He is a four-time U.S. national champion and won the Pan American Games title last year in Rio de Janeiro. But Ryan Reser of the U.S. judo team has never been to the Olympics. This year, that will change, when Reser competes in the men's 73-kilogram category in Beijing. For Reser nothing less than Olympic gold will be satisfying.
瑞安·里色尔在美国全国运动会中曾四度赢得冠军，去年又在巴西里约热内卢举行的泛美运动会中夺冠。但是这位美国柔道选手以前从来没有参加过奥运比赛。今年，里色尔将在北京奥运中参加男子 73 公斤级比赛，他说，只有奥运金牌才能让他感到满足。
Ryan Reser first got involved in judo at age five. His parents were looking for a sport to keep the rambunctious child and his siblings busy and out of trouble. By age seven, Reser was competing in national events. While he also played soccer and wrestled, by the time he finished high school, Ryan was focused only on judo with one goal in mind - winning the Olympics.
瑞安·里色尔第一次接触柔道，只有五岁。当时，父母想找一项运动，让不好管教的几个孩子不去惹麻烦。利色尔七岁时，就开始参加全国比赛。虽然他也踢足球，摔跤，但是高中毕业那年，他把全副精力放在柔道上，而且他已经为自己设定了目标，那就是要在奥林匹克运动会上夺冠。
That dream came closer to reality this year. At the U.S. Olympic trials in Las Vegas, Nevada in June, Reser lost the first of three matches to countryman Chuck Jefferson. But he came back to beat Jefferson in the next two matches to win the berth to Beijing.
今年，里色尔距离梦想的实现又迈进了一步。六月份在内华达州拉斯维加斯的选拔赛上，里利色尔在三场对抗赛的第一场中输给了美国选手查克·杰斐逊。但在接下来的两场对抗中，他反败为胜，赢得了奥运参赛资格。
Reser and Jefferson had been battling for the top spot for years. Reser had also been the top alternate to four-time Olympian and former world champion Jimmy Pedro in 2000 and 2004. Pedro retired after winning his second Olympic bronze medal in Athens. Ryan Reser says he learned much from watching Pedro, but now he is out to earn his own reputation.
多年来，里色尔和杰斐逊一直在争夺美国柔道的霸主地位。在2000年和2004年奥运会上，里色尔都是在奥运会上四度夺冠的前世界冠军吉米·佩德乐的第一候补。佩德乐在雅典获得第二面奥运铜牌后退休。里色尔说，他从佩德乐身上学习到了很多东西。但是现在，他要赢得自己的荣誉。
"It does not bother me because Jimmy is obviously a very good judo player, one of the best that we have had," he said. "So it is actually an honor to be mentioned in the same sentence as Jimmy, but you know, you obviously want to live your own legacy. You want to - I want to be Ryan Reser instead of the next Jimmy Pedro. I mean it is an honor but I want to make my own stand."
他说：“吉米是一位非常优秀的柔道选手，他是我们所遇到的最好的选手之一。别人将我与吉米相提并论，对我来说是一种荣誉，我不会因此不高兴。但是你要知道，人人都希望留下自己的印迹。我希望自己是瑞安·里色尔，而不是第二个吉米·佩德乐。我的意思是，被比做佩德乐是一项荣誉，可是我要建立我自己的地位。”
In judo, the goal is to score an ippon, similar to a pin in wrestling or a knockout in boxing. There are several techniques, including hip throws, arm locks, strangle holds and other moves that players use to score an ippon.
在柔道比赛中，选手得分叫“一胜”，就像摔跤把对手压在地上和在拳击里将对方击倒一样。
At the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Reser scored an ippon with a throw of Leandro Guilhero of Brazil. The partisan Brazilian crowd disagreed with the ruling, and Reser said fans were throwing things and cursing him as he left the venue. But the American says that kind of passion is part of judo. However, unlike other countries, American judo players are not professionals. Reser has a job and is also going to school part time. He says it is tough, but worth it to make the Olympics.
2007年在里约热内卢的泛美运动会中，里色尔将巴西选手吉尔赫洛摔倒，赢得“一胜”，但立场一面倒的巴西观众认为裁判不公。里色尔说，观众向他扔东西，在他离开赛场时，还一路咒骂他。但是这位美国选手说，那种激情是柔道的一部分。柔道在美国不同于其它各国的是，美国柔道选手都不是职业选手。里色尔有工作，还要上学。他说，这样做确实很辛苦，但是为了奥林匹克，值得。
"For the Europeans, the Japanese or the Asian countries, it is a job for them. That's their job. Unfortunately for us, we are not that recognizable yet in the United States, which we are working on," he said. "You know we put our time in working, we put our time in going to school, and then we do as much as we can. And we do get a lot of support from USA Judo and also from our families and other avenues like that."
“对欧洲、日本、或者亚洲选手来说，柔道就是他们的职业。但不幸的是，柔道在美国并不热门。我们正朝这个方向努力。你知道，我们要花时间工作，上学，然而尽量训练。我们也得到了美国柔道协会，家庭等渠道的支持。”
To realize his dream of making the Olympics, Ryan Reser moved to Colorado Springs 10 years ago to train at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. Ryan and his older brother Reno, a decorated judoka in his own right, share a house there and Ryan was often his brother's sparring partner. Judo requires a disciplined training regimen, which Ryan says includes strength and endurance training and judo practice. That training is in addition to work, school and caring for two dogs, a boxer and a bulldog mix.
为实现奥运梦想，瑞安·里色尔十年前就搬到科罗拉多斯普林斯市，在美国奥林匹克训练中心接受训练。他和哥哥里诺合住一栋房子。里诺也是一名不错的柔道手，经常充当瑞安的陪练。柔道训练很严格，里色尔说，它包括力量、耐力、以及柔道动作的训练。训练以外，里色尔还要工作、上学并且照顾两只狗，一只斗拳狗，一只杂种斗牛犬。
"I get up about 5:30 or 5:45 and get everything ready for the day. I go to do a workout for about an 1.5 or two hours. Do cardio, weights and then I go to work until about 3:00 or 3:30-ish and then go straight to practice from there. And then home to take care of the dogs take care of the family stuff again and get ready to start early the next day."
他说： “我早上五点半或者五点45分就起床，准备迎接新的一天。然后，我去作一个半小时到两小时的运动。我做增强心肺功能的有氧运动和举重。然后去上班。直到下午三点或三点半，又直接去训练。然后我回家照顾狗，做一些家事，又要为第二天做准备了。”
But Ryan Reser's life is not all judo. He told VOA Sports the wilderness of Colorado's Rocky Mountains offers him somewhere to relax and get away from the intense preparation for the Olympics.
"I mean relaxing isn't really relaxing; it's hiking, a lot of mountain biking, taking the dogs out. But just anything to get away from judo, which is such a demanding sport both physically and mentally, so just anything to where I can just head out to the country," added Reser. "And check out the sights and just breathe in the mountain air."
Ryan Reser says his goals are simple - not only to make the Olympic team, but also to make the podium, preferably the gold medal platform. He told VOA that his favorite phrase is "being an Olympian is not every four years, it is every day." Reser has made that his credo and he hopes that his everyday commitment to judo will lead to a gold in Beijing.
里色尔说，他的目标很简单，不仅要参加奥运代表队，还要站在领奖台上，最好是金牌领奖台。他告诉美国之音记者说，他最喜欢的一句话是“奥运选手并非四年一次，而是每天的工作”。里色尔把这句话当作座右铭。他希望，自己每天为了柔道付出的一切，将带他走向北京的金牌之路。 |