冬奧會極限項目令更多女運動員受傷
冬奧會極限項目令更多女運動員受傷
A Czech snowboarder named Sarka Pancochova led the slopestyle event after the first run. On her second trip down the course of obstacles and jumps, she flew through the air, performed a high-arcing, spinning trick, and smacked her head upon landing. Her limp body spun like a propeller into the gully between jumps and slid to a stop.
捷克單板滑雪選手薩爾卡·潘科霍娃(Sarka Pancochova)在坡面障礙技巧決賽的第一輪比賽后領先。第二輪比賽的過程中，在布滿障礙和跳臺的賽道上，她一躍而起，展示了一個高弧度的旋轉技巧，落地時摔到了頭部。她軟綿綿的身體像螺旋槳一樣轉動著，跌入了兩個跳臺之間的凹槽，滑了一會才停下。
Pancochova was soon on her feet, and the uneasy crowd cheered. Her helmet was cracked nearly in half, back to front.
潘科霍娃很快就站了起來，緊張的人群爆發(fā)出歡呼聲。她的頭盔幾乎摔成了兩半，前后反了過來。
She was one of the lucky ones, seemingly O.K., but her crash last week was indicative of a bigger issue: a messy collage of violent wipeouts at these Olympics. Most of the accidents have occurred at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, site of the snowboarding and freestyle skiing events like halfpipe, slopestyle and moguls.
她是幸運的，看起來沒有大礙，但她上周摔倒的經歷折射出一個更大的問題：本屆冬奧會上演了各種混亂而慘烈的翻跌事故。其中多數(shù)事故發(fā)生在玫瑰莊園極限公園(Rosa Khutor Extreme Park)，這里是U型場地技巧、坡面障礙技巧和雪上技巧等單板滑雪和自由式滑雪項目的比賽場所。
And most of the injuries have been sustained by women.
而且，大多數(shù)受傷的都是女運動員。
Through Monday night, a review of the events at the Extreme Park counted at least 22 accidents that either forced athletes out of the competition or, if on their final run, required medical attention. Of those, 16 involved women. The injury rate is higher when considering that the men’s fields are generally larger.
直到周一晚上，玫瑰莊園極限公園發(fā)生了至少22起事故，這些事故要么迫使運動員退出角逐，要么——如果進入到決賽輪——導致他們要接受醫(yī)療救治。其中，16起事故與女運動員有關?？紤]到男子選手數(shù)量更龐大，女性運動員受傷的實際概率比這要更高。
The question, a difficult one, is why.
一個難于回答的問題是，為什么。
The Winter Games have always had dangerous events. But the Extreme Park, as the name suggests, is built on the ageless allure of danger. All of the events there have been added to the Olympic docket since 1992, each a tantalizing cocktail of grace and peril.
冬奧會從來都有一些危險的項目。但是極限公園，顧名思義，是基于危險的永恒魅力而建造的。在那里舉辦的所有項目，都是1992年開始進入奧運會的，每一項都融合了優(yōu)雅和冒險，讓人欲罷不能。
But unlike some of the time-honored sports of risk, including Alpine skiing, luge and ski jumping, there are few concessions made for women. For both sexes, the walls of the halfpipe are 22 feet tall. The slopestyle course has the same tricky rails and the same massive jumps. The course for ski cross and snowboard cross, a six-person race to the finish over jumps and around icy banked curves, is the same for men and women. The jumps for aerials are the same height. The bumps in moguls play no gender favorites.
不過，與高山滑雪、雪橇和跳臺滑雪等歷史悠久的風險運動不同，奧運會的一些高風險項目對女性幾乎沒有照顧。男女運動員的U型槽的高度都是22英尺(約合6.7米)。坡面障礙技巧的賽道也有著同樣復雜的路徑和同樣巨大的跳臺。自由式滑雪障礙追逐和單板滑雪障礙追逐對男女運動員也都一視同仁。在這個項目中，六名選手需要經過多個跳臺和弧形冰面賽道爭取最快到達終點。男女運動員空中騰躍的跳臺高度相同。雪上障礙比賽中，障礙對男女選手也沒有任何區(qū)別。
“Most of the courses are built for the big show, for the men,” said Kim Lamarre of Canada, the bronze medalist in slopestyle skiing, where the competition was delayed a few times by spectacular falls. “I think they could do more to make it safer for women.”
在坡面障礙技巧比賽中獲得銅牌的加拿大選手金·拉馬爾(Kim Lamarre)說，“多數(shù)賽道是為最精彩的演出、為男人設計的。”那場比賽多次因為嚇人的摔倒事故而被推遲。“我覺得他們可以采取更多行動，讓這項比賽對女運動員來說更安全一些。”
Compare the sports with downhill skiing, in which women have their own course, one that is shorter and less difficult to navigate. Or luge, in which female sliders start lower on the track than the men. Or ski jump, in which women were finally allowed to participate this year, but only on the smaller of the two hills. The Olympics have a history — sexist, perhaps — of trying to protect women from the perils of some sports.
相比之下，滑降比賽有女運動員的專用賽道，長度較短，通過的難度也較小。還有雪橇，女運動員的出發(fā)高度比男子低。再就是跳臺滑雪，今年首次允許女性參加這一項目，但女子比賽是在兩座山中較小的那座進行的。奧運會有一個傳統(tǒng)——可能有些性別歧視——是保護女性避免某些危險的運動。
But equality reigns at the Extreme Park, even to the possible detriment of the female participants.
但在玫瑰莊園極限公園，男女平等的原則至上，即使女性參與者可能會受到傷害。
“When we practice, we don’t practice on the same jumps as the men,” said J. F. Cusson, ski slopestyle coach for Canada and a former X Games gold medalist. “They’re too big for them. But when they compete, they have to jump on the same jumps, so they get hurt. It’s a big concern of mine.”
加拿大的坡面障礙技巧教練、前世界極限運動會(X Games)冠軍J·F·庫森(J. F. Cusson)說，“我們訓練時候使用的跳臺和男子的不同。男子運動員使用的障礙對她們來說太大了。但在比賽的時候，她們必須跳過同樣的跳臺，所以會受傷，這是我最大的擔憂。”
The most serious injury so far was to Maria Komissarova of Russia, who fractured her spine during training for ski cross. The course is longer and has larger jumps than ever before. To add to the excitement, it also has room for six racers, where previous Olympics ran heats of four.
目前為止，俄羅斯瑪利亞·柯米莎諾娃(Maria Komissarova)受的傷最重。她在障礙追逐項目的訓練中傷到了脊椎。這次的賽道長度和跳臺尺寸比以往都要大。為了增加比賽的刺激性，這次冬奧會提供了六人賽的空間。以前都只進行四人賽。
“It’s one of the bigger courses, but it’s not especially unsafe,” Ralph Pfaeffli, coach of Switzerland’s ski cross team, said after the crash. “It clearly will have some challenge, and we will have to adapt.”
瑞士拉爾夫·普費弗利(Ralph Pfaeffli)障礙追逐隊教練在柯米莎諾娃受傷后說，“這是一個較大的賽道，但也不是特別不安全。它顯然會具有挑戰(zhàn)性，我們只能去適應。”
In some of the events, like the halfpipe and moguls, athletes can decide how fast or high they want to go. But in sports like slopestyle and snowboard and ski cross, they have to maintain a certain speed to launch themselves a certain distance to negotiate the course. Slowing down can be just as dangerous as going fast, and few medals are earned with the brakes on.
在U型場地技巧和雪上技巧等一些項目中，運動員可以自己決定他們行進的速度和高度。但是在坡面障礙技巧、單板滑雪和障礙追逐等項目中，他們就必須保持一定的速度來跨越特定的距離，以成功穿越賽道。減速和高速可能會同樣危險，而且一旦控制速度就很難拿到獎牌了。
Olympic organizers want to build courses and competitions that are the equal, at least, of the Winter X Games, where most of the Extreme Park events gained wide popularity. But the invitation-only X Games have small fields, often 10 or fewer of the world’s best. The Olympics, by design, want larger fields with a wide cross-section of countries. The drop-off in talent between top athletes and the bottom of the field can be drastic.
冬奧會主辦方在建設時，都希望賽道和比賽的水平至少能達到冬季極限運動會的水準。極限公園的多數(shù)項目正是在冬季極限運動會上開始受到廣泛關注。但是只能受邀參加的冬季極限運動會，其參賽選手規(guī)模很小，常常就是世界頂尖的那十位運動員，或者更少。而奧運會從本質上來說就是要吸引更多來自不同國家的運動員。其中頂尖運動員和墊底選手的能力之不同，可謂天差地別。
There were concerns about slopestyle, which made its Olympic debut here, from the beginning. Men and women worried aloud about the course during training, complaining mostly about jumps bigger than many had seen before. The American snowboarder Shaun White said the course could be “intimidating,” and then pulled out of the competition, worried that an injury would spoil his chance to compete in the gentler confines of the halfpipe.
坡面障礙技巧在索契首次亮相冬奧會，但從一開始就引發(fā)了不少的擔憂。男女運動員都在訓練時對賽道表達了強烈的擔心，其中設置的跳臺比許多人見過的都要大，他們因此非常不滿。美國單板滑雪運動員肖恩·懷特(Shaun White)說這個賽道“令人生畏”，然后就退出了比賽，他擔心因傷失去參加賽道較和緩的U型場地技巧比賽的機會。
“There’s a lot of consequence on that course,” Charles Reid of Canada said.
加拿大的查爾斯·賴德(Charles Reid)說，“那條賽道會出現(xiàn)很多情況。”
But the men managed to negotiate the slopestyle course with just one Olympic-ending injury. The women had far more difficulty.
但是男選手們最終都完成了坡面障礙技巧的比賽，只出現(xiàn)了一例導致退出本次奧運會的受傷。而女選手們遭遇的問題則要多得多。
Kaya Turski of Canada, a favorite in ski slopestyle, foreshadowed the carnage when she said before the competition that the course was “a little scary” and “unnecessarily risky.” She said that a lot of the women had not been on a course anywhere nearly as large and intimidating. The precompetition anxiety was palpable.
加拿大的卡亞·圖爾斯基(Kaya Turski)是人們喜愛的一位坡面障礙技巧滑雪運動員，她在賽前就預言會出現(xiàn)大量受傷的情況，她說賽道“有點兒嚇人”，也“沒必要那么危險”。她說，許多女選手此前滑過的賽道，大小和危險程度都無法與這條賽道相提并論。賽前的焦慮情緒分外明顯。
“It’s probably the most difficult course we’ve ever been on,” Turski said.
圖爾斯基說，“這可能會是我們滑過的難度最高的賽道。”
She then crashed on each of her two runs in qualifications and finished 19th.
隨后，她在資格賽的兩次滑行中都跌倒了，最后排在第19。
The slopestyle course did present options, including two ramps at each of the three big jumps, one slightly smaller than the other. About half the women’s field used the smaller jumps in qualifications (none of the men did), and a few of the 12 finalists used the smaller jumps, but that did not prevent injuries.
運動員在坡面障礙技巧的比賽中的確可以有其他選擇，在三個大跳臺的旁邊都各有兩條小坡道，一條比另一條略小。女選手中大約有一半在資格賽中都會選擇小跳臺(男選手中沒有人這么做)，進入決賽的12名女選手中也有幾位選擇了小跳臺，但這也沒能防止意外的出現(xiàn)。
“I see it every contest,” Cusson said. “Unless they are forced to hit the smaller side, the best ones will always go for the bigger jumps. They want to prove to everybody that they are capable. And then all the other girls will follow.”
“每場比賽我都會看到意外的發(fā)生，”庫森說。“除非強迫她們從小坡道走，最好的那些運動員一定會去嘗試大跳臺。她們想向所有人證明自己是有能力的。這樣一來，所有其他的女選手也不得不這么做。”
While men are now attempting triple flips, women are not to the point of doing doubles. Cusson believes that the smaller jumps are sufficient for the tricks that women are doing. At last year’s world championships in Norway, Cusson required his team to use the smaller jumps to limit injuries. Some women were upset, afraid that their scores from judges would be lower without the greater risk. But Canada finished first, second and fifth in the competition.
就在男選手紛紛嘗試三連翻的時候，女選手們還沒有達到兩次連翻的水平。庫森相信，對于女選手嘗試的動作來說，小跳臺已經足夠了。在去年于挪威舉行的世界錦標賽上，庫森要求他手下的隊員走小跳臺，盡量減少受傷。一些女選手為此很不高興，擔心如果不多冒點兒險，裁判的打分就會較低。但是在比賽中，加拿大選手取得了第一、第二和第五的名次。
“We should be able to showcase our sport on the big jumps,” said Devin Logan of the United States, who won a silver medal in ski slopestyle. Logan said she prefers the bigger jumps because they give her more time in the air to perform her tricks, though she appreciates the option that the smaller jumps provide in poor weather or snow conditions. But peer pressure can be an issue, she said.
美國選手德溫·洛根(Devin Logan)在坡面障礙技巧滑雪中得了一塊銀牌，她說，“我們應該能夠在大跳臺上展示我們的技藝。”洛根說她更喜歡大跳臺，因為這會給她更多時間在空中展示她的動作，不過在惡劣天氣或雪天能有較小的障礙可選，她也是領情的。但她說，參賽選手中會有相互競爭的壓力。
“We’re all competitive athletes,” Logan said. “We all want to stand on the podium. If someone is hitting tricks off the bigger jumps, then you’re going to want to, too.”
洛根說，“我們都是樂于競爭的運動員。我們都想站在領獎臺上。如果某人走了大跳臺，做出了復雜的動作，那么你也會想這么做。”
