[ti:South Sudan Athletes Train in Japan Although Olympics in Doubt]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:00.04]The coronavirus worldwide health crisis
[00:03.60]forced the postponement of the 2020
[00:06.92]Tokyo Summer Olympics to this year.
[00:10.52]It remains unclear if the Games will take place as planned in July 2021.
[00:19.20]Athletes around the world who hope to qualify for the Olympics
[00:23.72]are still trying to stay fit.
[00:26.56]That includes a group of four runners
[00:29.84]from the world’s youngest country, South Sudan.
[00:35.28]They are training with one of their coaches in Japan.
[00:38.60]The runners are working out in Maebashi,
[00:42.72]a city about 100 kilometers from Tokyo.
[00:47.28]Many athletes, who are among the best in the world at their events,
[00:52.04]were sad when the virus caused the Olympics to be postponed.
[00:57.12]But the African athletes said they do not mind the delay
[01:02.52]because they are able to improve.
[01:06.04]Eighteen-year-old Akoon Akoon is one of those athletes.
[01:11.88]He competes in the 400-meter race and the hurdles.
[01:16.76]He said he is just putting all his attention on his training.
[01:23.20]“I don’t want to confuse my mind,” he said.
[01:28.08]Both the head of the International Olympic Committee
[01:31.52]and the Prime Minister of Japan, Yoshihide Suga,
[01:36.68]recently expressed their desire to hold the Games as planned later this year.
[01:44.16]A Japanese newspaper, however,
[01:46.60]recently asked athletes what they wanted.
[01:50.76]Most of the athletes who responded – 86 percent
[01:55.32]– said they wanted the Games delayed again or canceled altogether.
[02:01.84]In Japan, the government recently declared
[02:05.12]a “state of emergency” in Tokyo and several other areas.
[02:11.88]Abraham Majok competes in the 1500 meter race.
[02:18.20]The 21-year-old runner said
[02:20.60]it will be important for people from South Sudan
[02:24.24]to see athletes from their country at the Olympics.
[02:29.16]That is because South Sudan
[02:31.68]is a country that is still healing from a civil war.
[02:36.68]Images of athletes from South Sudan at the Olympics
[02:40.60]will help the nation develop a sense of being one group of people.
[02:47.20]“The image of the team here is a big sign of unity,
[02:52.08]because all of us are from different states,” said Majok.
[02:58.16]“When our people back home watch us all
[03:01.32]from different states working together...
[03:03.96]and representing the country at the world level,
[03:07.76]the people will really be happy.”
[03:11.08]About 400,000 people died during the war in South Sudan.
[03:17.40]The warring groups signed a peace treaty in 2018,
[03:22.36]but many agreements have not yet been put in place.
[03:27.48]The city of Maebashi is trying to help the South Sudanese runners.
[03:33.32]Groups have donated about $300,000 to support their training.
[03:39.16]Other people are spending time helping the runners with life in Japan.
[03:45.68]The total will be enough to pay for their stay
[03:49.60]through the completion of the Games — If they happen.
[03:54.48]And if they don’t?
[03:57.20]“There’s always 2024,” said one city official.
[04:03.04]The 2024 Games will be in Paris.
[04:07.28]I’m Dan Friedell. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM