Five Greatest Inspirational Moments in Olympic History

Dating back as far as 776 B.C in Olympia, Greece, the Olympic Games a heavily competitive international multi-sport event became a symbol of supremacy of one nation over another. But with the quest for athletics supremacy set aside, the Games have also become the modern celebration of humanity. In the process many heartwarming and extremely inspiring events have graced this arch-athletic competition in the world. Here’s a list (arranged in any order) of some the most memorable moments in Olympic history that can truly inspire us and our own respective country’s athletes now competing in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People’s Republic of China from August 8 to August 24, 2008.

1. Abebe Bikila

   

   Just a couple of days before the Ethiopian team for the 1960 Rome Summer Olympics was about to leave, one of the members-Wami Biratu-was injured during a practice soccer match-up, incapacitating him for the competition. In replacement, Abebe Bikila was added to the team as last minute remedy, just when the plane was about to depart for Rome.

   Being a replacement, no pair of shoes would fit him exactly; he did find one but still quiet loose. So he decided to run barefoot which was allowed nevertheless by the Olympic Marathon Committee. Moments prior to the start of the long race he was receiving adverse remarks about his decision and warned about Rhadi Ben Abdesselam of Morocco as the sure winner. Unbowed, he ran his race with consummate belief in himself and after 2 hours, 15 minutes and 16.2 seconds when he reached the finish line he gave the world the fastest marathon ever, making him the first athlete from continental Africa to have won a gold medal at the same time. Remarkably, he successfully duplicated the feat four years later in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics; this time however, he was already on proper running shoes. Today, a stadium in Addis Ababa is named in his honor.

2. Wilma Rudolph

   

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   Sickly in childhood, Wilma Rudolph suffered one illness after another and racial discrimination precluded her being cared of at nearby community hospital when her mother tried to bring her there. It was a hospital intended for the whites. And so, her mother nursed her for years until she suffered from polio that deprived her from walking. They were mockingly told she would never walk again but her mother did not give up on her. In the ensuing two years, her mother would bring her to a 50-mile distant hospital twice a week where blacks were accepted. Wilma was able to walk with the aid of a metal leg and completely recovered at the age of 12 through constant guidance of her mother and 21 siblings. She was 20th of 22 children of a typical poor American family of the 40’s brought forth by the Great Depression.

   Shortly after her complete recovery, she decided to join a basketball team in her junior and became a star player. She then switched to track and field that propelled her into becoming a member of the United States team to the 1960 Rome Olympics. And in that fateful day of September 27, 1960, she became the first American woman to capture three gold medals in the Olympics. Her winning the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, and running the anchor on the 400-meter relay team also led her to become one of the most celebrated female athletes of all time.

3. Lawrence Lemieux

   

   A Canadian rower who competed in the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, Lawrence Lemieux did something truly remarkable that embodies one of the ideals of the games-brotherhood-by looking into the safety of his opponents at the expense of his chance for victory.

   He was in second place during the course of the race, when the wind had become torrent, capsizing the boat of his rival from Singapore. Seeing them in danger, Lemieux, instead of pursuing his race, he turned his direction towards the Singaporeans and heaved them into his small boat. Thus, relinquishing in what could have been the most coveted gold medal.

   But for his exemplary act of bravery, courage and sacrifice and brotherhood, he was given by the Olympic committee an honorary 2nd place. He did not become a big name in the Olympics but he did bring so much honor to the Games.

4. Jesse Owens

   

   During his time racial discrimination was still prevalent in America, but Jesse Owens an African-American overcame this apartheid-like social malady in his country by winning a spot on the United States Olympic delegation to the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

   Jesse Owens, who grew up in poverty as he was a grandson of a former slave became a star of that 1936 games by winning four gold medals in track and field that remain a world record until 1984 when it was broke by another great American olympian- Carl Lewis. Months before the games, Adolf Hitler boldly predicted the Germans would dominate the games for they were ascendants of the Aryan race whom he claimed to be much superior than any other race in the world. Thus, Owen’s triumph was a major blow to the man who was to initiate the infamous Second World War three years later.

5. North and South Korean Athletes

   

   There have been several occasions in which politics and diplomatic relations of participant countries have hugely affected the Olympics. World War II prevented the 1940 Summer Olympics from happening while the great United States boycotted the 1980 version of the games in Moscow because of the Cold War. In a seemingly similar situation, North Korea and South Korea have been in segregation since the 1950’s after the outbreak of the Korean War. Communism rules the North while South Korea is democratic, thus a deep-rooted indifference between these two Asian nations.

   However in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, these two nations showed this troubled-stricken world a bright glimmer of hope by merging as one nation in one flag during the opening ceremonies. In the spirit of the Olympics and its ideals of brotherhood they have set aside their ideological and political differences. They did not compete as one nation though. But who knows, these two antagonizing nations, inspired by the Olympics, would one day reunite their nations with their people finally free from political troubles and the possibility of a more inhuman 2nd Korean War.