian Thorpe. He's a very famous swimmer. He won so many Gold Medals.

Cheryl: Oh, really?

Nick: Mm. In maybe four Olympics. I think he won maybe fourteen to twenty gold medals.

Cheryl: For swimming?

Nick: For swimming yeah. He a free-style swimmer.

Cheryl: I've never actually heard of him. How old is he?

Nick: He's 24 years old I think. 24 or 25. So he's really young.

Cheryl: I see. You guys are really famous for athletics.

Nick: Athletics, yeah. There's another famous person by the name of Cathy Freeman.

Cheryl: Cathy Freeman.

Nick: She's the first aboriginal Australian to win a gold medal.

Cheryl: Ah, aboriginal Australian.

Nick: Yeah, so native Australian.

Cheryl: What did she win a gold medal in?

Nick: In the 400 meters sprint.

Cheryl: Oh, the sprint, so she's a runner.

Nick: Yeah, she's a runner, so yeah, she'd been doing it for for years and years, but finally she had that big break-through and did very well.

Cheryl: Is she the first aboriginal woman to win something, or is she is she the first aboriginal period?

Nick: Well, many aboriginal have won events but never really at a world stage so it was really impressive to see her win the even and then she took the aboriginal flag onto the ground and did a lap of honor for the aboriginal Australians.

Cheryl: Very nice. What year was that?

Nick: That was the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

Cheryl: Ah, perfect.

Nick: So in Australia so it was really, really a special moment.

Cheryl: Very special since it was held in her own land.

Nick: Yeah, exactly and Sydney's a very important place for aboriginals as well.

Cheryl: Why is that?

Nick: Because that's where the first fleet arrived from England was to Sydney, so that was the first, I suppose, invasion of Australia came through Sydney, so.

Cheryl: Oh, yeah, I remember seeing that in the movie "Australia".

Nick: Oh, yeah, you would have too. It was in Australia so.

Cheryl: Yeah, I guess other country's also have aborigines people. I'm thinking of Taiwan and another island not too far from Australia. Well, I think Taiwan have the aborigines. One really famous aborigines there is Ah Mae. She is a very famous singer. She's been called the Diva of Asia because of her voice. She has a really, really, really talented vocal range. Really high and really low. And she was famous also for being native Taiwanese. The aboriginal Taiwanese.