奧運回顧:奧運賽場上的力與美

Reasons to watch the Olympics can be various. Some look for national pride, some for cliffhangers, and even some for fashion.

觀看奧運會的理由有許多種。有些是爲了尋求民族自豪感，有些是爲了觀看扣人心絃的比賽，甚至有些是衝着時尚去的。

What about those athletes' bodies? Zoe Williams of the Guardian recently wrote about her obsession with the perfect physical appearance of athletes.

還有多少人是衝着運動員的外形去的呢？最近，來自《衛報》的佐伊•威廉姆斯最近撰文，表明了自己對運動員們外在美的癡迷。

To Williams, watching these near-deities for whom every muscle has a purpose and every tweak of a body is a bid for greatness, "we are allowed to make remarks we would never normally make. We're allowed to gawp at perfection, marvel at beauty, openly wish we could prod chests and have a go on triceps – it's the Olympic Gaze."

對於威廉姆斯而言，這些運動員近乎神一樣，他們的每一塊肌肉都富有意志，身體的每一次扭動都在向着非凡發力。在欣賞他們時，"我們得以發表一些不同尋常的看法。我們可以直視着他們完美的一舉一動，驚詫於其中的美麗，並可以毫不掩飾地表示希望能夠戳一下他們的胸肌，甚至動一動那些三頭肌。這就是‘奧運關注'。"

Olympic-watchers of yore admitted upfront that open-mouthed staring was one of the core purposes of the games.

以往諸多觀看奧運比賽的人都公開承認，人們目瞪口呆的關注是奧運會的核心目的之一。

In ancient Greece, the athletes were asked to march naked through the streets before the games began – it was a warm-up exercise for the spectators, before the main event of watching them all compete naked, which takes an incredible amount of concentration.

在古希臘，奧運會開幕前，運動員被要求赤身裸體地在街道上行進。對於觀衆們來說，這只是個賽前熱身。在之後的正式比賽中，他們會看到運動員們的裸體競技，這往往吸引來巨大的關注。

According to the Guardian, the story is that the naked-sport tradition began when a runner's loincloth fell off, and he appeared to go faster than the others.

《衛報》的文章中稱，裸賽傳統始於這樣一個故事，當時一位賽跑選手的纏腰布掉了之後，他似乎比其他人都跑得快。

At that time, wearing clothes came eventually to signify Barbarianism, or at the very least, shame.

在那個時候，穿着衣服是野蠻人的表現，或者至少是件丟臉的事。

Remember the famous statue Discobolos, of a man holding an iron disc? He's all naked, folks.

還記得那尊著名的"擲鐵餅者"雕像嗎？各位，他是全裸着的啊！

Another reason why staring at an athlete's body is not offensive is that attention falls upon males and females equally.

凝視運動員的身體，而並無冒犯之意的另一個原因是人們對於男女選手身體的關注是均等的。

"When it falls equally upon everybody, you have to think that maybe there is no ulterior motive. Maybe we're staring because they're amazing.

"當人們將注意力均等地放在每個人身上時，你理所當然認爲這種關注或許並非別有用心。也許我們目不轉睛只是因爲他們太了不起了。

"That's it! How are you going to not stare? That would be like being too polite to stare at a comet," Williams wrote.

"正是如此！你又怎能移開視線呢？這就好比你太過文雅以致錯過凝視彗星一樣。"威廉姆斯寫道。

Indeed, how top athletes' bodies work is amazing. Some lift weights many times greater than their own, while others run 100-meters in less than 10 seconds.

頂尖運動員們的身體機能的確令人驚訝。一些人能舉起相當於自身體重許多倍的重量；而另一些人百米比賽的成績不到十秒。

"You do not debase them when you go on about an athlete's thighs; his or her body is indivisible from their life's work, which is their pride and joy," Williams said.

"當你就某位運動員的大腿發表言論，滔滔不絕時，你並沒有在貶低他們。他們的身體是他們畢生事業中不可分割的一部分，也是他們的驕傲所在。"威廉姆斯說道。

"To say she's perfect is like telling someone they have cute children. Plus, there is the simple mathematics that it's impossible to offend, by objectifying, gazing, fixating, or obsessing over in any other way, someone who is so superior."

"評價她很完美，就好比是在告訴人們，他們的孩子很可愛。此外，簡單一算便知，對於那些如此優秀的人來說，把他們看做是一件物品具象化，目光牢牢地鎖定他們，或任何其他形式的癡迷，都不會是冒犯。"

"Look at this … what a beautiful boy … Sorry …" The father of Chad Le Clos, talking as a guest commentator on the BBC, was overwhelmed.

"看看…多麼漂亮的小夥子啊…對不起…"，BBC特約評論員——查德•勒•克洛斯的父親情不自禁地說道。

"Is this live?" he asked. "Yes," his partner said, cheerfully. Before he'd even considered the fact that South African swimmer Chad Le Clos had beaten Michael Phelps, the greatest Olympian of all time, in the 200m butterfly, he was baffled, brought to the very edge of comprehension, by his own son's beauty.

"這是直播嗎？"他問道，"是的。"他的搭檔興奮地回答道。南非游泳選手查德•勒•克洛斯當時在200米蝶泳項目中擊敗了奧運會歷史上最偉大的運動員——邁爾克•菲爾普斯。在這位父親意識到這點之前，他幾乎不能理解自己的兒子是如此出衆。