5 A successful start

Chapter 5 A successful start The first official modern Olympic Games opened on April 6 1896, in the city of Athens in Greece.

第一届正式的现代奥运会于1896年4月6日在希腊的雅典市开幕。

Thousands of spectators gathered to watch male athletes from 14 countries compete in nine different sports: athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, swimming, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling. Women could only watch. In those days, many people, including de Coubertin, thought women were too delicate to play sports.

成千上万的观众聚集在一起观看来自14个国家的男运动员在9个不同项目上的比赛：田径、自行车、击剑、体操、射击、游泳、网球、举重和摔跤。 女人们只能旁观。在那些日子里，包括顾拜旦在内的许多人都认为女性太娇弱，不适合从事体育运动。

One of the biggest problems for many athletes was the journey to Athens. An American named James Connolly spent almost all his life savings on the boat trip from New York to Naples, which took 17 days. The trip was worth it. Connolly won the hop, hop and jump (now the triple jump), and became the first medal winner in the modern Games.

对许多运动员来说，最大的问题之一是前往雅典的旅程。 一位名叫詹姆斯·康诺利（James Connolly）的美国人花了几乎所有的积蓄，从纽约乘船到那不勒斯，全程17天。 这次旅行是值得的。康诺利赢得了跳、跳、跳（现在的三级跳远）项目的冠军，成为现代奥运会上第一位奖牌获得者。

The entry rules weren't very strict. An Irish tourist named John Boland signed up at the last minute... and ended up winning the tennis singles and doubles competitions. Swimmers had to be especially tough. They had to jump out of boats into the open sea and race to shore in icy cold water.

参赛规则不是很严格。 一位名叫约翰·博兰的爱尔兰游客在最后一刻报名参加。 并最终赢得了网球单打和双打比赛。 游泳运动员必须特别强壮。 他们不得不跳出小船，跳进开阔的大海，在冰冷的海水中冲向岸边。

The highlight was the marathon race of 40km (nearly 25 miles), invented for the Athens Olympics. It was inspired by a story about a Greek soldier named Pheidippides. In 490BC, he ran this distance from Marathon to Athens, with news of Greece's victory over the Persians. Rejoice! Greece has won the war.

最精彩的是为雅典奥运会而设的40公里（近25英里）马拉松比赛。 它的灵感来自一个关于希腊士兵费迪庇得斯的故事。 公元前490年，他带着希腊战胜波斯人的消息，从马拉松跑到了雅典。 喜乐!希腊赢得了战争。

As the first marathon race at Athens drew to a close, the crowd leaped to their feet when a Greek runner named Spyridon Louis entered the stadium for the final lap. Overcome with excitement, two Greek princes, sons of King George I of Greece, jumped onto the track and ran alongside Louis to the finish line.

随着雅典第一场马拉松比赛接近尾声，当一位名叫Spyridon Louis的希腊选手进入体育场跑最后一圈时，观众们都跳了起来。 两位希腊王子，希腊国王乔治一世的儿子，兴奋地跳上跑道，和路易斯一起跑向终点线。