“I hated the world, then I felt a hand on my shoulder”
After seeing the above commercial a few times while watching the Olympics, I wanted to learn more about the story of Derek Redmond. It was vaguely familiar to me, but it had been so long that I had forgotten about it. It appears that he had a very successful career in the 80’s in Great Britain, but injuries plagued him in the late 80’s and early 90’s. In the 1988 games, he dropped out 90 seconds before his first heat race because of a hamstring problem. He was determined not to do the same thing in 1992. With only 175 meters left in the race, his hamstring popped and he thought he had been shot.
As the medical crew arrives with a stretcher, Redmond tells them, “No, there’s no way I’m getting on that stretcher. I’m going to finish my race.”
Then Redmond lifts himself to his feet, ever so slowly, and starts hobbling down the track. Suddenly, everyone realizes that Redmond isn’t dropping out of the race by hobbling off to the side of the track. No, he is actually continuing on one leg. He’s going to attempt to hobble his way to the finish line. All by himself.
Jim Redmond [his father] finally gets to the bottom of the stands, leaps over the railing, avoids a security guard, and runs out to his son, with two security people chasing after him.
Finally, with Derek refusing to surrender and painfully limping along the track, Jim reaches his son at the final curve, about 120 meters from the finish, and wraps his arm around his waist.
From The Guardian:
Nowadays, Redmond uses the footage in the motivational speeches he gives at business conferences. ‘I find it more embarrassing to watch than anything,’ he says. ‘Men shouldn’t cry about things like that. I always turn away when that bit comes on. I feel uncomfortable with people watching me watching myself.’
Do he and his father talk about what happened? ‘A lot of things go unsaid because we were both there. Obviously we have spoken about it, but time moves on. My old man doesn’t like talking about the race because it must have been painful for him to see me like that.’
They remain as close as ever; Jim Redmond lives just five minutes down the road. ‘He’s always coming round. I still won’t make any major decisions without talking them over with him first. He is an inspiration.’
My favorite line of his father’s is when he was asked about busting through security and being chased onto the track, with yells for him to stop (the Olympics were in Barcelona): “I don’t speak Spanish.”
