文章来源：英文杂志双语精读

推荐人：金丽丹

编辑人：刘荣

经济学人原文

Jacobellis gold banishes 16 years ofpainful regret

【1】This time there was no show boatingfor the cameras – or dark and prolonged nights of the soul. Instead, on aheart warming afternoon at the Genting snow Park, the Winter Olympics witnessedthe greatest redemption story in its history.

【2】For 16 years Lindsey Jacobellis hasbeen known as the snowboarder who was miles clear of the Turin 2006 Olympicsboard cross final – until she fell on the penultimatejump while showing off by taking a celebratory grab of her board. It was an actof reverse alchemy that turned gold into silver, and led to her spending years tryingto process and neuter what had happened. Yet somehow, in her fifth Olympics,the American sprung a considerable shock by finally winning a gold medal at theripe age of 36.

【3】For good measure, her gold in thesnowboard cross was also the United States’ first ofthese Games. “I was at high school when some of these girls were born,” she said. “But I thinkI’m just a competitor, I have been since I was little. Itwas always this fire I had inside of me.” And how it burned . As Jacobellis motoredtowards the finish in the final, she could hear the French boarder ChloéTrespeuch closing. But this time she wasn’t going to let gold slip away.Afterwards she conceded that without that mistake in 2006 she may never havewon gold in Beijing. “probably not, and I probably would have quit the sport atthat point because I wasn’t really having fun with it,” she said. “There was somuch pressure on me to be the golden girl. I’d won so many races going into itand it’s a lot for a young athlete to have on their plate.”

【4】As Jacobellis crossed the line thistime around, Britain’s supposed banker for the Games,Charlotte Bankes, was still in tears after suffering a shock quarter-finalexit. The 26-year-old, who had been widely tipped to add the Olympic title toher 2021 world crown, looked to be in control before losing speed when sheskidded wide on a turn and slipped from first to third. She was unable torecover, and after missing out on the semi-finals by 0.03 sec lookedshellshocked. “It’s a tough day for me, we didn’t come here for this,” shesaid, as she tried to come to terms with what had happened. “Honestly, I didn’tfeel much more pressure than any other World Cup this season. Unfortunately Ijust didn’t do the race I wanted today and it’s frustrating to do that at theOlympics.”

【5】Bankes maintained that she had noregrets after switching allegiances from France to Britain in 2018. “No, I’ve never thought back about that,and I’m just super happy for the sup port I’ve had,” she said. “I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t made that choice.”Optimism also turned todisappointment for Britain later, as the speed skater Farrell Treacy rode hisluck to reach the final of the men’s 1500m short-track before finishing ninthin a race won by Hwang Dae-heon of South Korea. Treacy, who was late arrivingat the Games after battling coronavirus, nudged through his quarter-final andwas then advanced again after two of his rivals were penalised in their semifinal race. But he looked spent as he finished way down the field.

【6】It meant Britain still had a blankslate of medals after five days of these Games. However, the UK Sport chair,Katherine Grainger, said it was too early to panic. “We still have high hopes for the men’s and women’s curlingteams, we’ve got the skeleton to come, plenty more on the snow, soI think we’ll still see Team GB deliver,” she said.“We’re only day five. I wasout in Pyeongchang and it was day seven before we saw a medal, so we’re notpanicking yet,” said Grainger, who revealed in January that UK Sport had set atarget of between three and seven medals at the Games.

【7】But this day was mostly aboutJacobellis, a five-time snowboard cross world champion, who finally secured theultimate prize. Many had written the American off – not surprisingly given that she had failed to medal atthe Pyeongchang, Sochiand the Vancouver Olympics. Instead she became the oldestOlympic medallist in any snowboarding event. Afterwards she said that when shegot to the start line of the final, she felt unusually calm, and that allowedher to banish 2006 from her mind. “They can keep talking about it all theywant,” she said. “Because it really shaped me into the individual that I am .It kept me hungry and really helped me to keep fighting in the sport.”

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