Shaun White: From Open Heart Surgery to Olympic Hero 肖恩·懷特：從心臟手術臺到奧運領獎臺

修文喬

When you are born with congenital heart failure the odds are stacked against you. No one would expect you to be a superstar athlete， and any thoughts of being an Olympic winner are dismal. Yet， snow boarder Shaun White has proven that he can be that and more.

[2] White was born with a congenital heart defect called tetralogy of fallot， in which the heart has four abnormalities. Within his first year of life White had undergone two open heart surgeries. It was a mere five years later that he stepped foot on a snow board and found his calling. From ages 6 to 12 White racked up snow and skate boarding trophies all over California， eventually going pro at the age of 13. Not only is White the first two-time Olympic gold medalist in his sport he was also the first person to compete in the 2003 Summer and Winter X games.

[3] It seems that for Shaun， his heart condition as a child hasn’t stood in the way of something he was destined to do. In actuality it’s just a tiny part of what makes him the success he is today.

[4] After wining his second gold White was interviewed by Oprah and said of his accomplishments：

“It brings me back to all the kinds of strange times， because when my parents first got introduced to snow boarding and I started snow boarding there were no Olympics， no X games， no money or anything in the sport， they just basically knew I had a talent and went for it.” White goes on to say： “I had some heart conditions when I was born so going from that struggle to now letting me go out there and do all these things…you put a dream in front of somebody and it just seems so close and I said I can do this and I just took every step towards it.”

如果生來就患有先天性心臟衰竭，那么你成功的機會將非常渺茫。沒有人會指望你成為超級體育明星，成為奧運冠軍的想法更是遙不可及。然而，單板滑雪選手肖恩·懷特卻向我們證明，他不僅能夠實現這些目標，而且可以做得更好。

[2]懷特是先天性心臟缺陷患者，他所患的法洛四聯癥由心臟的四種畸形組成。懷特1歲時就接受過兩次心臟手術。僅僅五年之后，他就開始練習單板滑雪，找到了畢生的追求。從6歲到12歲，懷特橫掃加利福尼亞州單板滑雪和滑板運動獎杯，最終在13歲時成為職業單板運動員。在他的運動生涯中，他不僅是首個兩次摘得冬奧會單板滑雪項目金牌的運動員，而且也是2003年夏季和冬季極限賽雙料金牌第一人。

[3]對于肖恩而言，他童年時期的心臟病似乎并未成為他命運的羈絆。事實上，那只是他成功道路上的小插曲。

[4]懷特第二次奪金后，面對奧普拉的采訪，他這樣談及自己的成就：

“這讓我回想起過去的點滴時光，因為當我的父母開始接觸單板滑雪，我開始參加這項運動時，單板滑雪還沒有成為奧運項目，沒有設立極限賽，也沒有經濟回報或其他任何好處，他們只是認為我有天賦，鼓勵我參加。”懷特繼續說：“我患有先天心臟疾病，一路與病魔抗爭，現在終于能夠遠離疾病，全身心投入運動……你把夢想放在一個人面前，夢想離他那么近，我說我可以，于是一步一個腳印地實現了。”? □

[譯者單位：中國石油大學（北京）]