老将遇新秀，冬奥花样滑冰谁封后？

老将遇新秀，冬奥花样滑冰谁封后?

SOCHI, Russia — Kim Yu-na had arrived on a long flight from South Korea to defend her Olympic figure skating title. This was her first practice, near dusk on Thursday, and dozens of reporters and photographers recorded every jump and spin and mop of the brow. The whir of cameras made a hushed, clattering sound like cards in the spokes of a bicycle tire.

俄罗斯索契——金妍儿(Kim Yu-na)经过长途飞行从韩国抵达了索契，她将迎来冬奥会花样滑冰项目的卫冕之战。这是她在索契的首次训练，周四，黄昏将至的时候，几十名记者和摄影师记录下了她的每次跳跃、旋转，甚至每次拭去额上汗水的瞬间。工作中的摄像机发出连续而清脆的声音，就像硬纸片在转动的自行车轮辐条间发出的声响。

Afterward, Kim was asked about her presumed top challenger, 15-year-old Yulia Lipnitskaya, whose poise, youthful jumping, blurring spins and gymnastic flexibility helped lift Russia to a team gold medal and made her an international sensation.

然后，金妍儿被问到了与她的最大挑战者——15岁的尤利娅·利普尼茨卡娅(Yulia Lipnitskaya)有关的问题。利普尼茨卡娅淡定的姿态、富有活力的跳跃、令人目不暇接的旋转，以及体操运动员般的灵活性，帮助俄罗斯夺得了花样滑冰团体赛的金牌，在世界范围引起了轰动。

Women’s skating does not begin until Wednesday, but anticipation has been growing since last month when an emergent Lipnitskaya won the European championship. This is probably the most eagerly awaited competition of the Winter Games.

花样滑冰女子单人滑的比赛周三才拉开序幕，但是自从上个月，新星利普尼茨卡娅赢得了欧洲花样滑冰锦标赛冠军之后，人们对该项目比赛的期待不断升温。这可能是本届冬奥会最受瞩目的比赛。

Yes, Kim said through an interpreter, she had watched Lipnitskaya compete in the team event on television before leaving Seoul, the South Korean capital. But Kim, 23, would not compare herself to anyone, except to say that this would be her second and final Olympics, while it would be Lipnitskaya’s first.

是的，金妍儿说，她在离开韩国首都首尔之前看了利普尼茨卡娅在团体赛中的表现。一名口译员把她的话翻译给了记者。但现年23岁的金妍儿不愿意把自己和任何人进行比较，她只是说，这将是自己的第二次、也是最后一次奥运比赛，然而，这却是利普尼茨卡娅首次参加奥运会。

“The meaning is different,” Kim said.

“它对我们的意义并不一样，”金妍儿说。

Kim could become only the third woman after Sonja Henie of Norway (1928, 1932, 1936) and Katarina Witt of East Germany (1984, 1988) to win consecutive gold medals. Lipnitskaya would be the youngest gold medalist since Tara Lipinski, who was also 15 when she defeated Michelle Kwan at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.

金妍儿或许能成为继挪威的桑雅·赫尼(Sonja Henie, 1928, 1932, 1936) 和东德的卡特琳娜·维特(Katarina Witt, 1984, 1988)之后第三位蝉联冬奥会冠军的女子花滑运动员。利普尼茨卡娅则可能成为塔拉·利平斯基(Tara Lipinski)之后最年轻的花滑奥运金牌得主，后者1998年在日本长野冬奥会上打败了关颖珊，当时也是15岁。

“To knock an Olympic champion off the top spot of the podium is going to take a lot,” said Kristi Yamaguchi, the 1992 Olympic champion.

1992年的奥运冠军克丽斯蒂·山口(Kristi Yamaguchi)说，“要把一名奥运冠军从最高领奖台上拉下来是要付出很多努力的。”

“Yu-na will have to make mistakes for Lipnitskaya to beat her, but it’s possible.”

“金妍儿只有出现失误才会败给利普尼茨卡娅，但这是有可能的。”

Each skater has her strengths and vulnerabilities. Kim is both a champion and a mystery. At the 2010 Vancouver Games, she gave one of the greatest Olympic performances ever delivered. At her best, Kim has an ethereal command on the ice, whispery speed, helicoptering height and graceful flow on her jumps. Last March, after seldom competing during the season, she won the world championship decisively.

每一名花滑选手都有自己的长处和弱点。金妍儿既是一名冠军，也是一位谜一样的选手。在2010年温哥华冬奥会上，她呈现了奥运会有史以来的最伟大演出。在最佳状态下，金妍儿能展示出精妙的冰上控制，风一样的速度，其跳跃动作既能极具高度，又保持流畅连贯。去年3月，虽然此前很少在当时那个赛季参加比赛，她仍然无可争辩地赢得了世锦赛冠军。

“She can do a simple move, and it has you on the edge of your seat,” Yamaguchi said.

山口说，“她可以只是做一个简单的动作，却扣人心弦。”

Yet, Kim missed weeks of training and the entire international Grand Prix circuit in the fall while recovering from a metatarsal injury in her right foot. She has competed only at a less visible event in Zagreb, Croatia, and at the South Korean national championship.

然而，由于右脚跖骨伤病的恢复，金妍儿在秋季错过了好几周的训练和国际滑冰联盟花样滑冰大奖赛(Grand Prix)的全部比赛。她只在克罗地亚的萨格勒布参加了一个不太知名的赛事，以及韩国锦标赛。

Her practices here have been impressive, but there will be no day of rest between the short and long program, no time to recover physically and emotionally, which left the conclusion of the Olympic men’s competition drained and messy.

她今天训练时的表现已然非常精彩，但短节目和自由滑的比赛之间没有整天的休息时间，没有时间进行体力和情绪上的恢复和调整，也是因为这个原因，本届冬奥会男子花滑的比赛以运动员精疲力尽和混乱不堪的表现而收场。

“Who knows what Yu-na Kim is going to show up?” said Paul Wylie, the 1992 Olympic silver medalist. “She could just take all the air out of the room, but I think she’s going to struggle against a perfect performance from Lipnitskaya.”

1992年冬奥会银牌得主保罗·怀利(Paul Wylie)说，“谁知道金妍儿会有怎样的表现。她可能让所有人激动得无法呼吸，但我认为，她也可能因为利普尼茨卡娅的完美表现而经历一场艰苦卓绝的比赛。”

There is a diffidence about Kim, a sense that these Games are as much about a closing of a career as an opening to history. She said she was more focused on taking part than winning. When asked about Henie and Witt, Kim said, “A lot of time has passed and our abilities are different.”

人们对金妍儿有些缺乏信心，她给人的感觉是，这些比赛既是历史记录的撰写，也是她职业生涯的终结。她说，她更注重参赛而不是获胜。当被问到海妮和维特时，金妍儿说，“时间已经过去很久了，我们的能力是不同的。”

Kim does have at least two potential advantages over Lipnitskaya: maturity and experience. She breezily handled the pressure of the Olympics in Vancouver and has grown accustomed to dealing with widespread celebrity, which can pin a person like a butterfly to a spreading board.

和利普尼茨卡娅相比，金妍儿确实至少拥有两个潜在的优势，那就是成熟和经验。在温哥华冬奥会上，她轻而易举地化解了压力，她已惯于应对无处不在的名人效应，而这种效应有时能把人像蝴蝶那样钉到标本板上。

She is one of South Korea’s most popular athletes, featured on billboards and in television commercials for products like cosmetics, fine jewelry, air-conditioners and fabric softener. Some popular South Korean actors and boy-band members have said they would love to date her.

她是韩国最具人气的运动员之一，她出现在广告牌和电视广告里，为化妆品、高级珠宝、空调和织物柔软剂等产品代言。一些当红的韩国演员和男子乐队组合成员已经表示，他们希望能和她约会。

There is a gravity about Kim, too. As a good-will ambassador for Unicef, she has donated money to earthquake victims in Haiti, typhoon victims in the Philippines and children displaced by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

金妍儿也有严肃的一面。作为联合国儿童基金会(Unicef)的慈善大使，她捐助了海地地震的灾民、菲律宾台风风灾难民和因为2011年的日本地震及海啸而无家可归的儿童。

“She can handle whatever’s thrown at her,” Lipinski said. “Her lifestyle is probably so different than any of these other skaters. That’s an advantage. She’s had to learn to deal with so many things and still stay calm.”

利平斯基说，“她能游刃有余地处理别人丢给她的任何事。她的生活方式可能和其他所有滑冰选手都完全不同。这是一种优势。她不得不学会应对如此多的事务，同时依然保持镇定。”

Composure is also one of the most impressive aspects of Lipnitskaya’s skating. Contrary to what many people believe, Lipinski said from personal experience, young skaters are not fearless and immune to pressure.

镇定也是利普尼茨卡娅在比赛中令人印象最深刻的一点。和许多人的看法相反，利平斯基说，就她个人的经验而言，年轻的花滑选手并非不受压力的影响，也不是无所畏惧。

“If anything, I think the young ones have it harder,” Lipinski said.

利平斯基说，“如果说有什么区别的话，我认为年轻选手更难承受压力。”

“They don’t have the experience to put things into perspective. When you’re young, it’s your entire life. When you step on the ice, it’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m here for a party.’ It’s intimidating.”

“她们缺乏把眼光放长远的经验。如果你正年轻，比赛就是你生活的全部。当你踏上冰面，可不是‘噢，我是来这里参加派对的’。它令人胆怯。”

Lipnitskaya’s intense, blinkered drive has led to a reputation for haughtiness. In Moscow, where she returned to train after the team competition, her mother, Daniela, told The Associated Press, “I’m almost afraid she’s going to mouth off to someone. She’s a girl with character; she’s capable of that.”

利普尼茨卡娅激烈而偏颇的举动为她带来了为人傲慢的名声。团体赛后，她回到莫斯科接受训练，她的母亲丹妮拉(Daniela)对美联社(The Associated Press)说，“我几乎害怕她会对某人出言不逊。她是一个有个性的女孩;她有可能这么做。”

She is said to be devastated if she misses even a few minutes of practice time, a teenage obsession that Lipinski said she found familiar. Yet there is also something adult about Lipnitskaya, a depth of emotion and an actor’s sense of drama.

据说，哪怕是错过了几分钟的训练，她都会伤心欲绝，利平斯基说，这是十几岁少年人的执念，她相当熟悉这种感觉。不过，利普尼茨卡娅也有成年人的一面，她有着浓烈的情感和演员般深厚的戏剧感。

It was evident in the way Lipnitskaya put on a baseball cap to celebrate Russia’s team victory before an adoring crowd at Iceberg Skating Palace. And it was especially so in her gestures of grim endurance and failed hope in portraying an ultimately doomed Jewish girl in a red coat from the Holocaust movie “Schindler’s List.”

她的言行明显表现了这一点，在冰山滑冰中心(Iceberg Skating Palace)，她在一群崇拜者面前戴上了一顶棒球帽，以庆贺俄罗斯队在团体赛中获胜。她在用动作刻画最终在劫难逃的红衣犹太女孩那种坚韧不拔的意志和希望破灭的感受时，这一点更是尤为明显，这个女孩的原型来自叙述大屠杀的电影《辛德勒的名单》(Schindler’s List)。

“She’s kind of got that old soul in her for 15,” Yamaguchi said.

山口说，“她就像是被老人灵魂附体的15岁少女。”

And lest anyone forget, also competing is Mao Asada of Japan, the reigning Olympic silver medalist, who has struggled with her triple axel but who is an engagingly lyrical skater.

大家不要忘了，还有一名竞争对手是日本的浅田真央(Mao Asada)，她是卫冕奥运亚军，她一直在为完成三周半跳动作而努力，而且，她是一名表演风格抒情的迷人选手。

“If she skates well,” Yamaguchi said, “I think she has all the necessary things to be Olympic champion.”

山口说，“我认为，如果她表现得好，她有成为奥运冠军的一切要素。”