Sam's Turning Point

Sam was a young child living in “Happy Village”. Sam was poor, Sam’s mother worked hard in the village. His mother used all her money to help Sam to go to school. So, Sam was very hard-working at school. When he took a bath, he needed to go to the river. Sam learned to swim at school, so he always swam in the river when he had a bath.

Sam did not have any friends, because he was very poor. The other children only played with a rich child, Ken. When Sam went to school, he was very good at swimming, so he used all his money to buy swimming trunks. Sam was very happy to have them, so he went to the river everyday. Sam went to the river and swam very fast. A swimming coach saw him and took him to a swimming pool. Sam was very amazed, because it was his first time to go to a swimming pool.

The coach said, “I am a swimmer in the Hong Kong team. I am Tom. If you can swim 50 meters in less than 0.9 seconds, I will make you a swimmer of the Hong Kong team!” Tom thought, “Sam can’t do it this time!” When Sam finished swimming, he checked the time and said, “Sorry, I was very slow, I will be faster!” Tom was very amazed, because Sam finished in 0.874 seconds. Tom apologized to Sam, “Can you join our team?”

Tom used a lot of money to help Sam to be a good swimmer. When Sam was 16 years old, he could swim very fast. He won nine competitions in the swimming gala of his school. Tom was very famous in the school.

Sam went to Beijing to join the Olympics one month later. He joined eight competitions and he won them all. He was the first Hong Kong athlete to win swimming gold medals. When he went back to Hong Kong, many reporters asked him, “How do you feel after winning eight medals?” Sam answered, “I thank my coach, my family and all my fans!”

Sam and his family became rich and his family did not need to work anymore. Tom told Sam, “You can’t be proud, you need to join other competitions! You can have one week to rest!” After Tom left Sam’s big house, Sam went to the river to swim again. Although he moved to another place, he always swam in the river.

When he went to school, many students played with him and he had many friends. The principal said, “Sam is our example. Although he is poor, he is very hard-working!”