一 | The Pan American Games open Friday in Chile's capital with more than 100 spots available for next year's Paris Olympics and the usual contest to see who will finish second behind the United States in the medals chart.More than 6,800 athletes from 41 countries and territories will compete in Santiago over 17 days. Competitors in 20 sports, including gymnastics, boxing and swimming, will be looking to directly qualify for the Olympics. Other sports will offer spots based on quotas, ranking points or minimum qualification standards.The Pan American Games, the largest multi-sport event in the Americas, are held every four years and precede the Olympics by a year. Santiago, where the streets have been rocked by protests in recent years, will debut as host. About 17,000 volunteers and 3,000 security officers will work at the event.If injuries don't get in the way, the U.S. team in Chile will include 93 Olympians and 32 Olympic medalists in a roster of 631 athletes. Of those, 318 are women and 313 are men. They will compete in 43 of the 46 sports.Brazil, Mexico and Canada are expected to fight for second place in the medals table. The three are bringing some of their biggest stars to the competition, including Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade, Mexican diver Osmar Olvera and Canadian swimmer Maggie Mac Neil.American athletes will seek Olympic qualification in nine sports: breaking, boxing, gymnastics (rhythmic, trampoline), sport climbing, field hockey (men’s and women’s), modern pentathlon, artistic swimming, handball and water polo (men’s and women’s).Athletes in archery, diving, equestrian jumping, table tennis, sailing and shooting can secure quotas that will send them to Paris next year. Those competing in badminton, 3x3 basketball, cycling, taekwondo and triathlon can get ranking points that allow them to qualify. Track and field athletes and swimmers can also get minimum qualification standards for U.S. Olympic team trials.The U.S. team at the Pan American Games has 13 Olympic champions, including nine who won gold in Tokyo — six members of the women's water polo team, fencer Lee Kiefer, shooter Vincent Hancock and swimmer Brooks Curry.The other four won their Olympic titles prior to 2021, including Helen Maroulis and Kyle Snyder in wrestling, and Laura Kraut and McClain Ward in equestrian.Four years ago, the United States won 293 medals in Lima, Peru — 122 gold, 87 silver and 84 bronze. Brazil came in a distant second with 54 gold, 45 silver and 70 bronze. Mexico finished in third with 37 gold, 39 silver and 62 bronze, edging Canada with 35 gold, 65 silver and 52 bronze.As the Olympics did in Japan, the Pan American Games are seeking to reach a younger audience with new sports. Breaking, sport climbing and skateboarding will make their debuts at the event. The latter two have already had a first Olympic competition in Tokyo, while breaking will debut next year in Paris.The opening ceremony of the Pan American Games will take place on Friday at the 47,000-seat Estadio Nacional, around which six new venues for 30 sports were built with an investment of $507 million.Inaugurated in 1938, the Estadio Nacional held its first major sporting event in 1962 when Brazil beat Czechoslovakia 3-1 to win the World Cup title in soccer.Eleven years later, the stadium became a place of horror with extrajudicial killings and torture after the coup d’etat that ousted President Salvador Allende and led him to kill himself in 1973.“People will be surprised by how beautiful this National Stadium Park turned out,” Neven Ilic, the president of organizer Panam Sports, said last week. “All Chileans should feel proud of the level of the facilities and because they will be hosting a celebration never seen before in this country.”The Chilean government says the park that includes the stadium will be a place for the public to practice sports, play and walk as part of the legacy of the Pan Am Games. Authorities also promise to hand over the apartments in the athletes village to families after the event as permanent housing.___AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports。 译者注：原文发表于PhillyVoice，文中数据均截至原文发稿时（当地时间8月25日），所涉及日期和时间均为当地时间。
二 | 文中观点与译者及平台无关。詹姆斯在他效力过的每一支球队都夺冠了，那么76人会是下一支吗？如果我在6月告诉你，我8月的一期读者问答会用这个标题，你会相信吗？说句实话，当我无比认真地为一支过去两个赛季连一半比赛都没有赢下的球队敲下这些文字时，我感觉确实十分离奇。过去两年的彻底混乱，竟然演变成了76人如今所处的局面，他们已经拥有一批真正具备争冠实力的球员，NBA历史得分王勒布朗·詹姆斯和2024年NBA总决赛MVP杰伦·布朗都已加盟费城，这实在让人难以想象。网友提问：如果没有赢得东部冠军，76人都这个赛季是否就算令人失望？距离媒体日大约还有一个月的时间，毫无疑问，有多名76人球员，尤其是核心球员，会被问到这样一个问题：他们是否必须赢得总冠军，这个赛季才算成功。有些球员会回避这个问题，更大胆的球员则会正面回应，而且会说，是的，这支球队唯一的目标就是赢得总冠军。无论这些球员怎么回答，都不会提供什么新消息。毫无疑问，76人拥有打进NBA总决赛所需要的天赋。他们大概也拥有足够的火力赢得总冠军。但更重要的是，他们没有太多时间：詹姆斯会在常规赛进行到一半左右时年满42岁，而任何一个乔尔·恩比德能够保持健康并且展现统治力的赛季，都可能是最后一次了。所以，76人并没有太多次冲击总冠军的机会。但他们的机会倒也并不是只有一次。詹姆斯签下了一份两年合同，其中包含2027-28赛季的球员选项。在宣布加盟76人时，詹姆斯将这称为自己的“最后一个决定”，这意味着他职业生涯剩余的时间都将留在费城。自从詹姆斯做出这个决定以来，人们已经多次指出一件事：他此前每一次以自由球员身份加盟新球队之后，最终都赢得了总冠军……而且都是在两年后。詹姆斯在2010年加盟热火，并在2012年赢得个人第一枚总冠军戒指。他在2014年重返骑士，随后于2016年拿下了对他而言最具意义的一座总冠军。詹姆斯在2018年加盟湖人，第一个赛季湖人仅取得37胜45负，无缘季后赛，随后他在2020年赢下了NBA总决赛。当然了，现在可别急着印带有76人标志的2028年NBA总决赛纪念T恤。不过，这也说明即使76人没有赢得2027年NBA总决赛，他们至少还会有一次冲击冠军的机会，前提是没有任何事情削弱詹姆斯或恩比德的竞技水平。
三 | 经历重大阵容重组的NBA球队，即使这些变化很明显会让球队变得更好，通常也不会立刻磨合到位。詹姆斯和恩比德在整个常规赛期间都需要获得休息时间，这会让球队更难建立连续性，尤其是在竞争激烈的东部，那里有很多球队非常清楚自己在关键比赛中最擅长依靠什么。新赛季76人如果没有打进或赢得NBA总决赛，很明显会令人失望，但这并不必然意味着这个赛季就是失败的。真正会让这个赛季成为失败的情况，是76人在进入2027年休赛期时，无法合理地对自己的争冠竞争力保持信心。如果这一整套计划彻底失败，球队就将面临一次重大的重新评估。如果76人证明自己确实是一支非常出色的球队，只是没有及时找到最合适的方式，从而无法一路闯过新赛季的季后赛，那么即使失望是完全合情合理的，进入明年夏天时，他们也至少仍然有理由保留一些乐观的态度。作者：Adam Aaronson译者：GWayNe。
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