扎奇婭•納塞爾：參加奧運是如此美好

Zakia Nassar, the 21-year-old Palestinian swimmer who last week fulfilled her lifelong ambition to compete at the Olympics, deserves a gold medal for her tenacity.

Having had neither a coach nor access to an Olympic-sized pool for the past year, Nassar, who is currently studying dentistry, had no option but to train on her own at a 12 m public pool.

The coach Nassar had a year ago left her to her own devices when the 25 m pool in Bethlehem closed down.

"There is no pool in Jenin where I am studying," she said.

"So I can swim only once or twice a month when I go back to my parents' home in Bethlehem."

There is a 50 m pool in nearby Nazareth, but the Israeli government does not permit her to use it.

Nassar said it was often embarrassing trying to train at the public pool, with other people swimming and splashing around.

"Sometimes people cut across me, and others would get angry when I swam into them. But quite a few made way for me," she said.

"I got so depressed sometimes I couldn't help crying, but my parents and friends encouraged me, reminding me that I had to keep training if I really wanted to go to the Olympics."

It was only when Nassar arrived in China a month ago that she finally got the opportunity to swim in a 50 m pool and enjoy the benefits of having a coach.

When she at last took part in the Games, she swam the 50 m in 31.97 seconds, an improvement of 7 seconds on her personal best.

Despite her time being good enough only for 79th place, Nassar said it was "the most beautiful moment" of her life.

"Participating in a race at the Olympics was a once-in-a-lifetime experience," she said.

"It felt like I was flying."

But she is not sure if she will go to the next Olympics.

"I won't compete unless I've done the right training. But as swimming is in my soul, I'll probably be a coach in my spare time," she said.

21歲的巴勒斯坦游泳運動員扎奇婭•納塞爾上週終於如願以償地站在了奧運會的賽場上。她堅韌不撥的精神值得金牌的禮遇。

納塞爾目前還是一名牙科學生，在過去的一年裏，她既沒有教練指導，也無法到符合奧運會規格的游泳池中進行訓練，她只能在12米的公共泳池內獨自訓練。

納塞爾的教練在一年前伯利恆的25米游泳池關閉後離開了她。

她說；“我在傑寧上學，那裏沒有游泳池。”

“所以我只能在每個月回到伯利恆的家時訓練一兩次。”

拿撒勒附近倒是有個50米的游泳池，可是以色列政府的管控不允許她去那裏練習。

納塞爾說，在公共泳池訓練是很尷尬的事情，因爲很多人在周圍游來游去或者玩水嬉戲。

她說：“有時候會有人突然擋在我前面，也有人會因爲我撞到他們而生氣。但也有很多人會爲我讓道。”

“有時候我會覺得非常失落，忍不住想哭。可我的父母和朋友都鼓勵我，他們說如果想參加奧運會，我就必須堅持訓練。”

納塞爾在一個月前到了中國以後才終於有機會能在50米的泳池裏游泳，而且還有了個教練。

這一次，她終於能參加奧運會比賽了。在50米的比賽中，她游出了31秒97的成績，比她的個人最好成績提高了7秒。

雖然她的成績只能排第79名，但納塞爾說這是她一生中“最美好的時刻”。

她說：“能參加奧運會比賽是人生中難得的經歷。”

“那感覺就好像我在飛。”

不過，她並不確定自己是否會參加下一屆奧運會。

她說：“不經過適當訓練，我是不會參賽的。但是，因爲游泳已經成爲我生命的一部分，可能我以後會在業餘時間去當教練。”