Sport offers opportunities for heroic effort.
Yesterday Manteo Mitchell exemplified this effort at the London Games.
In a Reuters report Neil Maidment quotes Manteo:
I got out pretty slow, but I picked it up and when I got to the 100-metre mark it felt weird. As soon as I took the first step past the 200-metre mark, I felt it break. I heard it.
(After the race an x-ray revealed he had broken his left fibula.)
Eddie Pells reports that Manteo “finished his heat in a more-than-respectable 46.1 seconds, and the United States tied the Bahamas in the second heat in 2 minutes, 58.87 seconds – the fastest time ever run in the first round of the relay at the Olympics”. He quotes Manteo on his effort:
Even though track is an individual sport, you’ve got three guys depending on you, the whole world watching you. You don’t want to let anyone down. … I pretty much figured it was broken, because every step I took, it got more painful but I was out there already. I just wanted to finish and do what I was called in to do.
Rob Goldberg points out that “this was the only event Mitchell was set to compete in during the Olympics after finishing fifth at the trials. He was a part of the relay team that won gold at the 2012 World Indoor Championships.”
Photo Credit
The Race
