It was the summer of 1936．The Olympic Games were being held in Berlin．I had trained, sweated and disciplined myself for 6 years on the running broad jump．A year before, as a college student at the Ohio State, I'd set the world's record of 26 feet 8 1/4 inches．Nearly everyone expected me to win．
I was in for a surprise．When the time came for the broad-jump trials(选拔赛), I was shocked to see a tall boy hitting the pit （坑） at almost 26 feet on his practice leaps．He turned out to be a German named Luz Long．He had easily qualified for the finals on his first attempt．
A nervous athlete is an athlete who will make mistakes．I fouled （犯规）twice on my qualifying jumps．Walking a few yards from the pit, I kicked at the dirt disgustedly．Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder．I turned to look into the friendly blue eyes of Luz Long．"Hi, I'm Luz Long．I don't think we've met．" "Glad to meet you," I said．Then, trying to hide my nervousness, I added, "How are you?" "I'm fine．Something must be eating you．You should be able to qualify with your eyes closed．" He said．
He seemed to understand my nervousness, and took pains to reassure me．Finally, seeing that I had calmed down somewhat, he said, "What does it matter if you're not the first in the trials? Tomorrow is what counts．" All the tension left my body as the truth of what he said hit me．Confidently I qualified with almost a foot to spare．
Luz broke his own record and pushed me on to a peak performance．The instant I landed from my final jump—t