PBS高端访谈:奥运会史上又一非常时刻

JUDY WOODRUFF: Olympic history of a very different sort was made today, when Japan and the International Olympic Committee decided¹ to postpone² this summer's Games to 2021. John Yang looks at what drove that decision and the ramifications³.

JOHN YANG: Judy, today's decision affects thousands of athletes around the world, and creates huge logistical headaches for organizers. Christine Brennan of USA Today has covered every Olympics Games, both Summer and Winter, since 1984. She joins us by Skype from Washington, D.C. Christine, how much of this decision was driven by the athletes' own concerns about their own health and welfare?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, USA Today: John, all of it. This was stunning⁴. When leaders don't lead, the athletes fill the void. And the International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach, is actually a former athlete, former Olympic gold medalist. One would have thought he would have understood the magnitude of the athletes' problems. He didn't. He sat in his ivory tower and kept saying, we're not talking about postponement⁵. We're not talking about cancellation⁶. The athletes took over. They started talking. I interviewed some, others did around the world. And their voices were heard. They couldn't train. Or, if they could train, if they could go and swim or run or whatever, they wondered if they were being good citizens, not just Americans, but athletes around the world. Shouldn't they be sheltering in place? Why are they out, and no one else is? Everything's being closed down upon them, yet they're trying to train for the most important event of their life just four months away. The athletes drove this decision. It wasn't about July 24, the opening ceremonies date. It was about right now. And the here and now really won the day, and the athletes' voices ended up being the voices that we listened to.

JOHN YANG: You say that this competition, for many of these athletes, are...for all of them, really, was the most...going to be the most important moment of their lives. Does this, for them, some of them, mean that their chances of medaling ever are diminished?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Yes, there are athletes who were who were targeting 2020, and that knew that, once July or August of 2020 was over, that their career was over. Some of them will stick around. I have talked to some already who say, absolutely, especially if it's a spring Olympics. We don't know yet. But if it's the spring of 2021, that's obviously less time than the summer. That's going to knock out some of the big names or the older athletes who were going to hang around for another four years, in this case, from 2016 to 2020. That's gone. And even though that might sound like a short period of time, for these athletes, elite⁷ athletes, at the peak of their game, where one fingernail is the difference between first and fourth place in a swimming pool, that's enough to probably end some careers.

JOHN YANG: And some of these athletes have delayed college, delayed careers to train?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Oh, they have. And for every one who makes a lot of money, like Michael Phelps, or Katie Ledecky, or Simone Biles, there are those who are just scraping by. And this has been their dream and their hope.

JOHN YANG: Give us some historical perspective. Have the Olympic Games ever been disrupted in this sort of way?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: This is unprecedented⁸, John. Never before have we seen anything like this. There have been cancellations, World War I and World War II, but that's it. Other than that, there have been boycotts⁹, and those were political in nature. The 1976, 1980, and 1984 Summer Olympics were affected¹⁰ by boycotts. But those Games went on as planned. So, the idea of a postponement is something the likes of which we have never seen, which is why the undertaking¹¹ is so dramatic for the athletes and also for the Tokyo organizers.

JOHN YANG: For the Tokyo organizers, how easy is it to just move this a year? Are there worries about venues¹² being available, hotel rooms being available, other competitions interfering¹³?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: All of the above. It's not like postponing¹⁴ an NBA season or an NHL season or stopping something, even the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments. This is the biggest regularly scheduled event and gathering¹⁵ of the world, the Olympic Games. And so, yes, the hotel rooms, obviously, tickets sold, infrastructure¹⁶. There are 10 venues, John, that are supposed to be temporary, which means, once August 9 happened, and then the Paralympic Games after that, so, into September, they would be moved, taken down, whatever. What's going to happen with those venues? My sense is, civic¹⁷ pride will win the day, and we will see Tokyo rise, just like probably any other big city would, to pull this off.

JOHN YANG: Christine Brennan of USA Today, thank you very much.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: John, my pleasure. Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And thank you to Christine and John.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：今天创下了奥运史上的又一非常历史——日本和国际奥组委（IOC）决定将今年夏天的奥运会推迟至2021年。下面请听我台记者约翰·杨发回的有关该决定和后果。约翰·杨：朱迪，今天的决定影响了世界各地的数千名运动员，让很多组织方也感到了物流方面的巨大难题。《今日美国》的克莉丝汀·布伦南曾担任过自1984年以来每届奥运会的记者，包括夏季奥运会和冬季奥运会。身在华盛顿特区的她通过Skype与我们进行了连线。克里斯汀，这个决定有几分是因为运动员担心自己的健康呢？

克莉丝汀·布伦南，《今日美国》：约翰，就是因为运动员担心自己的健康。这个确实蛮让人吃惊的。当领导人们不牵头做这件事情的时候，运动员自己就扮演了这样的角色。IOC主席托马斯·巴赫之前也曾是运动员，还曾获得过金牌。一般人都会觉得巴赫一定会理解运动员问题的体量。但事实并不是这样。巴赫坐在象牙塔里，一直说着不会讨论推迟举行的话，以及不会取消奥运会的话。于是，运动自己为自己带盐，开始发声。我采访过一些运动员，世界各地都有运动员发声。他们的声音也真地被人们所听到。他们不能训练。或者说，就算他们能训练，就算他们能出去游泳或跑步或怎样，他们想知道自己这样的做法是否是好市民的做法，而不只是美国运动员，是世界各地的运动员。

他们是否应该以闭门不出的方式来自我保护？为什么他们能出去，而其他人却不能出去呢？所有训练场所都关闭了，但他们还在努力为还有4个月的最重要赛事而训练。所以，是运动员促成了这个决定。这与7月24日的开幕式无关，这事关当下。而运动员的坚持取得了成功，人们听取了他们的声音。

约翰·杨：你提到这个比赛对很多运动员甚至对所有运动员来说会是一生中最终的时刻。这个决定对其中一些人来说是否意味着获得奖牌的机会变小了呢？

克莉丝汀·布伦南：是的，有些运动员志在2020，他们知道一旦2020年7月或者8月过去了的话，他们的运动生涯就结束了。有些运动员在这个时间之后还能参赛。我跟一些运动员聊过，他们说如果是春季奥运会的话，还有可能。但我们现在还不知道。但如果是2021年春季的话，时间要明显比夏季更少。奥运会延期的决定会将一些鼎鼎有名的运动员或者一些年纪稍大的运动员排除在名单之外，这些运动员只能参加2016-2020年之间的比赛。现在这个参赛机会就没了。虽然这个时间对这些处于巅峰的精英运动员来说听起来很短。游泳池里，第一名和第四名可能差之毫厘，但这样的差距足以让一些人终结职业生涯。

约翰·杨：有些运动员还推迟了上大学的时间，推迟了训练的职业生涯。

克莉丝汀·布伦南：哦是的。对赚钱多的运动员来说是这样的，比如菲尔普斯、姬蒂·雷德基、西蒙·拜尔斯。还有一些人是勉强度日的。而参加奥运会是他们的梦想和希望。

约翰·杨：可否带我们回顾一下历史——奥运会此前是否被这样打断过呢？

克莉丝汀·布伦南：这一次是史无前例的，约翰。我们之前从未见过这样的阵仗。奥运会确实取消过，那是一战和二战的时候，但之后就没再有过了。除此之外，虽然曾有过抵制行为，但本质上也都是政治手腕。1976、1980、1984年的夏季奥运会受到了抵制的影响，但这几次奥运会还是如期进行了。而这次的推迟是从未出现过的情况，因此，这次的推迟对运动员和东京主办方来说都事关重大。

约翰·杨：对东京主办方来说，将奥运会推迟亿年的话，难度如何呢？人们是否会担心场地是否还能用、旅店是否还有住处、其他比赛是否会干扰呢？

克莉丝汀·布伦南：这些担心都有。这不同于推迟NBA的赛季或者曲棍球联合会的赛季之类的，甚至是全国大学生体育协会的男子篮球和女子篮球锦标赛。奥运会是常规计划中最大型的比赛和盛会。所以，你说的没错，旅店住所、票、基础设施都会受到影响。有10个场地是暂定场地。也就是说，一旦过了8月9日以及之后的残奥会并进入9月，就会被挪走、撤掉之类的。这些场地会怎样呢？我觉得公民的骄傲会占上风，我们会看到东京的士气高涨，会建造出场地，就像世界上其他大城市会做的那样。

约翰·杨：感谢《今日美国》的克莉丝汀·布伦南。

克莉丝汀·布伦南：我的荣幸，谢谢大家。

约翰·杨：谢谢克里斯汀和约翰。

1 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。

2 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

3 ramifications   

n.结果，后果( ramification的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These changes are bound to have widespread social ramifications. 这些变化注定会造成许多难以预料的社会后果。
• What are the ramifications of our decision to join the union? 我们决定加入工会会引起哪些后果呢？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

5 postponement   

n.推迟

参考例句：

• He compounded with his creditors for a postponement of payment. 他与债权人达成协议延期付款。
• Rain caused the postponement of several race-meetings. 几次赛马大会因雨延期。

6 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。

7 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

8 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

9 boycotts   

（对某事物的）抵制( boycott的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Their methods included boycotts and court action, supplemented by'sit-ins". 他们的主要方法包括联合抵制、法庭起诉，还附带进行静坐抗议。
• Are boycotts for other purposes illegal? 至于用于其它目的的联合抵制行动是否也是非法的呢？

10 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

11 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。

12 venues   

n.聚集地点( venue的名词复数 )；会场；（尤指）体育比赛场所；犯罪地点

参考例句：

• The band will be playing at 20 different venues on their UK tour. 这个乐队在英国巡回演出期间将在20个不同的地点演出。
• Farmers market corner, 800 meters long, 60 meters wide livestock trading venues. 农牧市场东北角，有长800米，宽60米的牲畜交易场地。 来自互联网

13 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。

14 postponing   

v.延期，推迟( postpone的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He tried to gain time by postponing his decision. 他想以迟迟不作决定的手段来争取时间。 来自辞典例句
• I don't hold with the idea of postponing further discussion of the matter. 我不赞成推迟进一步讨论这件事的想法。 来自辞典例句

15 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

16 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

17 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。