Twice a Champion Despite Not Speaking the Languages
An American won an international championship twice despite competing in languages he does not speak.
Made history: A 57-year-old from the USA won the World Championship in 'Scrabble' (the international version) for the second time - in Spanish, a language he does not speak at all.
The winner, named Nigel Richards, participated in a tournament held annually in the Spanish city of Granada.
Though he lost a single round, he won the next 24 games, competing against no less than 150 players from 20 countries.
"An embarrassing humiliation," "a sweeping victory," "the height of absurdity" - say the players who lost to Richards, with some seriousness and some irony. Amazingly, the first time he won the championship, it was in another language he does not speak or know: French. It took him 9 weeks to memorize the words for the game. There, by the way, he competed against well-known players in France's Scrabble scene.
