PBS高端访谈:坐在轮椅上的职业网球运动员（在线收听）

JUDY WOODRUFF: Last week, we brought you a different sports story, this one about some of the top adaptive athletes in the world who play for professional tennis while using wheelchairs. Tonight, we bring you the story of an amateur athlete, Minda Dentler, who has this Brief But Spectacular take on finding strength through sports.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：上周，我们为大家报道了一个与众不同的体育故事，这个故事是关于坐在轮椅上的职业网球运动员是如何适应身体情况称为世界顶级运动员的。今天，我们将为大家带来一位也与运动员的故事，她叫明达·丹特勒。在今天的《简短而精彩》中，她将向我们讲述如何通过体育来获得力量。

MINDA DENTLER, Amateur Athlete: I take the subway to work. And, sometimes, when I go up the stairs in the subway, people will like pat me on the back and say, Oh, good job, like as if, like, I have achieved something by going to work. I was born in Bombay, India. When I was about 6 months old, I contracted polio. It's a disease that affects your nervous system. So my legs became paralyzed. And my birth mother, she realized that she couldn't take care of me, so she decided to leave me at an orphanage. I was adopted by an American family at age 3.5, and I moved to Spokane, Washington. I have a sister the exact same age as me. I was crawling on the ground, and my sister was running around, being a typical toddler. It took a long time for me to be able to walk. I had to undergo a number of surgeries to basically straighten out my hips and my legs, so I could use leg braces and crutches to walk. All of the kids around me, they were able to run and jump. And recess time was the worst for me, because I wouldn't be able to do much of anything. When I was in business school, one of my friends was training for a marathon. One day, she was like, hey, Minda, I think you should check out this organization. It's called Achilles International. And it's a club for athletes with disabilities. It took me probably three or four months to get the courage to make the phone call. And, fortunately, the person who answered the phone was Dick Traum, who is actually the founder of Achilles. And he said: Hey, you know what? We have practices on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Why don't you just show up at 6:30 on Tuesday, and I will loan you my bike? I showed up on Tuesday. He loaned me his bike. And that was the first time that I was able to feel the wind in my hair. And I... man, I went really slow. I went like maybe 100 yards, but it was the coolest feeling to ride a hand cycle for the first time. To train for the Ironman World Championship, it was about a nine-month endeavor. And this way day in, day out, doing the workouts. My husband was super involved in my journey and the preparations. I made the swim time limit. I made the bike time limit. And, finally, when I was on that run, I was ecstatic. I knew I had a marathon to go, but I knew that I had it in the bag. And by the time I made that final right-hand turn on to Lee Drive, I realized how much it really meant to me to finally get it done.

明达·丹特勒，业余运动员：我坐地铁上班。有时候，我在地铁里上楼的时候，人们就会拍拍我的后背跟我说：哦你真棒，就好像我能上班就成就了什么大事一样。我出生于印度的孟买。我6个月的时候，患上了小儿麻痹症。小儿麻痹症这种病会影响神经系统，所以我的双腿瘫痪了。我的生母意识到自己无法照顾我，所以她决定把我放在孤儿院。我三岁半的时候，被一户美国人家收养。于是我搬到了华盛顿的斯波坎市。我的妹妹跟我年纪一样。在我只能在地面艰难行走的时候，妹妹在我周围跟正常小孩子一样跑来跑去。我花了很长时间才能行走。我必须要做多次手术，才能让臀部和腿部呈直线，所以我用腿支架和拐杖来走路。我周围的孩子都能跑跑跳跳。课间休息对我来说是最难熬的时候，因为我什么都做不了。我上商业学校的时候，我的一个朋友正在训练跑马拉松。有一天，她跟我说：嘿，明达，我觉得你可以试试参加这个组织。名字叫阿喀琉斯国际组织，是残疾运动员俱乐部。我用了大概三四个月才有勇气打出这个电话。幸运的是，接电话的人是迪克，他是这个组织的创始人。他跟我说：嘿，你知道吗？我们每周二和每周六都有训练。要不你周二早上6:30到这里，我可以借你我的自行车。我周二去了。他借了我自行车。这是我第一次感受到风在发间穿梭。我骑得很慢很慢，大概100码的样子，但对我来说，第一次骑这样的自行车是超棒的事情。我为世界铁人锦标赛准备了9个月的时间。就这样，时间一天一天流逝，我一直在训练。我丈夫全程参与了我的所有旅程和准备工作。我突破了自己，我会游泳了，也会骑自行车。最后开始比赛的时候，我十分高兴。我知道我有马拉松要跑，但我知道我胜券在握。等我跨过终点线的时候，我才意识到做到这件事对我来说有多重要。

MAN: You are an inspiration, Minda. And you are an Ironman!

男：你鼓舞了很多人，明达，你是当之无愧的铁人！

MINDA DENTLER: I was so excited, but I was in a lot of pain, too, because I had been exercising for a whole 14 hours and 39 minutes. But crossing that finish line was something else. By completing the Ironman World Champion, and just being successful in my life, having a full-time job, having a family, getting married, having a degree, I think gives me that confidence, knowing it doesn't matter who I am, what I look like. I'm able to be successful. My name is Minda Dentler. This is my Brief But Spectacular take on living with my disability.

明达·丹特勒：我很激动，但我也经历了巨大的痛苦，因为我整整跑了14小时39分钟。但跨过终点线的那一刻就不同了。我跑完了世界铁人锦标赛，我获得了人生的成功，我获得了全职工作，组建了自己的家庭，结了婚，获得了学位。这一切都让我有了自信，让我知道我是谁、我长相如何并不重要。我有能力获得成功。我是明达·丹特勒。这是我本期带来的与我自身身体障碍有关的《简短而精彩》。

JUDY WOODRUFF: And that's an inspiration. And you can find more episodes of our Brief But Spectacular series at PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：您的分享启发了我们。听众朋友们可在官网PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief上看到其他期的节目。