Modest Sebrle Wins Decathlon Gold Medal

 

By Parke Brewer¹
 
Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic confirmed his status at the world's best all-around athlete when he won the Olympic decathlon gold medal Tuesday night.

Most Olympians specialize in one discipline. There are exceptions, like the different strokes in swimming, the various gymnastics apparatus², the triathlon, modern pentathlon and the women's heptathlon, which has seven disciplines.

But the men's decathlon, which features 10 events taking place over two days, is considered to be the most difficult of all.

On the first day, the athletes compete in the 100-meter dash, the long jump, shot put, high jump and 400 meter run. Day two, in order, features the 110-meter hurdles³, discus throw, pole vault⁴, javelin⁵ throw and 1500-meter run. Points in each event are scored according to a set of tables approved by track and field's world governing body IAAF.

Coming into the Olympics, 29-year-old Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic was favored to win the gold medal. He's the world record holder⁶ and the only man to break 9,000 points in the decathlon (9,026).

The 1.86-meter-tall Sebrle had won the decathlon silver medal four years ago at the Sydney Olympics and was second to American Tom Pappas at last year's World Athletics⁷ Championships. He said he tried not to think too much about how Pappas was performing.

"I looked to him a little bit because I had to focus just on me and think about my events and my results and look in front and it was a very hard competition," Sebrle said.

Tom Pappas still had the gold medal in site after the first day in Athens, but was forced to drop out on the second day with an injured foot.

Roman Sebrle trailed Dmitry Karpov of Kazakhstan entering the second day and finally passed him in the javelin, the next to last event. The Czech held on to take the gold medal. American Bryan Clay also passed Karpov in the javelin segment and won the silver medal, while Karpov had to settle for the bronze.

Sebrle, with an Olympic record total of 8,893 points, was relieved to get the victory. "I was nervous the whole time and I think about gold, and thinking about making [winning] it. All two days were very hard because Clay and Karpov had very good results and I was third the whole time," he said. "And it was a very hard competition for me, a very long competition, too many good competitors, very hot, and I am happy now."

The likeable Roman Sebrle is quite modest. Despite his decathlon gold medal achievement, he does not consider himself the top all-around athlete in the world.

"No, no," he insisted. "Every event is hard and hard to train for. And I think every athlete is the best athlete."

The only thing the Czech star would acknowledge is that decathletes are a special kind of athlete.

Parke Brewer, VOA Sports, in Athens.
注释：
Roman Sebrle 罗马内·谢布尔勒
Czech Republic 捷克共和国
decathlon 十项全能比赛
specialize 专门研究
gymnastics 体操
apparatus 器械
triathlon 三项全能运动
modern pentathlon 现代五项运动
heptathlon 七项全能
100-meter dash 100米赛
the long jump 跳远
shot put 掷铅球
high jump 跳高
400 meter run 400米跑
the 110-meter hurdles 110米栏
discus throw 铁饼
pole vault 撑竿跳高
javelin throw 标枪
1500-meter run 1500米跑
IAAF International Association of Athletics Federations国际田径联合会
world record 世界记录
World Athletics Championships 世界锦标赛
Kazakhstan 哈萨克
segment 赛段
likeable 可爱的
modest 谦虚的

 

1 brewer   

n. 啤酒制造者

参考例句：

• Brewer is a very interesting man. 布鲁尔是一个很有趣的人。
• I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. 我决定辞职，做一名酿酒人。

2 apparatus   

n.装置，器械；器具，设备

参考例句：

• The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
• They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。

3 hurdles   

n.障碍( hurdle的名词复数 )；跳栏；（供人或马跳跃的）栏架；跨栏赛

参考例句：

• In starting a new company, many hurdles must be crossed. 刚开办一个公司时，必须克服许多障碍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There are several hurdles to be got over in this project. 在这项工程中有一些困难要克服。 来自辞典例句

4 vault   

n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室

参考例句：

• The vault of this cathedral is very high.这座天主教堂的拱顶非常高。
• The old patrician was buried in the family vault.这位老贵族埋在家族的墓地里。

5 javelin   

n.标枪，投枪

参考例句：

• She achieved a throw of sixty metres in the javelin event.在掷标枪项目中，她掷了60米远。
• The coach taught us how to launch a javelin.教练教我们投标枪。

6 holder   

n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物

参考例句：

• The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
• That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。

7 athletics   

n.运动，体育，田径运动

参考例句：

• When I was at school I was always hopeless at athletics.我上学的时候体育十分糟糕。
• Our team tied with theirs in athletics.在田径比赛中，我们队与他们队旗鼓相当。