It was a classic night. The noisy Mexico City gradually calmed down. The main stadium of Olympic track and field competition was enveloped in the darkness.
After he finished making the scenes the marathon winners received the trophies and marked the victory, Greenspan, the world famous newsreel producer, found the stadium empty. It was time for him to return to the hotel for a rest. He was about to leave when he suddenly saw a bandaged man with his right leg stained with the blood ran into the stadium. This man ran lamely out of breath, but he didn't stop. After he ran along the runway for a circle and got to the goal, he collapsed on the ground.
Greenspan guessed this was a marathon athlete. Out of curiosity, he went over to ask why the athlete wanted to run to the goal with such a difficulty.
The young man called Kowari from Tanzania replied gently, “That my country sent me here from more than 20,000 kilometers is not to let me get off the mark in the competition, but makes me complete the game. I want to run to the goal, though I have fallen behind all other runners. But I have a sacred goal like them. I will run to the goal. Though the audience won't cheer me any more, my motherland is watching me intently from behind...”
Tears welled up in Greenspan's eyes. Soon, he spread the most touching scene in the history of the Olympic Games to every corner of the world.
这是一个经典之夜。喧闹的墨西哥城逐渐恢复了平静。奥林匹克田径比赛的主体育场笼罩在茫茫夜色之中。
格林斯潘，举世闻名的新闻短片制作人，报道完马拉松比赛获奖者手捧奖杯载入史册的场景之后，发现体育场里已经空无一人。是时候回宾馆休息一下了。他正要离开，突然看见一个绑着绷带、右腿渗着鲜血的人跑进了体育场。这个人一瘸一拐，跑得上气不接下气，但他却没有停下。沿着跑道绕场一周后，他终于到达终点，跌倒在地。
格林斯潘猜想他是一位马拉松运动员。出于好奇，他走了过去，想要了解一下为什么这位运动员要克服这样的困难，坚持跑到终点。
年轻人来自坦桑尼亚，名叫科瓦里。他轻声回答：“我的祖国把我从20 000公里外的地方送到这儿来，不是让我开始比赛，而是让我完成比赛的。尽管我已经远远落在其他运动员身后，我还是要跑到终点。像他们一样，终点对我来讲同样是神圣的。我要跑到终点。尽管观众不会再为我鼓掌，祖国却在我身后热切凝望着我……”
格林斯潘听了热泪盈眶，很快，他就让这奥运会历史上最感人的一幕传遍了世界的每一个角落。
-trophy [ˈtrəʊfɪ] n. 奖杯；奖牌
-newsreel [ˈnjuːzriːl] n. 新闻短片
-lamely [ˈleɪmlɪ] adv. 一瘸一拐地
巴德·格林斯潘(Bud Greenspan)是当今世界著名的体育电影编剧、导演和制片人，曾七度获得美国电视行业最高奖项艾美奖，并且是美国导演协会中唯一以体育纪录片获得终身成就奖的导演。他为奥运会纪录片历史带来了“格林斯潘”时代。故事里的科瓦里确有其人，其原型名叫约翰·斯蒂芬·阿赫瓦里(John Stephen Akhwari)。1968年墨西哥城奥运会的马拉松比赛上，在距离起点19公里处，阿赫瓦里因晕眩摔伤了右腿，最终带伤以4小时30分跑完了全程。当时比赛结束已经一个小时了，偌大的体育场里，只剩下场地工作人员和最后一批即将散去的观众。短暂的沉默后，在场所有的观众和工作人员面向阿赫瓦里举起了双手，雷鸣般的掌声经久不息。事后，他说出了奥运史上最朴实也最震撼人心的语言——“我的祖国，把我从7 000英里外送到这里，不只是让我开始比赛，而是要我完成比赛。”后来，阿赫瓦里生活在一个没有电视和电话的小村庄里，当问到他是否对生活满意时，他这样回答：“我对生活毫无怨言，因为我永远在奔跑！”