Muhammad Ali, Cassius Clay, boxing, Olympic Games, world champion, segregation, Vietnam War, Parkinson disease, Presidential Medal of Freedom
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Abstract
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Abstract
Discover the life and career of Muhammad Ali, the legendary boxer who won a gold medal at the Olympic Games and became a world champion.
Extract
[...] He had an unusual boxing style. He said he floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee. That is to say, he was quick and powerful. He refused to go to war in Vietnam in 1967 (nineteen sixty-seven) because of his religion. He came back to boxing in the 1970's (nineteen seventies) but he wasn't as successful as before. He decided to retire in 1981 (nineteen eighty-one). Because of years of boxing and Parkinson disease, his health declined. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 (two thousand and five), the equivalent of the French Legion d'Honneur. [...]
[...] He had a brother. His father painted advertisement on signs and his mother worked as a domestic. He grew up during segregation in the south of the USA. Segregation was a time in American history when black people were separated from white people. They didn't have the same school and didn't take the same buses. Sports career He started boxing when he was 12 (twelve) and won a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Rome at only 18 (eighteen).He then became a professional boxer. [...]
