Everybody loves a winner. Across the world, countries are greeting their Olympic gold medallists with joy and acclaim¹. In Singapore, Joseph Schooling², the city-state’s first ever gold medallist, has become a national hero and was greeted with a standing³ ovation⁴ in parliament. In the US, the extraordinary gymnast, Simone Biles, who has won four gold medals in Rio, has become the face of the Games. Meanwhile, the British were astonished and delighted to find Team GB, heading into the last weekend of the Olympics, in second place in the medal table.

人人都爱胜利者。世界各地的国家现在正愉快地以欢呼声迎接着他们的奥运冠军。在新加坡，这个城市国家有史以来第一位奥运金牌得主约瑟夫•斯库林(Joseph Schooling)成为了民族英雄，在议会受到了集体起立鼓掌欢迎。在美国，出类拔萃的体操运动员、里约奥运会4块金牌得主西蒙娜•拜尔斯(Simone Biles)，成为了里约奥运会的象征。与此同时，英国人惊喜地发现，英国代表队在奥运金牌榜上竟然排名第二。

Yet amid all this celebration of triumph and victory, it is important to remember the words of Pierre de Coubertin, the founder⁵ of the modern Olympics, who said: “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning, but taking part.”

不过，在庆祝成功与胜利之际，重要的是记住现代奥运会创始人皮埃尔•德•顾拜旦(Pierre de Coubertin)曾经说过的话：“奥林匹克运动会最重要的不是取胜，而是参与。”

Some might dismiss de Coubertin’s words as belonging to a bygone age, when Olympic athletes were amateurs. It is certainly the case that Britain’s run of success has come from lavish⁶ funding of Olympic sport, which has allowed potential champions to concentrate full-time⁷ on their disciplines, even in sports where little professional infrastructure⁸ exists. This week, Piers⁹ Morgan, a British journalist, embraced an ugly new ethos, when he commented that he was interested only in gold medal winners.

一些人可能会不把顾拜旦的话放在心上，认为这话只适用于一个已经逝去的时代——那时参加奥运会的运动员都是业余选手。诚然，英国在奥运会上的成功源自对奥林匹克运动的大量资金投入，这些资金使得潜在的奥运会冠军能够全职投入到自己的体育项目训练中——哪怕是几乎没有职业基础架构的体育项目。上周，英国资深媒体人皮尔斯•摩根(Piers Morgan)拥抱了一种丑陋的新思潮，他评论称自己只对金牌得主感兴趣。

Mr Morgan’s comments provoked a justifiable¹⁰ backlash. But they were not merely graceless. They also failed to reflect the reality that the Coubertin spirit is alive and well — and has yielded some of the most inspiring moments of these Olympics.

摩根的评论自然引发了强烈反应。但是这些话不只是不得体，也没能反映出这一事实，即顾拜旦精神依然鲜活地存在着，并激发出了这届奥运会中一些最鼓舞人心的时刻。

In the heats of the women’s 5,000m, when Abbey D’Agostino of the US and Nikki Hamblin of New Zealand tripped and fell — the two athletes helped each other to get up and finish the race. Both women have received more worldwide attention for their outstanding display of the Olympic spirit than they would have done for winning medals.

在女子5000米长跑比赛竞争最激烈的时刻，美国选手阿比•达戈斯蒂诺(Abbey D’Agostino)和新西兰选手尼基•汉布林(Nikki Hamblin)双双摔倒——两名选手互相搀扶着起身后完成了比赛。她们因为突出展现了奥运精神而获得的来自全世界的关注，超过了获奖所能带来的关注。

This was not an isolated¹¹ example of a case where somebody losing in the right spirit has garnered¹² more acclaim than a gold medallist. The Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui has become a worldwide celebrity¹³ because of her exuberance¹⁴ in defeat, as well as victory. Her joy in winning a bronze medal and her light-hearted comment that perhaps her arms were a little too short to carry her to victory demonstrated that there are ways to win worldwide respect that do not necessarily involve winning gold.

这并非个例——多位虽然输掉比赛但是展现了运动精神的运动员，都得到了比金牌得主更多的赞誉。中国游泳运动员傅园慧因为在失败和胜利时同样兴高采烈而在全世界出了名。她赢得铜牌时的快乐和她轻松愉快的评论（自称没得银牌大概是因为手太短了）表明，赢得全世界尊重的方式有很多，未必非得赢得金牌。

The stories of Fu, D’Agostino and Hamblin made headlines. But these Olympics have thrown up many other examples of grace under pressure. Piotr Malachowski, a Polish discus thrower won a silver medal at the Beijing Games in 2008. In Rio in 2016, he led the competition throughout until a German rival, Christoph Harting, snatched victory with his very last throw. Yet Malachowski’s reaction to seeing his dream of a gold medal disappear was to shake his head wryly¹⁵ and then to embrace his rival and to celebrate alongside him. That demonstration¹⁶ of how to cope with disappointment was an example not just to other athletes, but to all those who strive to achieve a goal, in any field, and fall just short.

傅园慧、达戈斯蒂诺和汉布林的故事登上了头条。不过，这届奥运会还出现了很多在压力下展现风度的例子。波兰铁饼运动员彼得•马瓦霍夫斯基(Piotr Malachowski)在2008年北京奥运会时拿到了银牌。在本次里约奥运会上，他一直领先，直到德国选手克里斯托夫•哈廷(Christoph Harting)在最后一掷中一举取胜。不过，马瓦霍夫斯基看到自己金牌梦破灭后，先是苦涩地摇摇头，然后拥抱了对手、跟对方一起庆祝。这种应对失望的表现，不仅值得其他运动员学习，也值得任何领域所有努力实现目标但与成功失之交臂的人学习。

The truth is that any athlete who has made it to the Olympics — let alone an Olympic final — has achieved something remarkable¹⁷. Simply to qualify for the Games requires enormous levels of dedication¹⁸ and effort. That, in turn, makes it even harder to accept defeat with good grace. Those athletes who remain true to the spirit of de Coubertin, despite all these pressures, are just as inspirational as the winners of gold medals.

事实上，任何一个参加奥运会的运动员——更不用说进入奥运会决赛的运动员——都已经取得了令人瞩目的成绩。单单取得奥运会参赛资格，便需要巨大的投入和努力。因此，以良好的风度接受失败更显难能可贵。那些在压力之下仍然坚持顾拜旦精神的运动员，和金牌得主一样鼓舞人心。