冰上美女——桑佳.黑尼

The world never puts a price on you higher than the one you put on yourself.

——Sonja Henie

你對自己的評價永遠比周圍的人對你的評價高。

——桑佳·黑尼

Sonja Henie was born in Oslo of Norway， the daughter of Wilhelm Henie， a prosperous Norwegian furrier1. In addition to the income from the fur business， both of Henie's parents had inherited wealth. Wilhelm Henie had been a one-time World Cycling Champion and the Henie children were encouraged to take up a variety of sports at young age. Henie initially showed talent at skiing， and then followed her older brother Leif to take up figure skating2. As a girl， Henie was also a nationally-ranked tennis player and a skilled swimmer and equestrienne3. Sonja Henie was already showing signs of her dancing potential in her home country of Norway when she was given her first pair of skates at age six.

As soon as Henie began serious training as a figure skater， her formal schooling ended. She was educated by tutors， and her father hired the best experts in the world， including the famous Russian ballerina4 Tamara Karsavina， to transform his daughter into a sporting celebrity.

The dazzling figure-skating career of Henie was highlighted by ten world championships， four Olympic appearances， and three consecutive Olympic gold medals--all before her 24th birthday.

Henie was just 11 when she entered the Winter Olympics held in Chamonix， France for the first time when she had been a defending champion at home. Participation in the Olympic Games would be a good learning experience. She ranked the third in free skating and the eighth with all results added up together. Sponsored by her family， Henie learned ballet in Landon which laid foundation for her graceful dancing in skating. At the next three Winter Olympics no female figure skaters could compete with Henie. Her steps and dances set new standards for the sports.

She won her first gold medal at the 1928 Olympics when she was 15 years old. She became the youngest gold medal winner in women figure skating. She held that title for 70 years， until American figure skater Tara Lipinski，two months younger than Henie， won gold at the 1998 Nagano Games. Her record was broken. Henie went on to successfully defend her gold medal at the 1932 Winter Games and the 1936 Winter Games.

During her competitive career， Henie traveled widely and worked with a variety of foreign coaches. At home in Oslo， she trained at Frogner Stadium， but during the latter part of her competitive career she was coached primarily by the American Howard Nicholson. In addition to traveling to train and compete， she was much in demand as a performer at figure skating exhibitions in both Europe and North America. Henie became so popular to the public that police had to be called out for crowd control on her appearances in various cities such as Prague and New York.

From 1927 to 1936， she won three Olympic gold medals in succession and six European championships and 10 world championships. Then in the following years she had won almost every champion she could. No other athletes， men or women， can reach her height in the sports field at that time. Sonja Henie had become Norway's greatest national idol since Henrik Ibsen.

Ambitious5 as ever， Henie aimed to take her skating career in a new direction--Hollywood. She said she wanted to do what Fred Astaire was doing in the movies， only on skates. She turned to professional skating after the 1936 Games and by the end of that year people saw the release of her first movie， One in a Million. That film was the first of a doen films Henie would start in over the next two decades. She also began to gain fame by starring in a wildly popular traveling ice-skating show. Her Hollywood Ice Review was a spectacle6 of costumes， music， and skating which was selling well all over the world until the early 1950s.

At the height of her fame， her shows and touring activities brought Henie an income as much as $2million per year. She also had numerous lucrative endorsement7 contracts， and dealt with marketing skates， clothing， jewelry，dolls， and other merchandise branded with her name. These activities made her one of the wealthiest women in the world in her time.

She died of leukemia8 in 1969 when she was only 57 years old during a flight from Paris to Oslo. Considered as one of the greatest figure skaters in history， she and her husband were buried in Oslo on the hilltop overlooking the Henie-Onstad Art Centre.

Today， about three-quarters of a century after her Olympic debut， Henie's accomplishments have retained their luster. No woman figure skater ever since has won three successive gold medals in Olympics. She can safely be described as a main attraction in the history of sports during her time both as an amateur and later as a professional. Times flew and the Olympic competitions have never been stopped. She was a champion on ice and a champion in her heart. Her name was known to all throughout the world. She will always be the prototype for all future figure skaters.

桑佳·黑尼生于挪威的奧斯陸。她的父親威廉·黑尼過去是個皮貨商人。他們收入的一部分采源于皮貨生意賺的錢，另一部分來源于黑尼的父母各自繼承的遺產(chǎn)。威廉·黑尼曾是個自行車世界冠軍。所以他在孩子們還很小的時候就鼓勵他們參加各種體育運動。起初，黑尼在滑雪運動方面表現(xiàn)了很高的天賦。后來他又跟著哥哥雷夫一起學(xué)花樣滑冰。作為一個女孩子，黑尼還是國家級的網(wǎng)球選手和技藝高超的游泳和騎馬選手。6歲時，還在家鄉(xiāng)挪威的時候，她的父母給她買了第一雙滑冰鞋，桑佳·黑尼就顯露出很高的舞蹈天賦。

黑尼開始正規(guī)的花樣滑冰訓(xùn)練之后，她就結(jié)束了正常的學(xué)業(yè)，轉(zhuǎn)而在家庭教師的指導(dǎo)下學(xué)習(xí)。為了讓女兒真正進入體育的殿堂，父親還為她聘請了世界上最棒的專業(yè)花樣滑冰教練來指導(dǎo)她，其中包括俄國著名的芭蕾舞演員塔瑪拉·卡薩維納。

在黑尼令人眼花繚亂的花樣滑冰生涯中，最突出的是10次獲得世界冠軍，4次參加奧運會并獲得三連冠的經(jīng)歷，而這一切都發(fā)生在她24歲之前。

黑尼11歲時第一次參加了1924年在法國夏夢尼舉辦的冬季奧運會，當(dāng)時她在國內(nèi)已經(jīng)衛(wèi)冕冠軍。此次參加奧運會對黑尼來說是個很好的學(xué)習(xí)機會。她在自由滑冰單項比賽中排名第三。將全部比賽項目的成績加起來，她排名第八。在家人的資助下，黑尼到倫敦的舞蹈學(xué)校學(xué)習(xí)芭蕾。這為她日后在滑冰中展示出優(yōu)雅的舞姿打下了基礎(chǔ)。在接下來的3屆冬奧會上，沒有一個女子花樣滑冰選手能與她抗衡，她的舞步和舞姿給這項運動制定了新的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。

1928年奧運會上，年僅15歲的她獲得了第一枚奧運金牌。從而使她成為女子滑冰運動員中最年輕的奧運金牌得主，她將這一記錄保持了長達70年。直到1998年，比她小兩個月的美國花樣滑冰選手塔拉·利平斯基在長野奧運會上奪得金牌，才打破了她所保持的這一項記錄。在1932年和1936年冬奧會上，黑尼繼續(xù)成功衛(wèi)冕了冠軍。

在她的職業(yè)生涯中，黑尼去過很多國家，跟很多國外教練合作過。在奧斯陸家里的時候，她在弗洛格內(nèi)體育場訓(xùn)練。在她職業(yè)生涯的后半時期，她主要師從于美國教練霍華德·尼克爾森。除了奔波于各地參加各種比賽和訓(xùn)練之外，她還要在歐洲和北美參加各種花樣滑冰表演。所到之處無不受到當(dāng)?shù)厝藗兊臒崆闅g迎。當(dāng)她在布拉格和紐約演出的時候，還不得不出動警察來維持秩序。

從1927年至1936年的幾年間，她獲得了連續(xù)3屆奧運會的金牌。6個歐洲冠軍，和10個世界冠軍。接下來的時間里，她贏得了所有她可以贏的比賽的冠軍。在當(dāng)時的體育界，無論是男運動員還是女運動員都沒有一個人可以望其項背。她成為繼亨里克·易樸生之后，挪威最偉大的民族偶像。

同以往一樣，雄心勃勃的她將自己的滑冰生涯指向新的方向——好萊塢，她說她想做弗萊德·阿斯太爾在電影里做的事情，只穿著冰鞋。1936年奧運會之后，她就轉(zhuǎn)向職業(yè)滑冰運動。1936年年底，她的第一部電影《百萬分之一》公映了。那部電影是黑尼在接下來的20年里主演的12部影片中的第一部。同時，她在廣泛受人歡迎的滑冰巡回演出中擔(dān)任主角，并獲得美譽。她主辦的《好萊塢冰上評論》是一份關(guān)于服裝、音樂、和滑冰等方面內(nèi)容的雜志，該雜志直到20世紀50年代初還行銷世界各地。

隨著她的名氣如日中天，她每年在表演和巡回演出方面的收入多達200萬美元。她還為許多產(chǎn)品做廣告代言，簽了不少廣告費頗高的合同，比如冰鞋，服裝，珠寶，玩具等其他以她的名字命名的商業(yè)品牌。這使她成為當(dāng)時最富有的女性之一。

1969年，因患白血病，她在從巴黎飛回奧斯陸的途中去世，時年57歲。她是歷史上最偉大的花樣滑冰運動員之一，她死后，和丈夫合葬于奧斯陸的山頂上，這樣他們就可以俯視一起建立的黑尼·奧斯塔德藝術(shù)中心。

距黑尼涉足奧運70年后的今天，她的成就依然光彩奪目。直到現(xiàn)在，除她之外還沒有一個花樣滑冰女選手在奧運會上奪得過三連冠。可以肯定的說無論是作為業(yè)余運動員還是職業(yè)運動員，她都是體育史上最有魅力的人物之一。時光飛逝，奧林匹克運動永不停息。她是一個冰上冠軍，也是她自己心中的冠軍。她的名字，無論是過去還是現(xiàn)在，都廣為人知。她將永遠是身后所有花樣滑冰運動員學(xué)習(xí)的榜樣。

注釋

① furrier：n．皮貨商人

② figure skating：花樣滑冰

③ equestrienne：n．騎馬選手

④ ballefina：n．芭蕾舞演員

⑤ ambitious：adj. 有志氣的，有雄心壯志的

⑥ spectacle： n.奇觀，值得看的東西

⑦ endorsement：n. 明星代言，簽注

⑧ leukemia：n. 白血病