為什么牙買加人跑得那么快？！

里約田徑賽場上，博爾特再次衛(wèi)冕男子100米和200米冠軍。全世界的觀眾都被牙買加飛人的速度震撼，看看Twitter上驚訝的網(wǎng)友評論。

“博爾特贏下比賽比我發(fā)這條推特還要快！”

“在這種環(huán)境下博爾特怎么能那么輕松？”

“無論哪個國家的觀眾都希望博爾特贏?！?/p>

“眾所周知，在牙買加，博爾特早上10點離開家，上午9:30就到辦公室了?！?/p>

賽后，博爾特在Twitter上表示，將冠軍獻給牙買加同胞。博爾特并非牙買加唯一的短跑巨星。這個只有270萬人口的島國已經(jīng)培育出了眾多的短跑名將。

“飛人博爾特在奧運田徑賽場上展現(xiàn)出了統(tǒng)治級的實力。而他的同胞湯普森也巾幗不讓須眉，包攬了女子100米和200米的金牌。為什么牙買加人在短跑賽場上格外耀眼？

1 奧運賽場上的牙買加人

In the race to decide the fastest man on earth, Usain Bolt was unconcerned when US rival Justin Gatlin stole an early lead.

在世界飛人決戰(zhàn)中，美國選手加特林先發(fā)制人，而博爾特對此毫不在意。

The Olympic final of the men's 100 metres would not seem to afford much time for chipping away, but Bolt reeled in his rival by the halfway mark, overtaking him to become the first man to win the Olympic title three times—and confirm his status as the greatest sprinter in history.

奧運男子100米決賽可不是小打小鬧的地方，但博爾特在半程就確立領先，超越了對手，成為第一位三次加冕奧運冠軍的100米運動員，并鞏固了自己史上最偉大的短跑運動員的地位。

Finishing in 9.81 seconds, Bolt also notched another mark on the 50 fastest 100m times ever recorded.Before Sunday, 29 of those runs belonged to fellow Jamaicans—many from Bolt himself and contemporaries Asafa Powell and Yohan Blake.

9.81秒的成績標志著博爾特再一次進入100米歷史成績前五十。在周日前，前五十的成績中有二十九個都是牙買加人跑出來的——從博爾特自己到同時代的鮑威爾和布萊克。

Women sprinters follow the pattern：most recently, Elaine Thompson picked up gold in the women's 100m in Rio on Saturday.

女子100米比賽如出一轍，幾天前湯普森在周六的女子100米比賽中奪得金牌。

Elaine Thompson followed up her victory in the women's 100m with 200m gold.Thompson held off a stiff challenge from Dafne Shippers of the Netherlands to finish with the season's best time of 21.78 seconds, becoming the first woman to win both sprint titles since Florence Griffith Joyner of Team USA in 1988.

湯普森在奪得女子100米冠軍后又拿走了女子200米的金牌。湯普森抵擋住了荷蘭選手席佩斯的沖擊，以賽季最佳的21秒78奪冠，成為自1998年美國名將喬伊納以來第一位包攬兩個短跑金牌的女子選手。

2 牙買加的短跑秘訣

So why does Jamaica, an island nation of 2.7m, produce athletes that so handily trounce those from the US, a far richer country with a population of around 320m?

為什么牙買加這樣一個270萬人口的島國培養(yǎng)出的選手能夠輕松戰(zhàn)勝美國選手，即便美國要富裕得多，且人口高達約3.2億？

For Bolt, it's the island's unique sporting culture.Sprinters, rather than footballers, are the nation's superstars; the annual schools athletics competition, called “Champs”, is played to packed stadiums and televised.The times set by these juniors can trump those of national champions in most other countries.

在博爾特看來，問題的答案在于這個島國獨特的體育文化。在牙買加，受到眾人追捧的超級巨星是短跑運動員，而非足球運動員。每年，名為“冠軍賽”的學校體系田徑比賽都會吸引大量的觀眾并由電視轉(zhuǎn)播。參賽的年輕人創(chuàng)下的紀錄甚至可以超過大多數(shù)國家的全國冠軍的成績。

So the 29-year-old Bolt in the starting blocks in Rio was long-trained in the ways of bruising battles played out before big audiences.He has previously suggested that repeated victories over Powell, his fellow countryman, is partly because of Bolt's experience in the schools athletics competition.Powell's school did not always qualify for the event.

因此，當29歲的博爾特在萬眾的目光中站在里約的起跑線上時，他早已是身經(jīng)百戰(zhàn)，見慣不驚了。他曾暗示自己能夠多次戰(zhàn)勝同胞鮑威爾部分是因為在學校田徑比賽中的經(jīng)驗。而鮑威爾的學校并不總能拿到參賽資格。

“It's just that we have a good system,” said Bolt.“Boys and girls Champs keep producing more and more athletes.For years to come, we will have the great athletes to win.”

“就是因為我們有個好的體系，”博爾特表示，“男子和女子’冠軍賽’源源不斷地制造出越來越多的田徑選手。未來還會有偉大的運動員為我們帶來勝利。”

Then there is genetics.A 2010 study into Jamaica's sprinting success delved into the impact of a gene associated with explosive running, whereby a bigger than average heart facilitates a faster flow of oxygen to the muscles.It was found that the frequency of this gene is higher in Jamaicans than west Africans, who in turn have it more than Europeans.

其次是基因。2010年，一份針對牙買加短跑王朝的研究深入探究了影響爆發(fā)性短跑的基因，即高于平均水平的心臟功能和更快地向肌肉供氧。研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)這種基因在牙買加人身上出現(xiàn)的幾率高于西非人，而西非人身上出現(xiàn)的幾率又高于歐洲人。

Athletes of African descent are also known to have more “fast twitch” muscle fibres required for elite sprinting.The list of the ten fastest humans in history contains only black men from Jamaica, the US, Canada and Nigeria.

另外，非裔運動員肌肉中快肌纖維（對于運動的爆發(fā)力和速度有較強的提高作用）含量高，這一點對于他們成為頂尖選手也非常重要。史上最快的十位運動員全部是來自牙買加、美國、加拿大和尼日利亞的黑人。

3 外界的質(zhì)疑

The Jamaican system has also had problems with drugs cheating.In The Bolt Supremacy：Inside Jamaica's Sprint Factory, the investigative sports journalist Richard Moore explored whether Bolt's victories could be explained by superior training, natural talent or more surreptitious means.

牙買加體育體制也面臨著禁藥問題。在《博爾特霸權——探索牙買加短跑工廠》中，調(diào)查體育記者理查德·摩爾研究了博爾特成功的原因是否在于高水平的訓練、天賦或是有其他秘訣。

It was published after revelations in 2013 about the lax nature of Jamaican doping controls, with a number of sprinters, including Powell and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, subsequently serving bans for drugs offences.Fraser-Pryce won bronze in the women's 100m final on Saturday, while Powell will race alongside Bolt in Jamaica's 4 x 100m relay team .

2013年，就在這本書出版之前，牙買加松懈的禁藥管理被曝光，導致包括弗雷澤-普賴斯和鮑威爾在內(nèi)的多位牙買加短跑選手被禁賽。弗雷澤-普賴斯在周六的女子100米決賽中獲得一枚銅牌，而鮑威爾將與博爾特一同代表牙買加參加4×100米接力賽。

Earlier this year, Nesta Carter, a sprinter who won gold with Bolt in Jamaica's 4 x 100m relay team during the Beijing Olympics was found to have a banned stimulant in his system following the retesting of doping samples from the 2008 games.

今年早些時候，在2008年奧運會興奮劑復檢中，博爾特的隊友，北京奧運會4×100米接力冠軍隊員內(nèi)斯塔·卡特爾被查出體內(nèi)含有禁藥成分。

Moore has concluded that Bolt is likely to be a clean athlete, while also arguing that chaotic administration in Jamaica made it unlikely the nation could execute a sophisticated state-doping system such as that in East Germany in the 1970s.Bolt has never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

摩爾認為博爾特很大可能是清白的。他還稱牙買加混亂的管理使得他們很難像70年代的東德一樣建立周密的國家禁藥體系。博爾特從未被檢出服用興奮劑。

詞匯總結

chip away蠶食；拆掉，削掉，鏟除；鑿；逐步瓦解

The Olympic final of the men's 100 metres would not seem to afford much time for chipping away, but Bolt reeled in his rival by the halfway mark, overtaking him to become the first man to win the Olympic title three times—and confirm his status as the greatest sprinter in history.

奧運男子100米決賽可不是小打小鬧的地方，但博爾特在半程就確立領先，超越了對手，成為第一位三次加冕奧運冠軍的100米運動員，并鞏固了自己史上最偉大的短跑運動員的地位。

hold off拖延；抵抗;；抗拒；使…疏遠

Thompson held off a stiff challenge from Dafne Shippers of the Netherlands to finish with the season's best time of 21.78 seconds, becoming the first woman to win both sprint titles since Florence Griffith Joyner of Team USA in 1988.

湯普森抵擋住了荷蘭選手席佩斯的沖擊，以賽季最佳的21秒78奪冠，成為自1998年美國名將喬伊納以來第一位包攬兩個短跑金牌的女子選手。

bruising[?bru:z??]

adj.殊死的;十分激烈的

So the 29-year-old Bolt in the starting blocks in Rio was long-trained in the ways of bruising battles played out before big audiences.

因此，當29歲的博爾特在萬眾的目光中站在里約的起跑線上時，他早已是身經(jīng)百戰(zhàn)，見慣不驚了。

delve into鉆研，深入研究

A 2010 study into Jamaica's sprinting success delved into the impact of a gene associated with explosive running, whereby a bigger than average heart facilitates a faster flow of oxygen to the muscles.

2010年，一份針對牙買加短跑王朝的研究深入探究了影響爆發(fā)性短跑的基因，即高于平均水平的心臟功能和更快地向肌肉供氧。