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On 5 June 1982, a teenage refugee from Vietnam became the first Rubik's Cube world champion. Representing the United States, 16-year-old Minh Thai took on contestants from 18 other countries at the championship in Hungary. He made history by solving the cube in 22.95 seconds. He tells Helen Ledwick about his first encounter with the iconic puzzle, his journey from Los Angeles to Budapest, and a last-minute obstacle that nearly stopped him from taking part. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive and testimony. Sporting Witness is for those fascinated by sporting history. We take you to...
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and you won't be disappointed. But before we do that, a quick note. This episode comes
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Is this episode right for you?
B1 · Intermediate
Fine if you can follow simple news
- 97% of the words are B1 or easier.
- 163 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
- 24 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.
Transcript
The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.
harder words (B2+)
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Hello, I know you've come for the story of the first ever Rubik's Cube World Champion and you won't be disappointed. But before we do that, a quick note. This episode comes from our sister podcast, Sporting Witness, sporting history told by the people who were
there. There are loads of episodes to explore all made by the same team as Witness History. And don't worry, you don't need to know you're offside rule from your elbow to enjoy them. Sporting Witness is about so much more than the final score. Find it wherever you get your BBC podcasts. And now we're going back to 1982 when a global craze inspired
a brand new competition to search for a Rubik's Cube world champion. After 44 years? That's crazy. Can't believe you find me. The first official Rubik's Cube world championship is being held in Budapest, the capital of of Hungary and representing the United States,
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