英國隊奧運佳績招來歐洲國家羨慕嫉妒恨
Britain’s stunning medals success in the Rio Olympics may have been a cause for elation at home — but in parts of Europe it has met with sneers, incredulity and withering criticism of UK Sports policy.
英國運動員在里約奧運會上的獎牌“大豐收”或許令英國國內民衆歡欣鼓舞，但在歐洲的一些地方，英國這一成就卻招來了對英國體育政策的嘲笑、質疑和刻薄的批評。
Great Britain achieved its best Olympic performance in more than a century, garnering a total of 67 medals, including 27 golds. It ended the Rio Games second in the overall medals table after the US and ahead of China.
英國在這屆奧運會上取得了上百年來最好的成績，共獲得67塊獎牌，其中金牌達27塊。里約奧運會落下帷幕後，英國在金牌榜上排在第二位，落後於美國，但領先於中國。
Some fellow Europeans were impressed. Others were sceptical.
有些歐洲國家對此讚歎不已，也有些歐洲國家對此報以懷疑。
Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, for example, singled out Team GB’s spectacular success in cycling, which it said “has led its rivals to wonder if there isn’t something fishy going on with the Brits”.
比如，德國《法蘭克福匯報》(Frankfurter Allgemeine)就把矛頭指向了英國隊在自行車項目上的驚人成就，稱這“讓英國隊的對手們懷疑英國人是不是玩了什麼貓膩”。
The paper also had harsh words for the Britain’s “no compromise” approach to funding, which allocates money to sports with a realistic chance of earning medals and has withheld it from disciplines that failed to meet their medals target in 2012.
該報還對英國的“不折中”(no compromise)資助方式提出了嚴厲批評。英國把資金撥給有現實可能奪牌的項目，而拒絕撥給那些在2012年未實現獎牌目標的項目。
“It made no difference how popular the sport was with the public, how suitable it was for the mass market,” the paper said. “Volleyball and table tennis were excluded from funding programmes, despite their broad appeal and wide take-up in the population.”
“公衆對該項目的歡迎程度以及該項目是否適合於大衆市場，都變得無關緊要。”該報表示，“排球和乒乓球都被排除出了資助計劃，儘管它們廣受歡迎、在民衆中普及程度很高。”
The article was headlined: “No compromise: why the Brits win more often in Rio than China, and what a high price they pay for it.”
該報這篇文章的標題是：“不折中：爲什麼英國人在里約比中國人拿牌還多，他們爲此付出了多麼高的代價。”
There was a similar reaction in Spain, where the El País daily described Britain’s pursuit of Olympic glory as “brutal and heartless”, stating: “Every medal is the product of calculation, not the spirit of a nonconformist athlete.”
西班牙國內也有類似的反應。西班牙《國家報》(El País)把英國對奧運榮耀的追求描繪爲“殘酷無情”。該報稱：“每塊獎牌都出於算計，而不是源自不墨守成規的運動員的精神。”
Perhaps even more irritating to British sports fans was the approach taken by the European Parliament. In a tweet it airbrushed out the Britain’s performance, instead congratulating the whole of the EU on the 325 medals it had collectively won.
更令英國體育迷惱火的或許是歐洲議會(European Parliament)的做法。歐洲議會在Twitter上發的一條帖子略掉了英國隊的成績，改爲慶祝整個歐盟(EU)合計贏得的325塊獎牌。
That earned this terse response from one @JDrewer: “If you want to know why the Brits decided to leave the EU, this tweet pretty much sums it up.”
用戶@JDrewer用簡練的語言回覆這條帖子道：“如果你想知道英國人爲什麼決定離開歐盟，這條帖子差不多總結出了原因。”
Yet in other countries, there was outright envy at Team GB’s medal haul, and especially the extraordinary turnround achieved since Atlanta in 1996, when it won just one gold. On Monday, Poland’s sports minister called for the country to copy the British approach in order to win more medals.
但也有些國家對英國隊的獎牌大豐收表現出了極大的羨慕，尤其是考慮到這是英國隊相對於1996年亞特蘭大奧運會實現的一次驚天逆轉，英國隊在那屆奧運會上只獲得1塊金牌。週一，波蘭體育部長呼籲本國仿效英國的做法，以贏得更多獎牌。
“In Rio, Great Britain won 67 medals. And this shows that their model, which involves the selection of key disciplines, passed the test,” said Witold Banka.
“在里約，英國贏得了67塊獎牌。這表明他們的模式——涉及對關鍵項目的遴選——通過了考驗，”維托爾德•班卡(Witold Banka)稱。
He said Poland should emulate UK Sport’s targeted policy, rather than splitting funding equally between all disciplines. “[This approach] will play a very important role in the development of Polish sport,” he added.
他說，波蘭應該效仿英國體育有的放矢的政策，而不是把經費平分給各個項目。“（該模式）將在波蘭體育事業發展上扮演非常重要的角色，”他補充稱。
The Frankfurter Allgemeine’s sniping at Britain’s success in the velodrome came in the wake of comments by a number of athletes and coaches at Rio hinting at skulduggery in the British ranks.
在《法蘭克福匯報》把矛頭對準英國在場地自行車項目上的成功之前，不少運動員和教練在里約就此發表了評論，暗示英國隊在玩貓膩。
Michael D’Almeida, a French cyclist who was in the bronze medal-winning men’s sprint team, said last week: “We are human beings like them, we are made of the same stuff, we have a bike like they do, so why are they better?”
法國自行車選手米夏埃爾•德阿爾梅達(Michael D’Almeida)是贏得本屆奧運會場地自行車爭先賽男子團體銅牌的運動員之一。他上週表示：“我們和他們一樣都是人、都是同種材料製成的，我們的自行車也和他們的一樣，那爲什麼他們的成績更好？”
German track cyclist Kristina Vogel, who won the women’s sprint, said there was something “questionable” about Britain’s cycling success. “They all come here at their best level, and I have no idea how they do it,” she said.
德國場地自行車選手克里斯蒂娜•福格爾(Kristina Vogel)贏得了本屆奧運會場地自行車女子爭先賽金牌。她表示，英國在自行車項目上的成功有點“可疑”。“他們都是以最佳狀態來參賽的，我不知道他們是怎麼做到的，”她說。
She later backtracked, saying: “I never said they take any drugs or have a bike with engines, but they always seem faster at the Games.”
她後來用一種弱化的語氣稱：“我從沒說過他們嗑了藥或往自行車上裝了發動機，但他們在本屆奧運會上似乎總是更快些。”
It’s not the first time that Britain’s success in the velodrome has raised eyebrows. At the 2012 London Olympics the French director of cycling suggested that GB was winning so many cycling medals because its racers were using different wheels to everyone else. This prompted Dave Brailsford, the British cycling director, to joke that Team GB did have a secret — they used “specially round wheels”.
英國在場地自行車項目上的成功並非首次引來質疑。2012年倫敦奧運會上，法國自行車隊領隊曾暗示，英國隊在自行車項目上贏得如此多的獎牌，是因爲其選手所用的車輪與其他任何選手都不一樣。英國自行車隊領隊戴夫•佈雷斯福德(Dave Brailsford)對此戲言道，英國隊確實有個祕密——他們用了“特別圓的車輪”。
