Introduction to boxing
Stevenson was born in 1952 and grew up in a small town in Cuba. He started boxing as a teenager and, when he was 13, went to Havana to train at the national sports complex. "I lost 14 of my first 20 fights," said Stevenson. "I hated getting hit. What happened was that I decided I hated losing even more."
Olympic success
When he was just twenty years old Teofilo went to the Olympic games in Germany and won a gold medal. He was tall and powerful with a long "reach". His long arms could hit opponents before they could hit him. At the Games in Canada in 1976 he won the gold again. In the ring, boxers were afraid of Teofilo, they tried to stay away from him and not get too close to his powerful punches. He won another gold medal in Moscow in 1980. Only two of the fights he had at the Olympic games lasted for the full three rounds. That means he either knocked his opponents to the floor and they were counted out or the referee stopped the fight because it was too dangerous for the other boxer.
Going professional
Stevenson was such a good boxer that people outside the Olympic games and Cuba wanted him to turn professional. After he had won his first gold medal managers and famous promoters started to offer him money to fight around the world. Teofilo turned them all down. He wanted to stay in Cuba and didn’t want to fight for money or fame.
Ali v Stevenson
Lots of people think that Teofilo Stevenson was as good as the famous boxer Muhammad Ali, but the two fighters never fought each other. They did meet outside the ring and the two men are now friends. Teofilo thinks 'it would have been a draw' if they had fought.
What Teofilo does now
Teofilo doesn't fight any more. He now works for the Cuban Ministry of Sport and he is also the vice president of the Cuban Boxing Federation. He likes spending his time with his family and he is still regarded as a legend around the world and in Cuba where he still lives.
特奥菲洛·斯蒂文森是奥运历史上最伟大的拳击运动员之一。他出生于1952年，生长在古巴的一座小城镇，13岁开始正式训练，年仅20岁就在德国首次夺得奥运金牌，随后又赢得1976、1980年奥运冠军，且以“速胜”著称，成为令其他运动员畏惧的对手。尽管取得如此巨大的成功，他却始终淡泊名利，始终没有答应经纪人们要他转为职业运动员的建议。令拳击爱好者们略感遗憾的是，他从未和有“拳王”之称的阿里一较高低。两人私下是朋友，但很难估计赛场相逢会有怎样的结果。
特奥菲洛·斯蒂文森现已退出拳坛，在古巴体育部门任职，并任古巴拳击联合会副主席。他喜欢花更多时间陪伴家人。当然，在他一直生活的古巴，以至在全世界，他仍然是一个神话。
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