迈克尔·菲尔普斯:历史是怎样创造的

2008年8月17日，一个奥运新纪录在北京水立方诞生――迈克尔・菲尔普斯夺得了第29届奥运会上自己的第八枚金牌，同时也将自己的奥运金牌总数增加到了14枚，创造了前无古人的历史。

很多人都将菲尔普斯的奇迹归功于其不可思议的体质，但熟悉他的人都知道其成功绝非偶然――除了天资过人，更少不了长期的艰苦训练。此外，家人的支持也是菲尔普斯取得成功的坚强后盾。下面让我们一起来看看这位年轻的游泳天才是如何创造历史吧。

On August 10th, 2008, a few hours after Michael Phelps won his first gold and set his first world

record in Beijing, he called his mom. “It seemed quite unusual,” said Debbie Phelps, who was traveling back to her hotel with her daughters after watching Michael’s race. “He just wanted to hear our voices. I think it was important for him to talk to his mom and sisters at that time.”

They didn’t hear from him again until after the 200m 1)freestyle on August 12th. Debbie missed his first call because her phone was buried in her bag. Phelps texted her, letting her know he was trying to reach them. “We were giving him support, letting him know how proud we were and that we stand behind him whatever the outcome might be,” said Debbie. Sometimes, even Olympians just need their mothers.

And the outcome, it turned out, was record-breaking: on August 17th, Phelps made Olympic history by winning his eighth gold medal at these games and becoming the greatest Olympic athlete ever. With a 50.15-second butterfly 2)leg in the 4x100m 3)medley 4)relay, Phelps and the US team set a new world record, and Phelps set a new bar for Olympic athletes to clear.

Although Taehwan Park of Korea and Kosuke Kitajima of Japan both 5)snared Olympic titles and set a new standard for Asian swimmers, no other Olympian could come close to the 6)frenzy that Phelps 7)generated in the Water Cube, attracting celebrities from two Presidents (George Bush Jr. and Sr.) to LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, who attended not just one but several of Phelps’ races in Beijing.

For Debbie, this is especially 8)momentous. When Phelps was in 9)grade school, a teacher told her that her son would never be successful because he couldn’t focus in the classroom. It turned out Phelps has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder注 (ADHD), and while it made 10)concentrating in class difficult, racing in the pool was a different story. “I thought maybe he’s not as focused in the schoolhouse, but I saw a love and passion for swimming in him at a young age. He could be there for hours during a swim 11)meet,” said Debbie.

When you’re talented enough to break world records nearly every time you race, and do it not just once, or twice, but eight times in a single meet, with the entire world watching, then half your battle is not against the swimmers in the other lanes but against your own 12)demons the ones that come up when you hear your name announced over the loudspeaker, or when you take your position on the blocks, ready to 13)plunge into the water.

If the nine days of competition were hard on Phelps, they might have been even harder on his teammates. “Of course we are all paying attention to what is going on,” said Aaron Peirsol, who swam the 14)backstroke leg of the relay. “But by no means does one person on the team take 15)precedence over any other during a meet like this.” Easy to say, harder to believe.

While athletes from all over the world filling the 16)stands in the Water Cube on that day, most were there to watch one man and one man only. “I think 90% of the swimmers when they are done with their event just come here to watch Michael Phelps,” said Sandeep Sejwal, a 17)breaststroker from India. “He deserves all the attention he gets,” said Genaro Prono, a breaststroker from Paraguay. “Because everything he does is also better for us.”

So he impresses the world’s top swimmers, but what impresses the world’s top swimmer the most? All Phelps could talk about was the fact that two of his races were shown, live, in a baseball and football arena back home. “I want to raise the bar for the sport of swimming as high as it can get in the US,” he said. “We’ve come a long way; I heard that in Ravens 18)stadium (in Baltimore, Phelps’ hometown), they were watching the 400 medley relay live with 70,000 people… People all over the place are saying that if you go out to eat, and the TV is on, swimming is on the TV. Four years ago, there was no way that would ever happen. I think the sport of swimming can go even farther.”

But maybe only if Phelps stays in the water, which he says he will, at least through the London Games in 2012. While he is eager to try out a new swimming program, he won’t make any decisions about that until he comes back from a long vacation. “When we train every day, and sometimes we do 19)workouts we don’t like, Bob (Phelps’ coach) says it’s putting money in the bank, and at the end of the year we’ll be able to 20)withdraw,” said Phelps. “I guess we put a lot of money in the bank over the last four years, and we withdrew pretty much every penny. So after Bob and I both take a little break, it’ll be time to start re-21)depositing.”

Talking about the memorable nine days during the Olympic Games, Debbie is obviously in mom mode.

“Every 22)aspect of watching him compete, perform as an athlete, and carry himself as a young man is heartwarming.” It’s a pretty remarkable example for those of us outside the family as well.

2008年8月10日，迈克

尔・菲尔普斯在北京夺得第一枚金牌，并创下了他在该届奥运会的第一项世界记录。几个小时后，他打电话给他的母亲。“这挺不寻常的，”母亲黛比・菲尔普斯说。当时她和女儿们刚看完迈克尔的比赛，正在回酒店的路上。“他只是想听听我们的声音。我觉得，在那个时候能够听到妈妈和姐姐们的声音，对他来说很重要。”

她们再次听到菲尔普斯的声音，是在8月12日的200米自由泳比赛之后。起初黛比没有接到他打来的电话，因为电话被压在袋子里了。于是菲尔普斯给妈妈发了短信，让她知道他正在找她们。“我们一直都在支持他，让他知道我们为他感到多么骄傲。无论结果如何，我们都会站在他身后支持他，”黛比说。有时候，即使是奥运健儿也需要妈妈的支持。

而比赛的结果是史无前例的：8月17日，菲尔普斯勇夺游泳赛事第八金，创造了奥运会历史，成为有史以来最杰出的奥林匹克运动员。在男子4×100米混合接力赛中，游蝶泳这一棒的菲尔普斯游出了50.15秒的成绩，带领美国队刷新了世界纪录。从此，菲尔普斯为奥运选手们设置了一道有待超越的新障碍。

虽然韩国选手朴泰恒和日本选手北岛

康介都在奥运会上夺得桂冠，标志着亚洲游泳选手达到了新的水平，但没有一位奥运选手能像菲尔普斯那样在水立方掀起如此热潮――他吸引了许多名人前来观战，包括小布什和老布什两位美国总统，以及勒布朗・詹姆斯和科比・布莱恩特。后者更在北京看了不止一场有菲尔普斯参加的比赛。

对黛比来说，这更是意义非凡。菲尔普斯读小学时，老师告诉黛比，她的儿子永远也不会成功，因为他在教室里总是无法集中精神。结果发现菲尔普斯患有注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）。虽然此症让他在教室里无法专心上课，但到了游泳池里情况就完全不同了。“我想也许他在校舍里没办法集中精神，但我在年幼的他身上看到一种对游泳的热爱和激情。每次游泳比赛，他都可以在游泳池里一连游上好几个小时，”黛比说。

当你的天分让你可以在几乎每场比赛中都打破世界纪录，并且不是一两次，而是在一场举世瞩目的比赛中连续八次打破纪录，那么，你的战斗有一半不是以其它泳道的选手为对手，而是与你的心魔作斗争――它们会在广播宣布你的名字，或者当你站到准备台上就位，准备跃入水中时

出现。

如果说这九天的激烈竞争对菲尔普斯来说很不容易，那么对其队友来说则更是难上加难。“我们当然都很关注赛况，”在接力赛中游仰泳一棒的艾伦・佩尔索尔说。“但在这样一场（重大的）比赛里，团队中绝没有哪个人比其他人更重要。”说说容易，可不太让人信服。

那一天，来自全球各地的运动员都聚集在水立方的看台，其中大部分人都仅仅只是为了看一个人的表演。“我想，完成自己的赛事以后，有90%的选手会来这里观看菲尔普斯比赛，”印度蛙泳选手桑迪普・塞耶瓦尔说。“他绝对值得人们关注，”巴拉圭蛙泳选手赫纳罗・普罗诺说。“因为我们能从他所做的每件事情中学到东西。”

菲尔普斯给世界一流游泳选手留下了深刻印象。那么，在这位世界顶尖游泳好手看来，又有什么事情让他特别兴奋呢？菲尔普斯说是家乡的一个棒球和美式足球场里现场直播了他的两场比赛。“我想把美国的游泳运动推动到尽可能高的水平，”他说。“在这方面我们已经做了很多；我听说在雷文斯（乌鸦）体育场（位于菲尔普斯的故乡巴尔的摩），有七万人一起观看400米混合接力赛的现场

直播……人们总是说，要是你出去吃饭，餐厅的电视机又开着，那么你一定能看到上面正在播放游泳比赛。四年前绝不会出现这样的事情。我觉得游泳这项运动还能更进一步。”

这个目标也许只有当菲尔普斯留守泳池才能实现。他说他会继续奋斗，至少会坚持到2012年伦敦奥运会。虽然他迫不及待地想尝试一套新的游泳项目，不过他会在放完一个长假以后再做决定。“我们每天都在训练，有时要进行一些自己不喜欢的训练项目。鲍伯（菲尔普斯的教练）说，这就好像把钱存进银行，到了年终就可以取出来，”菲尔普斯说。“我想，在过去四年里，我们往银行里存了不少钱，现在我们几乎把每个铜板都取出来了。所以，稍微休息一下以后，鲍伯和我又该开始存钱了。”

在谈及过去九天的奥运比赛时，

黛比显然沉浸在作为母亲的喜悦中。“看着他作为一名运动员在比赛中竞争、奋斗，看到他表现得像个男子汉，每一面都是如此的温暖感人。”即使是不属于菲尔普斯一家的我们，这个温馨时刻同样难以忘怀。