my greatest olympic prize
我最珍贵的奥林匹克奖


[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.