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My Greatest Olympic Prize
我最珍貴的奧林匹克獎
[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。奧林匹克運動會在柏林舉行。由于阿道夫·希特勒幼稚地堅持他的選手是“優等民族”的成員，民族主義情緒空前高漲。
我對這一切并不太擔心。六年來，我心里想著這次奧運會，一直在堅持刻苦訓練，從嚴要求自己。我乘船來時，就一心想帶一兩塊金牌回家。我特別想在急行跳遠項目上奪取金牌。一年前，我在俄亥俄州上大學二年級時，就創下了26英尺81/4英寸的世界紀錄。幾乎所有的人都認為我會贏得這項賽事。
然而，事情出乎我的意料。到了急行跳遠預選賽時，我吃驚地看見一個高個兒小伙子試跳時就落在了沙坑將近26英尺的地方！原來他是個德國人，名叫盧茨·隆格。有人告訴我，希特勒就希望靠他來獲得跳遠冠軍。
我心想，如果隆格獲勝，那勢必給納粹的“優等民族“（雅利安人優異）論調增加新的佐證。畢竟，我是個黑人。我很氣個過希特勒的那一套，決心顯一顯身手，著實讓“元首大人”和他的優等民族看看誰優誰劣。
任何一個教練員都會對你說．運動員一生氣就會犯錯誤。我也不例外。預賽三跳中的第一跳，我踏過起跳板幾英寸犯了現。第二跳時，則犯規更嚴重?！半y道我從3000英里外跑到這兒就為了這個結局？”我痛苦地想道，“為了在預賽里就犯規出局丟自己的丑嗎？” 我從沙坑里走出幾碼遠，氣憤地踢著沙土。忽然，我感到有一只手搭在我的肩膀上。我轉過臉去，瞧見了那個高個子德國跳遠運動員一雙友好的藍眼睛。他頭一跳就輕松地取得了決賽資格。他主動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?！彼⒄Z說得不錯，盡管帶一點德國味兒。
“認識你很高興，”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，外國人掌握了一點美國俚語都會這樣。“你就是閉著眼睛也能進入決賽。” “相信我，這我知道，”我對他說－－能跟別人說這話，心里覺得好受些。
