Tom Sietas
When people first see Tom Sietas, they don't usually notice anything special. He's not very
tall and he's not particularly 5 well-built But those factors help Tom to do something
incredible Tom has the world record for 'static apnea In other words, Tom can hold his breath 10 underwater, without moving
for just over 22 minutes! He only discovered his ability by accident when he went diving
in Jamaica at the age of 18. 15 Because he isn't very big it means that he doesn't need
to get a lot of oxygen to his muscles. And it helps that his lungs are 20% larger than is usual for his height and build But it isn't only a question of his body. His personality
plays a big part in his success, too. Thought processes 20 use a lot of oxygen. So it's important that Tom is calm and patient. Luckily, he rarely gets nervous in the water.
In fact, Tom is so calm that he occasionally falls asleep underwater!
Obviously he always trains very carefully to
prepare for a new record because what he does is highly 25 dangerous. We're waiting this year to see what he does next. Are we expecting another record attempt? Definitely!
Judit Polgar
People are always saying that geniuses are bom, not made I want to prove that it is not trust This was the session of a Hungarian teacher called László Polgár. To prove that he could 30 make someone a genius he took his three daughters out of school and started to teach them a specialist subject-chess One of the three, Judit, is now the greatest female chess player of all time and the only woman so far to be in the world top 10 László himself wasn't a great chess player, but he was a
35 clever teacher At first, Judit's sisters were better than her, but she gradually became more serious about playing At first
she played just ten minutes a day. When she was 12, it had increased to ten hours. At 15 she was the youngest grandmaster ever. To win at chess, you need to be confident, hard-working 40 and a little bit selfish. Judit's
wins include victories against 10 male world champions including Kasparov and Karpov
Thanks to Judit, little by little 45 people are starting to pay more attention to women chess players. She now has children of her own but she isn't teaching them in the same way as her 50 father. Her children don't play
chess for hours every day. They only play for fun.
