Article August 18, 2008 Issue

JUMPING LIFE'S OLYMPIC-SIZED HURDLES

BY MARK SWINNEY

IN EVERY Olympic Games, there are moments so striking that they remain with us vividly—even years after the closing ceremonies are over. As a child I just loved watching Kip Keino, the incredible middle-and long-distance runner from rural Kenya, who won the gold in the 1968 and 1972 Olympics. Then there was the culmination of the USA's victory over the USSR in a 1980 Olympic hockey semifinal, when the announcer exclaimed, "Do you believe in miracles?"

How about those incredible images of Russian gymnast Olga Korbut on the balance beam in the '72 and '76 Summer Olympics? And spectators loved watching the successes of speed skater Dan Jansen in the 1994 Winter Olympics, figure skater Sarah Hughes in the 2002 Winter Olympics, and, in the 1988 Games in Calgary, the Jamaican bobsled team, who competed well enough to come in 14th, beating both American sleds.

There's something deeply inspiring about seeing people attain a level of performance they themselves never even thought possible. One outstanding example is 400-meter runner Sanya Richards, whom many regard as the fastest woman in the world today. She said in a recent interview: "There are so many meaningful verses to me in the Bible, but I guess the one I say to myself most often is, 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!' That's my favorite because, on the track, I am usually trying to do things that have rarely been done before."

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