undue 復習
世界最高齢の７５歳でリオデジャネイロ五輪出場を目指していた馬術の法華津寛さんが、騎乗馬が体調を崩したため、出場を断念しました。
Japanese rider, 75, loses chance to become oldest Olympian over horse's illness
TOKYO —Japanese equestrian rider Hiroshi Hoketsu, 75, is to miss out on becoming the oldest ever Olympic athlete after his horse fell ill with a cough, officials said Thursday.
Hoketsu was set to break the 96-year-old record of Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn, who was 72 years and 280 days when he won his sixth Olympic medal at Antwerp 1920.
Hoketsu, who turned heads as the oldest athlete at London 2012, had been keen to compete at the Games in August in Rio, in what would have been his fourth Olympics.
But he had to ditch his bid after his horse, Brioni W, developed a cough, Japan Equestrian Federation spokeswoman Azusa Kitano told AFP.
“Unfortunately I have given up on the dream of competing in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, because I don’t want to make undue demands on my horse,” Hoketsu said in a statement released by the federation.
“For now, I’d like to concentrate on helping the horse get better.”
Hoketsu’s previous mount, Whisper, competed with him at the last two Olympics, but she was euthanised in 2013 after an infection following surgery.
He had been trying to qualify for Japan’s four-member equestrian team in Rio before Brioni W, a 15-year-old gelding, fell ill.
Hoketsu didn’t elaborate on whether he will now try to break Swahn’s record at the 2020 Olympics on home ground in Tokyo, when he will be 79.
“I haven’t decided anything yet about the future,” he said in the statement.
An appearance at Tokyo 2020 would complete a circle for Hoketsu, whose first Olympics was in the Japanese capital in 1964, when he came in 40th in show jumping.
Forty-four years later, in Beijing, he was 34th, before placing 41st in London.
今回取り上げる表現は、“undue”です。『ウィズダム英和辞典』(第３版、三省堂)を引いたところ、１.「過度の、必要以上の」２.「不当な、不法な、不適切な」３.「支払期限が来ていない〈借金・手形など〉」という意味がありました。今回の記事では１の意味で用いられています。
接頭辞を外した形の“due”は皆さんもご存じだと思いますが、この単語の第４義には「しかるべき、相応の、適切な〈注意・考慮など〉(proper)；十分な」という意味があります(『ウィズダム英和辞典』)。この単語に接頭辞の“un-”をつけることによって否定し、“undue”の意味になっているのだと思われます。
今回の記事は、「愛馬に無理をさせたくはない。」などと解釈できるかのではないかと思います。
法華津さんは今後の活動に関してはまだ何も決めていないようですが、２０２０年には東京五輪が開催されるので、頑張ってほしいなと思います。
今回取り上げた単語とは異なりますが、今回の記事にも出てくる“equestrian”「騎手」という単語を過去に先生が取り上げられておりますので、ご覧になってみてください。取り上げられている話題も同じく法華津さんに関するものです。(Blue Sky)
