古希腊奥运会如何处罚违规运动员?

Will performance-enhancing drugs mar this summer's Olympic Games in London? All of us hope not, but history isn't encouraging. Recent gold-medal stars like the sprinters Ben Johnson of Canada and Marion Jones of the U.S. were stripped of their Olympic glory after they were convicted of using illegal substances.

能够提高运动员成绩的药物会玷污今年的伦敦夏季奥运会吗？我们所有的人都不希望这样，但是历史并不能给我们以信心。近些年来，像加拿大的本•约翰逊（Ben Johnson）和美国的玛丽安•琼斯（Marion Jones）这些摘得奥运金牌的短跑名将都因后来被证实使用了违禁药品而被取消了荣誉。

Indeed, since 1968, the International Olympic Committee has taken gold, silver or bronze medals from more than 40 athletes. Each has suffered a certain disgrace at the hands of the media, to be sure, but perhaps it is time to consider a more refined punishment for such offenders. Here we might learn something from our Greek forebears.

实际上，自从1968年以来，国际奥委会（International Olympic Committee）已经取消了40多名运动员的金、银、铜牌。诚然，他们每一个人都因媒体曝光而名誉扫地，但是现在也许该考虑考虑能否采取更好的方式处罚违规者了──兴许我们可以从希腊先辈们那里学点经验。

Just outside the entrance to the ancient stadium in Olympia - the site of the first Olympic Games in 776 B.C. - stand a series of crumbling stone bases known as the Zanes. Battered remains of bronze statues (the earliest are thought to date from 388 B.C.), they once stood as an Olympic walk of shame.

就在奥林匹亚的古运动场──公元前776年举行第一次奥运会的地方──的入口外，有一系列人称宙斯像群（Zanes）的残破基座。这些基座是当年那些青铜雕像的遗存（据信最早的青铜像可以追溯到公元前338年），那些青铜雕像所立之处是当年奥运会的耻辱之路。

If an athlete broke his Olympic oath - common violations included bribery, tardiness, cowardice, lying and fraud - he was fined and forced to purchase a statue of Zeus. The name of the athlete and, in some cases, his father's name plus his Greek city-state were inscribed on the base of the statue, which was then placed along the entranceway to the great stadium.

如果一名运动员违反了自己的奥运誓言──常见的行为包括行贿、迟到、胆怯、说谎和欺诈──他就会被处以罚款并被迫买一尊宙斯（Zeus）的雕像，这名运动员的名字，有时候还有他父亲的名字以及他所在的希腊城邦国家的名字，要刻在雕像的底座上，雕像随后会沿大体育场的入口通道置放。

Why statues to Zeus? Greek myth held that Zeus had defeated Kronos in a wrestling match for possession of the earth, so Olympic competition, held close to the god's massive temple, was seen as a sacred act or privilege, available only to a select few. As athletes neared the field of play, herded by priests and whip-bearers, they were reminded of all who had offended Zeus and disgraced their home communities. They were made to understand that cheaters would be immortalized in stone.

为何树立的是宙斯的雕像？希腊神话里说宙斯为争夺大地所有权在与克洛诺斯（Kronos）的一场摔跤比赛中将其击败，因此，在与宙斯大殿近在咫尺的地方举行奥运会比赛被视为神圣之举，或者说只有精挑细选的少数人才能享有如此特权。当运动员们在祭司和执鞭者的驱使之下走向比赛场地时，他们就会受到提醒，想起那些触怒了宙斯并让家乡父老颜面尽失的人。此举是让他们明白欺世盗名者将被永镌于石，遗臭万年。

What might it look like if we tried to re-establish this worthy ancient institution?

如果我们重建这种颇有价值的古代制度，情况会是怎样？

Certainly there is a need for it - and not just for the Olympics. The former All-Star pitcher Roger Clemens remains in court, attempting to clear his name in a scandal that has forever tarnished the game of baseball. In football, the New Orleans Saints will not soon recover from the penalties and suspensions imposed by the NFL for the team's outrageous system of bounties for disabling opposing players. And whole books have been written about the cheaters in international swimming and weightlifting, to say nothing of the Tour de France.

这样做当然有必要──不光是对奥运会而言。前全明星投手罗杰•克莱门斯（Roger Clemens）还在等待法庭的裁决，希望能与一桩永远玷污了棒球运动的丑闻摆脱干系。在橄榄球界，新奥尔良圣徒队（New Orleans Saints）不会很快就从美国橄榄球联盟（NFL）对其的处罚和禁赛中缓过劲来──该球队制订的奖励伤害对方队员行为的制度简直骇人听闻。已经有专门的图书出版，揭露国际游泳和举重比赛中的欺诈行为。至于环法自行车赛（Tour de France）那就更不用提了。

In fact, the Tour de France, which starts later this month, may be just the place to start with Zanes of our own. We could immortalize in marble and bronze such recent, but now repudiated, winners as Floyd Landis, Marco Pantani and Jan Ullrich. And given the recent decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport to strip 2010 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador of his title for alleged drug use, he could be included too. Imagine the effect if, in June, the riders competing in the 2017 Tour were forced to race down the Champs-Elysees, whizzing past statues of disgraced former winners?

实际上，本月末开赛的环法自行车赛也许正是开始树立我们的宙斯像群的地方。我们可以在大理石或青铜上永远刻下那些近年来成绩遭到否定的人的名字，比如弗洛伊德•兰迪斯（Floyd Landis）、马可•潘塔尼（Marco Pantani）和扬•乌尔里希（Jan Ullrich）。考虑到国际体育仲裁法庭（the Court of Arbitration for Sport）最近以服用违禁药物为由，决定取消2010年环法自行车赛冠军得主阿尔伯托•康塔多（Alberto Contador）的冠军称号，他也可以位列其中。想想如果六月份参加2017年环法自行车赛的选手必须经过香榭丽舍大街，从以前那些丢人现眼的获胜者雕像前呼啸而过，效果会是怎样呢？

How would modern athletes respond if a Zanes-like protocol was established in modern temples of sports like Yankee Stadium or Pauley Pavilion at UCLA? What would happen if, as fans and athletes entered, they were obliged to acknowledge the crimes of their heroes and peers? If nothing else, it would finally give some bite to our endless rhetoric about players who 'bring the game into disrepute.'

如果一个类似宙斯像群的规程在扬基体育场（Yankee Stadium）或加州大学洛杉矶分校（UCLA）的保利•帕维隆体育馆（Pauley Pavilion）这些现代体育场馆建立起来，现在的运动员会作出何种反应？当球迷和运动员进入比赛场馆的时候，如果他们被迫回想自己心目中那些英雄和同行的不轨行为，会有何种情形发生？即使没有什么别的作用，它最终至少会对我们谈论那些“给某项运动带来耻辱”的运动员时经常使用粉饰之辞这一点产生影响。

Or maybe we could update the ancient idea for the digital age. Would the behavior of athletes change if those convicted of crimes against their sport had to pay for the creation of a five-minute video for, say, the National Baseball Hall of Fame, showcasing their guilt? Their statistics might disappear from the official record books to be replaced by a notice about their transgressions (and perhaps the names of their parents). Their home-run titles or Cy Young awards would not be listed with asterisks; they would simply be wiped away.

抑或我们可以将古代的做法升级至数字时代的形式。如果一个被发现在比赛中有不法行为的运动员必须支付一段五分钟视频的制作费用，视频取名为《国家棒球名人堂》（National Baseball Hall of Fame），用来昭示他的过错，运动员的行为会有所改观吗？对他们的统计数字会从官方的记录中消失，取而代之的是关于他们不法行为的通告（也许还要加上他们父母的名字）。他们的全垒打功绩或赛扬奖（Cy Young）荣誉不再是被标记上星号，而是直接从记录中抹去。

As the Olympics unfold this summer, it should not come as a surprise that some of the athletes competing will be 'dirty.' What's notable is that international Olympic officials and national Olympic committees have been unable to create more permanent representations of athletes who have failed to honor the code of fair completion. Maybe it's time to set such things in stone again.

今年夏季奥运会揭开帷幕后，某些参赛选手会干“脏”事，这并不足为奇。值得关注的是，国际奥林匹克官员和各国奥委会对不遵守公平竞争原则的运动员一直未能制订出可以更长久记录他们罪过的机制。也许现在又是该把那些事情铭刻在石头上的时候了。