克里國(guó)務(wù)卿就＂大力神杯＂在美國(guó)國(guó)務(wù)院巡展英語演講稿

　　secretary kerry: well, thank youvery much, secretary ryan. i am really excited to behere. this is a big dealfor – what did you say, i was a kid when i played? (laughter.) i actually– iplayed in university. i didn’t think of myself as a kid, but i’ll take it.(laughter.)

　　it’s a real pleasure to be here.i’m honored to be here with members of the americannational team, veterans ofour american team. cobi jones is sitting here in front of me and ithought tonysanneh was here somewhere. am i wrong? is he back over here?

　　participant: yes.

　　secretary kerry: he’s over here.and of course, julie foudy, who only has two goldmedals from the olympics, oneas she calls it white gold, and two world cup championships.pretty amazing.but we’re honored to have you here. thank you all for being here with us.(applause.)

　　i should say that ambassadorthorne, who works here in the state department with us, wewere teammates backin those crazy days, and he’s still at it. he’s still playing, actually. soit’sgood to have him here. and heather higginbottom also played. she’s deputy– i only hiresoccer players, folks. it’s part of the deal. (laughter.)

　　i want thank our friends frombrazil for being here with us: minister aldo rebelo[1],ambassador viera, thankyou very much, sir. thank you for remind us of the dominance ofbrazil a fewminutes ago – (laughter) – as if we needed to be reminded. we grew upwithnothing but a healthy respect for the magic of the way you guys play. clydetuggle fromcoca-cola, thanks so much for being a part of this. delia fisher,thank you also, and thank youfor your contributions to sports and diplomacy.we greatly appreciate it.

　　the department of state has along history of working with athletes, and athletes, frankly,can be some ofour finest ambassadors. historically, they’ve actually been part ofdiplomaticbreakthroughs. the boston celtics were famous for their journeys during thecold warwhen they went behind the iron curtain in the 1960s to help break theice. and the ping pongdiplomacy helped to open up china in the 1970s. sothere’s been a history of sports, obviously.

　　i have absolute certainty thatthose of us who have been privileged to travel – the vicepresident and myself– we see it all the time. i was recently in colombia and i had a chance toplayseated volleyball with physically challenged veterans, and it was as animated agame as anygame i’ve ever been part of and a lot of fun. i had the privilegerecently of talking hockey in thelocker room with nicklas backstrom and alexovechkin before they went off to the olympics, andgot a sense of their – evenas professional players, their excitement about this kind ofinternationalcompetition. i’ve had the privilege of kicking around a soccer ball withwomenplayers in afghanistan of all places and one woman who had started a businessmakingsoccer balls and selling them.

　　and i can remember anywhere i go,whether it’s been in sudan, south sudan, or indonesiaor afghanistan, kids,just all you need is a ball and you go out and you play. and it’sremarkablehow it captures the imaginations of young people everywhere.

　　i saw some of that power lastweek when i was in algeria, and nike had assembled a groupof young kids at aclinic outside their store. and thankfully, almost all of them were muchtooyoung to remember landon donovan’s overtime extra-time goal that beat algeriaback in – ifthey’d remembered that, it might not have been such a friendlygathering. but it was exciting,and what leapt through to me was really justthe incredible sense of excitement and optimismthat soccer – football as theycall it – brought to them. that’s what’s going to leap out at theworld frombrazil this summer.

　　this trophy, which the vicepresident and i will have the privilege of uncovering shortly,represents theshared hopes and dreams of billions of people around the world. and i can’tthinkof anything that unifies people as much, brings out the best, and showsour commonality, thecommon spirit of sportsmanship, the common spirit ofcompetition, the common spirit of greatathleticism. and i think that juliewill tell you the extraordinary feeling you have as an athletewhen you win aworld contest and raise that trophy over your head in victory.

　　we’ve seen the power of sports tobring people together. and how fitting it is, mr.ambassador, that the worldcup will be held in brazil – a country that has hosted such anextraordinarilyrich conversation between continents and cultures for a long time. astheambassador reminded us, it is also a country steeped in the rich tradition ofshowing how thejoga bonito is played, “the beautiful game.” it celebratesdiversity and it celebrates excellence.

　　so the united states and brazilare natural partners in so many ways. despite occasionaldifferences that riseto the surface, we have a huge shared commitment to democracy, todiversity,and a determination to increase the opportunities for our people. i am very,verypleased the world is going to have an opportunity to feel the dynamism ofbrazil firsthand thecourse of this summer, and i agree with brazilian tourismminister vinicius lages that therecould be nothing better than to watch amatch between the united states and brazil. now,having said that, i have to,in the spirit of candor, tell you that to do that the united states hasto getthrough germany, portugal, ghana, but we have a strong squad and strong spirit.(laughter and applause.) the one thing i can promise you is this: we will bothbe rooting tobring the cup back to our hemisphere. (laughter.) that’s forsure.

　　so i’ll tell you, there’s nogreater fan. he’s been our head of delegation to the world cup. hewill watchthe world cup. there’s one leader i know who’s going to be sharing this withhisgranddaughters, and that’s our vice president. so he’s been to his share ofworld cup matches,folks, and he was the leader of our last delegation to theworld cup in south africa.

　　the vice president of the unitedstates, joe biden. (applause.)