Perseverance Pays Off in African-American Rower's Quest for

 

By Julie Goldberg
 
Aquil Abdullah is set to become the first African-American male rower to compete for the United States at an Olympics. Aquil Abdullah failed to make the 2000 Sydney Olympics team, but this year with rowing partner Henry Nuzum he qualified¹ for the Athens games in the double sculls.

The road to Athens has not been easy for Abdullah, but his perseverance² has paid off. At the 2000 Olympic team trials, he won the first race of a best-of-three final, but got sick and lost the second race, and then lost in the third race by 33-hundredths of a second, denying him a trip to Sydney.

The disappointment helped Abdullah realize that there are more important things in life than rowing. He learned that building relationships with the people he loves are just as important, if not more important than rowing.

"It helped me a little bit to refocus how I live my life in terms of my relationships," he says. "It is very easy to become one-dimensional as an athlete in pursuit³ of a goal like becoming an Olympian, but it really helped me in that process."

He also had to overcome difficulties with his partner pairing. The Abdullah, 31, teamed up with Henry Nuzum in early 2004, but they did not perform up to their expectations. Four days before the National Selection⁴ Regatta in April, they were both looking for different partners. However, they decided⁵ to stick together, won their race and they achieved their goal of qualifying⁷ for Athens.

Aquil Abdullah started rowing in 1992 after a couple of friends asked if he wanted to try the sport and he has participated in it ever since. As a high school football wide receiver, Abdullah received college football scholarship offers, but decided to pursue rowing after George Washington University offered him a rowing scholarship.

Born in Washington, D.C., Abdullah dreamed of competing in the Olympics as a kid, but he never thought it was possible until he was a college rower. He became the first African-American male to win a rowing national championship when he won the single sculls competition in 1996. He was also the first African American to win the Diamond Sculls Challenge Cup at the 2000 Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames in England.

Abdullah has traveled all over the country this year training for the upcoming Olympics. He practiced at the Olympic Training Center for five months in San Diego, California and then returned to his home training town of Princeton, New Jersey⁸ before heading to Boston, Massachusetts.

In his free time he likes to play the saxophone. While preparing for the Olympics, Abdullah spends his downtime reading or surfing the Internet.

After failing to make it to the 2000 Olympics, Abdullah wrote the book "Perfect Balance" about his quest⁹ to make the national team.

He realized while he was writing the book that just because he did not qualify⁶ for the Sydney Olympics, he still had something to prove in the sport of rowing.

"I did not know if I wanted to continue rowing, but during the whole process of working on the book, I realized that it was something that I needed to continue and that the legacy¹⁰ that I wanted to leave in rowing had not quite been completed yet."

Abdullah hopes that qualifying for the Athens Olympics shows others that sports are for everyone and it is something that they can participate in their entire lives.

"I would hope more than anything my accomplishments¹¹ in rowing would help people from all walks of life realize that it is a sport for everyone to try and it is a lifetime sport that you can participate in all your life and hopefully it will just bring people from all walks of life into the sport," he adds.

Abdullah and Nuzum are trying to become the first American rowers to win a double-sculls gold medal since Bradley Lewis and Paul Enquist did so at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Aquil Abdullah is not sure what his agenda¹² will be like after competing at the Athens games. He does plan to back to school and said he might even try being a rowing coach. I'm Parke Brewer¹³, VOA Sports.
注释：
rower 划手
scull 划艇
perseverance 坚定不移
refocus 重调焦距
one-dimensional 一元的
pursuit 追求
stick 继续努力做
participate 参加
Henley Royal Regatta 亨利皇家划船赛
River Thames 泰晤士河
San Diego 圣地亚哥
Princeton 普林斯顿
accomplishment 才能
agenda 日程

 

1 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

2 perseverance   

n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠

参考例句：

• It may take some perseverance to find the right people.要找到合适的人也许需要有点锲而不舍的精神。
• Perseverance leads to success.有恒心就能胜利。

3 pursuit   

n.追赶，追求，职业，工作

参考例句：

• They set off at once along the lane in pursuit.他们立即出发沿着小巷追赶。
• Life,liberty,and the pursuit of happiness have been called the inalienable rights of man.生命、自由和追求幸福被称为人类不可剥夺的权利。

4 selection   

n.选择，挑选，精选品，可选择的东西

参考例句：

• We left the selection of the team to the captain.我们把挑选队员的工作交给了队长。
• The shop has a fine selection of cheeses.那家商店有各种精美乳酪可供选购。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 qualify   

vt.取得资格，有资格，限定，描述；vi.取得资格，有资格

参考例句：

• I won't qualify until next year.我明年才具备资格。
• You must qualify yourself for the post.你必须使自己具备担任这一工作的资格。

7 qualifying   

使具有资格的

参考例句：

• players who fail at the pre-qualifying stage 在预选赛中淘汰掉的选手
• A doctoral candidate is required to pass a qualifying examination. 考博士需通过一个资格考试。

8 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

9 quest   

n.寻求，搜索，追求

参考例句：

• Man will suffer many disappointments in his quest for truth.人类在探索真理过程中必然会遭受挫折。
• His quest for perfection is relentless.他不断追求完美。

10 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

11 accomplishments   

n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就

参考例句：

• It was one of the President's greatest accomplishments. 那是总统最伟大的成就之一。
• Among her accomplishments were sewing,cooking,playing the piano and dancing. 她的才能包括缝纫、烹调、弹钢琴和跳舞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

12 agenda   

n.议事日程，记事册

参考例句：

• We now proceed to the next item on the agenda.我们现在着手讨论下一项议题。
• If there is no objection,the agenda is adopted.如果没有意见，议程就通过了。

13 brewer   

n. 啤酒制造者

参考例句：

• Brewer is a very interesting man. 布鲁尔是一个很有趣的人。
• I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. 我决定辞职，做一名酿酒人。