my greatest olympic prize
我最珍贵的奥林匹克奖
[1]it was the summer of 1936. the olympic games were being held in berlin. because adolf hitler childishly insisted that his performers were members of a "master race," nationalistic feelings were at an all-time high.
[2] i wasn't too worried about all this. i'd trained, sweated and disciplined myself for six years, with the games in mind. while i was going over on the boat, all i could think about was taking home one or two of those gold medals. i had my eyes especially on the running broad jump. a year before, as a sophomore at the ohio state, i'd set the world's record of 26 feet 8 1/4 inches. nearly everyone expected me to win this event.
[3] i was in for a surprise. when the time came for the broad-jump trials, i was startled to see a tall boy hitting the pit at almost 26 feet on his practice leaps! he turned out to be a german named luz long. i was told that hitler hoped to win the jump with him.
[4] i guessed that if long won, it would add some new support to the nazis' "master race" (aryansuperiority) theory. after all, i am a negro. angry about hitler's ways, i determined to go out there and really show der fuhrer and his master race who was superior and who wasn't.
[5] an angry athlete is an athlete who will make mistakes, as any coach will tell you. i was no exception. on the first of my three qualifying jumps, i leaped from several inches beyond the takeoff board for a foul. on the second jump, i fouled even worse. "did i come 3,000 miles for this?" i thought bitterly. "to foul out of the trials and make a fool of myself?"
[6] walking a few yards from the pit, i kicked disgustedly at the dirt. suddenly i felt a hand on my shoulder. i turned to look into the friendly blue eyes of the tall german broad jumper. he had easily qualified for the finals on his first attempt. he offered me a firm handshake.
[7] "jesse owens, i'm luz long. i don't think we've met." he spoke english well, though with a german twist to it.
"glad to meet you," i said. then, trying to hide my nervousness, i added, "how are you?"
"i'm fine. the question is: how are you?"
"what do you mean?" i asked.
"something must be eating you," he said--proud the way foreigners are when they've mastered a bit of american slang. "you should be able to qualify with your eyes closed."
"believe me, i know it," i told him--and it felt good to say that to someone.
1936年夏天。奥林匹克运动会在柏林举行。由于阿道夫·希特勒幼稚地坚持他的选手是“优等民族”的成员，民族主义情绪空前高涨。
我对这一切并不太担心。六年来，我心里想着这次奥运会，一直在坚持刻苦训练，从严要求自己。我乘船来时，就一心想带一两块金牌回家。我特别想在急行跳远项目上夺取金牌。一年前，我在俄亥俄州上大学二年级时，就创下了26英尺81/4英寸的世界纪录。几乎所有的人都认为我会赢得这项赛事。
然而，事情出乎我的意料。到了急行跳远预选赛时，我吃惊地看见一个高个儿小伙子试跳时就落在了沙坑将近26英尺的地方!原来他是个德国人，名叫卢茨·隆格。有人告诉我，希特勒就希望靠他来获得跳远冠军。
我心想，如果隆格获胜，那势必给纳粹的“优等民族”(雅利安人优异)论调增加新的佐证。毕竟，我是个黑人。我很气个过希特勒的那一套，决心显一显身手，着实让“元首大人”和他的优等民族看看谁优谁劣。
任何一个教练员都会对你说.运动员一生气就会犯错误。我也不例外。预赛三跳中的第一跳，我踏过起跳板几英寸犯了现。第二跳时，则犯规更严重。“难道我从3000英里外跑到这儿就为了这个结局?”我痛苦地想道，“为了在预赛里就犯规出局丢自己的丑吗?” 我从沙坑里走出几码远，气愤地踢着沙土。忽然，我感到有一只手搭在我的肩膀上。我转过脸去，瞧见了那个高个子德国跳远运动员一双友好的蓝眼睛。他头一跳就轻松地取得了决赛资格。他主动用力地握了握我的手。 “杰西·欧文斯，我叫卢茨·隆格。我想我们以前没见过面。”他英语说得不错，尽管带一点德国味儿。
“认识你很高兴，”我说。随后，我竭力想掩饰自已的不安，便又说道：“你怎么样?”
“我很好。问题是：你怎么样?”
“你的意思是?”我问道。
“一定有什么困扰着你，”他说——显得很得意，外国人掌握了一点美国俚语都会这样。“你就是闭着眼睛也能进入决赛。” “相信我，这我知道，”我对他说--能跟别人说这话，心里觉得好受些。