[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。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動的教育，卻一點也不比我更相信雅利安人優異那一套。不過，他看起來倒確實像個優等民族的人，我倆不由得笑起來了。他比我高一英寸，身材修長，肌肉結實，藍藍的眼睛，金黃的頭發，還長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?！澳銥槭裁床辉谔ぐ搴竺鎺子⒋绲牡胤絼澮坏谰€，然后就從那兒起跳呢？你肯定不會犯規，而且足可以跳進決賽。預賽得不到第一又有什么關系呢？明天的才算數?！?/P>

找領悟了他話中的道理，渾身的緊張頓時消失了。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。我通過了預賽，超出資格標準近一英尺。

那天晚上，我到奧運村盧茨·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。我們坐著談了兩個鐘頭－－談田徑運動，談我們自己，談國際局勢，以及許多其他事情。 最后我起身告辭時，我們都發覺彼此己經建立了真正的友誼。盧茨第二天上場要盡力戰勝我。。可我也知道，他想讓我竭盡全力－－哪怕那會意味著我取勝。

結果，盧茨打破了他自己以前的紀錄。這樣一來，他也促使我發揮到了最佳競技狀態。我記得我最后一跳著地那一瞬間——一那刻我創造了26英尺51/16英寸的奧運會紀錄--－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上瞪著我們，盧茨緊緊握著我的手－－而且還不是“內心沮喪、強額為笑”的那種虛情假意的握手。

我當時對盧茨·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成這純金友情的一個鍍層。我這時才意識到，現代奧運會創始人皮埃爾·德·顧拜旦當年心里正是想著盧茨這樣的運動員，才這樣說道：“奧運會重在參與而不在取勝。生命的關鍵在于干得出色而不在于征服?！?/P>