At the beginning of 2023, Saudi Arabia's growing influence on professional golf, and sports in general, was a concern for players and their fans.
2023年初，沙特阿拉伯对职业高尔夫和整个体育运动的影响力越来越大，这引起了球员及其球迷的忧虑。
Twelve months later, discussions are very different. Worries about the supposed threat of "sportswashing" - using sports to improve a country's reputation – have declined. Concerns about moral issues - the line between "right" and "wrong" - have also gone down. Attention now is fixed on just how rich the Saudis might make the athletes.
12个月后，议论情况大不相同。人们对所谓的“体育洗白”（利用体育运动来提高国家声誉）威胁的担忧有所减少。对道德问题，即“对”和“错”之间界限的担忧也有所下降。现在，人们的注意力集中在沙特人可能会让运动员变得多么富有上。
What has changed?
发生了什么变化？
Two major events caused the change. On June 6, the PGA Tour announced it was looking to go into business with the Saudi group that was paying for the kingdom's LIV Golf, which the tour had labeled as a threat.
两件大事导致了这一变化。6月6日，美国职业高尔夫球巡回赛宣布，它正寻求与赞助LIV Golf的沙特组织开展业务，该巡回赛曾称其为威胁。
Then, six months later, Jon Rahm, the world's third-ranked professional golfer and an early resister of LIV, decided to join LIV for a deal reported to be worth about $500 million.
六个月后，世界排名第三的职业高尔夫球手、LIV的早期抵制者琼·拉姆决定加入LIV，据报道这笔交易价值约5亿美元。
Other important events included the continuing talks between the Saudis and leaders of professional tennis organizations. In addition, the push into soccer will bring the world's biggest sporting event, the World Cup, to Saudi Arabia in 2034.
其他重要活动包括沙特人与职业网球组织领导人之间的持续会谈。此外，进军足球将在2034年为沙特阿拉伯带来世界上最大的体育赛事世界杯。
Dan Durbin is director of the Institute of Sports, Media and Society at the University of Southern California (USC). Durbin said of the Saudi plans: "You're investing in sports, which is one of the few growth industries in the world....It is, as far as we can see, an almost endless growth industry."
丹·德宾是南加州大学体育、媒体和社会研究所所长。德宾在谈到沙特的计划时说：“投资体育是世界上为数不多的增长型行业之一……就我们所见，这是一个几乎增长无止境的产业。”
Saudi's investments
沙特的投资
In early 2022, the discussion about golf centered on Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, or PIF, in LIV Golf. At the time, six-time major winner Phil Mickelson made a critical comment about Saudi Arabia related to the murder of the Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi.
2022年初，关于高尔夫的讨论集中在沙特阿拉伯公共投资基金对LIV golf的投资上。当时，六届大满贯得主菲尔·米克尔森就沙特卷入《华盛顿邮报》作家贾迈勒·卡舒吉的谋杀案发表了批评性评论。
Mickelson's comment set the dividing line in what was viewed as a moral question. And the discussion ignored how important Saudi Arabia is in the world economy. The Saudis gain much of their importance by supplying around 15 percent of the world's petroleum.
米克尔森的评论划下了一个道德问题的分界线。这些讨论忽略了沙特阿拉伯在世界经济中的重要性。沙特通过供应全球约15%的石油而获得了很大的重要性。
Besides golf, the fund offered one of soccer's biggest stars, Cristiano Ronaldo, $200 million to join a Saudi team. And it also owns the Premier League's Newcastle soccer club.
除了高尔夫，该基金还出资2亿美元邀请足球巨星克里斯蒂亚诺·罗纳尔多加盟了沙特球队。它还拥有英超联赛的纽卡斯尔足球俱乐部。
As the calendar turns to 2024, there is no sign of Saudi involvement in sports slowing. The Saudis are hosting a Formula One auto race. They are also looking to invest some $5 billion into cricket's Indian Premier League with an eye on making it bigger in other countries.
随着日历转到2024年，沙特对体育运动的参与没有放缓的迹象。沙特正在举办一场一级方程式赛车比赛。他们还希望向印度板球超级联赛投资约50亿美元，为的是扩大该项运动在其它国家的规模。
The ATP, which runs men's professional tennis, has a five-year deal to hold one of its biggest events in the Saudi port city of Jeddah. Talks between the Saudis and the women's tour are reportedly ongoing.
经营男子职业网球的职业网球联合会签订了一份为期五年的协议，它将在沙特港口城市吉达举办其最大的赛事之一。据报道，沙特和女子职业网球巡回赛之间的谈判正在进行中。
In a sign of how public discussions have changed, Billie Jean King, who fought for equal pay for women in sports, has said bringing women's tennis to the kingdom might not be all bad despite its poor record on women's rights.
比莉·让·金曾为女性在体育运动中的同工同酬而奋斗，她表示，尽管沙特在女权方面的记录不佳，但将女子网球带到沙特可能并不完全是坏事，这表明公众讨论已经发生了变化。
"I don't think you really change unless you engage," she said earlier this year.
她今年早些时候说：“我不认为你真的会改变，除非你参与进来。”
Durbin says sports is a way for the kingdom to be seen as more than an oil-producer with a bad human-rights record.
德宾说，体育运动是沙特被视为不仅仅是一个人权记录不佳的石油生产国的途径。
"For decades, sports has been the center of soft diplomacy," he said. "You try to create a positive response and feeling about your ethics because you're holding to the rules of sports."
他说：“几十年来，体育一直是软外交的中心。各国试图对自己的道德标准做出积极的回应和感受，因为你坚持体育规则。”
I'm John Russell.
我叫约翰·拉塞尔。(51VOA.COM原创翻译，请勿转载，违者必究！)