My Greatest Olympic Prize

    我最珍貴的奧林匹克獎(jiǎng)

    [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。奧林匹克運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)在柏林舉行。由于阿道夫。希特勒幼稚地堅(jiān)持他的選手是“優(yōu)等民族”的成員，民族主義情緒空前高漲。

    我對(duì)這一切并不太擔(dān)心。六年來，我心里想著這次奧運(yùn)會(huì)，一直在堅(jiān)持刻苦訓(xùn)練，從嚴(yán)要求自己。我乘船來時(shí)，就一心想帶一兩塊金牌回家。我特別想在急行跳遠(yuǎn)項(xiàng)目上奪取金牌。一年前，我在俄亥俄州上大學(xué)二年級(jí)時(shí)，就創(chuàng)下了26英尺81/4英寸的世界紀(jì)錄。幾乎所有的人都認(rèn)為我會(huì)贏得這項(xiàng)賽事。

    然而，事情出乎我的意料。到了急行跳遠(yuǎn)預(yù)選賽時(shí)，我吃驚地看見一個(gè)高個(gè)兒小伙子試跳時(shí)就落在了沙坑將近26英尺的地方！原來他是個(gè)德國(guó)人，名叫盧茨。隆格。有人告訴我，希特勒就希望靠他來獲得跳遠(yuǎn)冠軍。

    我心想，如果隆格獲勝，那勢(shì)必給納粹的“優(yōu)等民族”（雅利安人優(yōu)異）論調(diào)增加新的佐證。畢竟，我是個(gè)黑人。我很氣個(gè)過希特勒的那一套，決心顯一顯身手，著實(shí)讓“元首大人”和他的優(yōu)等民族看看誰優(yōu)誰劣。

    任何一個(gè)教練員都會(huì)對(duì)你說。運(yùn)動(dòng)員一生氣就會(huì)犯錯(cuò)誤。我也不例外。預(yù)賽三跳中的第一跳，我踏過起跳板幾英寸犯了現(xiàn)。第二跳時(shí)，則犯規(guī)更嚴(yán)重。“難道我從3000英里外跑到這兒就為了這個(gè)結(jié)局？”我痛苦地想道，“為了在預(yù)賽里就犯規(guī)出局丟自己的丑嗎？” 我從沙坑里走出幾碼遠(yuǎn)，氣憤地踢著沙土。忽然，我感到有一只手搭在我的肩膀上。我轉(zhuǎn)過臉去，瞧見了那個(gè)高個(gè)子德國(guó)跳遠(yuǎn)運(yùn)動(dòng)員一雙友好的藍(lán)眼睛。他頭一跳就輕松地取得了決賽資格。他主動(dòng)用力地握了握我的手。 “杰西。歐文斯，我叫盧茨。隆格。我想我們以前沒見過面。”他英語說得不錯(cuò)，盡管帶一點(diǎn)德國(guó)味兒。

    “認(rèn)識(shí)你很高興，”我說。隨后，我竭力想掩飾自已的不安，便又說道：“你怎么樣？”

    “我很好。問題是：你怎么樣？”

    “你的意思是？”我問道。

    “一定有什么困擾著你，”他說——顯得很得意，外國(guó)人掌握了一點(diǎn)美國(guó)俚語都會(huì)這樣。“你就是閉著眼睛也能進(jìn)入決賽。” “相信我，這我知道，”我對(duì)他說——能跟別人說這話，心里覺得好受些。

    [8] For the next few minutes we talked together. I didn't tell Long what was "eating" me， but he seemed to understand my anger， and he took pains to reassure me. Although he'd been schooled in the Nazi youth movement， he didn't believe in the Aryan-supremacy business any more than I did. We laughed over the fact that he really looked the part， though. An inch taller than I， he had a lean， muscular frame， clear blue eyes， blond hair and a strikingly handsome face. Finally， seeing that I had calmed down somewhat， he pointed to the take-off board.

    [9] "Look，" he said. "Why don't you draw a line a few inches behind the board and aim at making your take-off from there？ You'll be sure not to foul， and you certainly ought to jump far enough to qualify. What does it matter if you're not first in the trials？ Tomorrow is what counts."

    [101 Suddenly all the tension seemed to leave my body as the truth of what he said hit me. Confidently， I drew a line a full foot behind the hoard and proceeded to jump from there. I qualified with almost a foot to spare.

    [11] That night I walked over to Luz Long's room in the Olympic village to thank him. I knew that if it hadn't been for him I probably wouldn't be jumping in the finals the following day. We sat and talked for two hours——about track and field， ourselves， the world situation， a dozen other things.

    [12] When I finally got up to leave， we both knew that a real friendship had been formed. Luz would go out to the field the next day trying to beat me if he could. But I knew that he wanted me to do my best——even if that meant my winning.

    [13] As it turned out， Luz broke his own past record. In doing so， he pushed me on to a peak performance. I remember that at the instant I landed from my final jump——the one which set the Olympic record of 26 feet 5 1/16 inches——he was at my side， congratulating me. Despite the fact that Hitler glared at us from the stands not a hundred yards away， Luz shook my hand had——and it wasn't a fake "smile with a broken heart" sort of grip， either.

    [14]All the gold medals and cups I have wouldn't make a plating on the 24-carat friendship I felt for Luz Long at the moment. I realized then that Luz was just what Pierre de Coubertin， founder of the modern Games， must have had in his mind when he said， "The important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part. The essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well."

    然后我們交談了一會(huì)。我沒有告訴隆格是什么在“困擾”找，但他卻好像知道我心里有氣，便竭力安慰我。他盡管接受了納粹青年運(yùn)動(dòng)的教育，卻一點(diǎn)也不比我更相信雅利安人優(yōu)異那一套。不過，他看起來倒確實(shí)像個(gè)優(yōu)等民族的人，我倆不由得笑起來了。他比我高一英寸，身材修長(zhǎng)，肌肉結(jié)實(shí)，藍(lán)藍(lán)的眼睛，金黃的頭發(fā)，還長(zhǎng)著一張異常英俊的面孔。后來，他見我有些平靜了，便用手指向踏板。 “看，”他說。“你為什么不在踏板后面幾英寸的地方劃一道線，然后就從那兒起跳呢？你肯定不會(huì)犯規(guī)，而且足可以跳進(jìn)決賽。預(yù)賽得不到第一又有什么關(guān)系呢？明天的才算數(shù)。”

    找領(lǐng)悟了他話中的道理，渾身的緊張頓時(shí)消失了。我滿懷自信，在踏板后方整整一英尺的地方劃了一道線，然后就從那兒起跳。我通過了預(yù)賽，超出資格標(biāo)準(zhǔn)近一英尺。

    那天晚上，我到奧運(yùn)村盧茨。隆格的房間去道謝。我知道，要不是多虧了他，我很可能參加不成第二天的決賽。我們坐著談了兩個(gè)鐘頭——談田徑運(yùn)動(dòng)，談我們自己，談國(guó)際局勢(shì)，以及許多其他事情。 最后我起身告辭時(shí)，我們都發(fā)覺彼此己經(jīng)建立了真正的友誼。盧茨第二天上場(chǎng)要盡力戰(zhàn)勝我……可我也知道，他想讓我竭盡全力——哪怕那會(huì)意味著我取勝。

    結(jié)果，盧茨打破了他自己以前的紀(jì)錄。這樣一來，他也促使我發(fā)揮到了最佳競(jìng)技狀態(tài)。我記得我最后一跳著地那一瞬間——一那刻我創(chuàng)造了26英尺51/16英寸的奧運(yùn)會(huì)紀(jì)錄——－他來到我旁邊，向我祝賀。盡管希特勒就在不足一百碼以外的看臺(tái)上瞪著我們，盧茨緊緊握著我的手——而且還不是“內(nèi)心沮喪、強(qiáng)額為笑”的那種虛情假意的握手。

    我當(dāng)時(shí)對(duì)盧茨。隆格感受到的是24K純金般的友誼，我所獲得的所有金牌、所有金杯都不足以構(gòu)成這純金友情的一個(gè)鍍層。我這時(shí)才意識(shí)到，現(xiàn)代奧運(yùn)會(huì)創(chuàng)始人皮埃爾。德。顧拜旦當(dāng)年心里正是想著盧茨這樣的運(yùn)動(dòng)員，才這樣說道：“奧運(yùn)會(huì)重在參與而不在取勝。生命的關(guān)鍵在于干得出色而不在于征服。”