When 23rd Place is Worthy of Gold

Posted by Mike Giardi August 18, 2008 at 10:32 am

I have never quite understood why athletes would put the one body they have through a marathon. That’s not some 5-mile jaunt. We’re talking about 26.2 miles. I don’t care what kind of shape you’re in, feet and ankles and knees and quads and hips just aren’t built to tolerate such abuses. Truthfully, it is why I’ve always toyed with the idea of training for one, just to sadistically document the pain my aging body would be in on a daily basis. I remember a colleague of mine ran Boston a few years back. He lost all his toenails and had to miss two straight days of work because of just how miserable he felt. And that guy was in shape!

The attached picture is of Britain’s Paula Radcliffe, who dreamed of Olympic golf in Beijing. She harbored those same thoughts in 2004, but was forced to drop out in Athens. Then, bad luck struck again. Radcliffe was diagnosed with a stress fracture of her femur in May. No way could she properly complete her training for Saturday’s Olympic final. No way could she think about winning, let alone finishing. But Radcliffe proved will is stronger than pain, and she labored through some of the most painful steps any athletes has ever taken in completing the long journey. 23rd place doesn’t earn you any medals or endorsements. It does, however, earn Radcliffe a place in my Olympic memory banks. That was as courageous a performance I’ve ever witnessed, any sport, any time. I’m sure that’s of little consequence to her, but I’ll be thinking about her when I’m laboring through my late morning run. How can I stop when she wouldn’t?