PBS高端访谈:为何美国-加拿大女子曲棍球比赛如此吸引人（在线收听）

JUDY WOODRUFF: As we reported, U.S. Olympic athletes won several medals last night. And, as William Brangham reports, probably none was more thrilling than when the women's hockey team won the gold medal against archrival Canada.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For the past two decades, the American team has been looking up enviously at their rivals. That finally changed last night with a game for the ages. I spoke earlier to Christine Brennan of USA Today, who was watching the game in South Korea. She's also a commentator for CNN. Christine, in your column, you wrote: "Wake up, America. While you were sleeping, something magical happened last night." Can you tell us a little bit about that game?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, USA Today: Oh, my gosh, William. This is one -- I have covered a lot of Olympics. I have covered a lot of sports. This is one of the greatest things I have ever seen.U.S. women's hockey, they won the gold medal, beat Canada 3-2. There's such a history between these two teams. They're the two best teams in women's hockey in the world. And every -- it seems like every four years they play each other for the gold medal. U.S. won in 1988, and has never won another gold medal. Canada's won all of them up until these Games, so a 20-year drought for the United States, this buildup to this rivalry. And the game lived up to the billing in every way you could possibly ask. U.S. goes ahead 1-0. Canada comes back, swarms back, takes a 2-1 lead. The U.S. ties it right at the end, like six minutes to go. Goes into overtime, 20 minutes of overtime, freewheeling, really interesting, fascinating play, both sides. Still tied. Goes to shoot-outs. After five of the shoot-out shots, each side, 5-3 each, still tied. And they have to go to a sixth. And that's where the USA wins it.

ANNOUNCER: The United States wins gold in PyeongChang!

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: And it was just riveting and fun to watch and great playing, and these two teams who respect each other so much, who know each other so well, obviously, so close proximity-wise, just Canada and the U.S.. And to have this game played at the most important moment of their lives, and then the U.S. wins, and for the first time in 20 years, the U.S. wins an Olympic gold medal in women's ice hockey, that's about as good as it gets.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I understand many of these women say they were inspired by that last win in 1998. Did you hear that from that as well?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: I sure did. They talked to us in the interview area, the mix zone, afterwards. And every one, to a woman, said that, that they were either trying to win it for some of the older women, the veterans, including the Lamoureux twins. Obviously, Jocelyne Lamoureux had that incredible shot. If anyone hasn't seen it, find it, the last shoot-out goal that won it for the United States, and then the great save by Maddie Rooney to stuff Canada, when they had their chance to tie it back up again. And so you had some of these older players who had three Olympics, and, of course, at this point -- at that point, no gold and two silvers, very unsatisfying silvers to that point. And then you have the names that these young -- these women grew up with. You know, they were their role models. They were cheering for them back when they were playing in Nagano in '98, when these women were little kids in their bedrooms and had posters of them up in their rooms. And so, absolutely -- and we see this over and over again, William, in women's sports that now we have a whole new generation of girls who grew up watching athletes play team sports at a high level. And the same exact scenario, really, for me as the 1999 women's World Cup in soccer, and how that has translated to so many women being empowered and riveted by that game who have now gone on to other great things in their lives 19 years later. And it's terrific to see in this case the girls next door happen to be wearing hockey skates, but it's that same story over and over again. And the Olympics bring us those stories, those Title IX stories especially, involving women and the girls who root for them.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: We tend to think of hockey as a largely male sport. Is it becoming more popular with young women?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Yes, it absolutely is. Now, obviously, it's a northern sport, and it's always been very popular in the Boston area, in Minnesota and Wisconsin, the great high school programs there, the great college programs there. And then, of course, Canada, they're so good at it as well. But I was just looking this up, and over the last decade, a 25 percent increase in participation, according to USA Hockey, for girls and women, and especially from 18 and under. So, these youth programs, they're starting. I know this. I grew up, my brother played hockey. We grew up in Toledo, Ohio, not far from Detroit, and I think I would have played hockey if it had been available back then. And I had plenty of sports to play, so I never, ever had a chance. There was no girls hockey back then. And now there is girls hockey. And there are girls playing throughout the Midwest, Great Lakes states, obviously the Northern Midwest, and then, of course, in New England especially. And I think something like this, the way this game was played, the attention to it, and I actually think, William, the fact that it was overnight -- I know -- I heard from a lot of people who stayed up and watched it. East Coast, you had to stay up pretty late, obviously. In the West Coast, it wasn't so bad. But I think people, waking up to this news that something great happened and watching the highlights, even if it's just a few seconds of the shoot-out, I think this is going to have a nice impact. And I think these kind of touchstone moments really do occur, where the Olympics bring, in this case, girls to a sport that they otherwise might not have even thought of trying.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Christine Brennan of USA Today, thanks so much.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: William, my pleasure. Thank you.

茱蒂·伍德瑞夫：如我们报道，昨晚美国奥运会运动员斩获多枚奖牌。而且，据威廉姆·布拉纳姆报道，看美国女子曲棍球队对阵劲敌加拿大队，赢得金牌简直太刺激了。

廉姆·布拉纳姆：在过去的二十年里，美国队一直在追逐她们羡慕不已的对手。而昨晚的比赛终将这一切改变。今天早些时候，我与在韩国观看比赛的克里斯汀·布伦南通话。她同时也是CNN的评论员。克里斯汀，在你的专栏里，你写道：“醒醒，美国。当你睡梦正酣时，昨晚（这里）见证了奇迹。”你能给我们介绍一下那场比赛吗？

克里斯汀·布伦南，《今日美国》：哦，我的天啊，威廉。这是一个——我已经报道了太多的奥运赛事。我已经报道了太多的体育赛事。这是我见过最伟大的事情之一。美国女子曲棍球队夺得金牌，3-2，击败加拿大队。这两支球队有着悠久的渊源。她们是世界女子曲棍球中最好的两支队伍。每——似乎每四年，他们就要对金牌展开一次角逐。美国队上次获胜是在1988年，从此，再未获金。此前所有的比赛，都是加拿大队获胜，所以20年来，美国颗粒无收，此次对抗由此形成。而且比赛尽可能按照你可能期望的方式进行。美国1-0领先。加拿大扳回比分，回来了，2-1领先。大概距离比赛结束还有6分钟时，美国最后将比赛打成平局。进入加时赛，20分钟的加时赛，自由滑行，真的非常有趣，令人着迷的表演，双方都是。平局仍未打破。进入点球阶段。每方五次点球，都是五进三，仍是平局。随后她们进行了第六次点球，美国队赢得了比赛。

播音员：平昌冬奥会，美国队获胜！

克里斯汀·布伦南：整场比赛精彩纷呈，引人入胜，而这两支队伍互相尊重，彼此都很了解对方，显然，如此实力不相上下的，只有加拿大与美国。而这场比赛恰在她们生命中最重要的时刻上演，然后美国队赢了，20年来，美国首次在女子冰上曲棍球比赛中获得奥运金牌，那也算是尽善尽美了。

廉姆·布拉纳姆：我知道很多女队员说她们的灵感来自于上次1998年的获胜。你也有耳闻吗？

克里斯汀·布伦南：当然我也听到了。在采访区，她们说了，后来在混合采访区，我们也进行了交谈。每个人，对一个女人，都说了，她们是为了那些年龄大的女队员、那些老将，包括拉莫洛克斯双胞胎而赢得的比赛。如果还有人没有看过，一定要找到它，看看那个让美国获胜的最后一击，如果有人没有看到它，找到它，最后的一击，然后麦迪·鲁尼又在加拿大可能扳回平局的关键时刻击败了他们。那么，队伍中有一些年纪较大的球员，她们参加了三届奥运会，当然，今非昔比，两银无金，在这点上，难以令人满意。然后就有了这些年轻人的名字，这些女人是伴随着她们长大的。你知道，她们就是她们的榜样。当她们98年在长野打球的时候，她们正在为她们加油。当她们还是一群女孩子时，卧室房间里就贴着她们的海报。所以，绝对是这样的，这一幕一次次地重演，威廉，这些女孩是全新的一代，她们从小看的就是运动员参加的高水平团体比赛。同样的情景，对我来说，就像1999届女足世界杯足球赛一样，并且它是如何让女性拥有力量，让她们痴迷于这项运动的，19年后的今天，她们又在其他领域大有成就。在这种情况下，如果恰好看到，邻家女孩穿着曲棍球冰鞋，那真是太棒了，但同样的故事不断重演。奥运会给我们带来了那些故事，特别是关于Title IX的故事，这些故事关于支持她们的女性。

廉姆·布拉纳姆：我们倾向于认为曲棍球大体上是一项男性运动。它是否越来越受年轻女性的欢迎呢？

克里斯汀·布伦南：是的，没错。很明显，这是一项北方运动，它在波士顿、明尼苏达和威斯康星一直都很流行，那里的高中和大学都开设这门课程，而且很棒。然后，当然，加拿大，她们也很擅长。但在过去的十年中，我一直在关注，曲棍球运动的参与率增加了25%，根据美国冰上曲棍球协会统计，女性，特别是18岁及以下群体。所以，这些青年项目，她们正在开始。我知道这个。我长大了，我哥哥打曲棍球。我们在托雷多的俄亥俄长大，离底特律不远，我想如果当时我有空的话，我会打曲棍球的。当时我的运动内容太过丰富，所以我从来没有机会接触曲棍球。那时没有女子曲棍球。而现在有了。在中西部，大湖州也有女孩在打，显然，北部中西部，然后，当然，在新英格兰尤其如此。我想像这样的事情，像这样的比赛方式，以及对这项运动的关注，我真的认为，威廉，事实上，那是一夜之间——我知道——我是从许多熬夜守候的人那里听到的。在东海岸，你得熬夜到很晚，很明显。在西海岸，没有那么糟糕。但我认为人们，醒来后看到这则新闻，有大事发生了，并观看了精彩场面，即使只是短短几秒钟的拍摄，我认为影响斐然。这种试金石般的时刻真的出现了，也就是说，奥运会让女孩们在这种情况下，去从事一项，她们根本不曾想过的体育运动。

廉姆·布拉纳姆：好的，《今日美国》的克里斯汀·布伦南，谢谢你。

克里斯汀·布伦南：威廉，我的荣幸。谢谢您。