A serious defeat I suffered when I was only 10 years old helped me win the 1968 Olympic ice skating championship.It also gave me a deadly
(1) ----the other Peggy Fleming.Just before that,I had been roller-skating,playing basketball,and could climb
(2) a tree as well as any boy.So Dad
(3) me to take skating lessons.And soon I
(4) several local figure-skating (花样滑冰) awards.Then came the Pacific Coast Championship in Los Angeles.
I,a very confident young girl,proud of the
(5) of friends and newspapers,walked into the stadium
(6) to add another laurel (桂冠) to my recent success.Out on the ice,I(22)
______ enjoyed myself,flying through all kinds of figures I knew so well.But when the
(7) were posted,I was
(8) ----out of the 12 competitors I had finished last!The
(9) burned as bright as my skate knives:"You didn't skate your best!"I knew that only one person had
(10) me that day----myself,my own
(11) .
When I trained for Olympics,I would
(12) the same 69 figures over and over,eight hours a day.A skater must do five figures for the Olympics,but you aren't told
(13) the last minute which figures these will be.So you must be very
(14) with the 69 figures.Often in the middle of practicing a figure,the other Peggy Fleming would whisper,"Good enough----why
(15) yourself so hard?"And then I would
(16) my lesson in Los Angeles.
Now I skate professionally.
(17) I still face this competitor,myself.I firmly believe that each of us has been given a special
(18) .And if we bury our talent in our own self-satisfaction,simply do not want to make the effort or fear trying,we will
(19) completely.