man, i missed this whole story back in 92. great commercial. story brought a tear to my eye.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9wV8AUe6_A[/YOUTUBE]
[quote]One of the most memorable moments in recent Olympic history took place in 1992, at the summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. You may remember the name, Derek Redman. He was the British runner who had been through 22 surgeries after an injury he suffered while getting ready for the 400 meter race in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
It was a shock to everyone that he was even running again, much less competing as the best athlete from his country. When the gun went off for his race, Derek took off. He was in the middle of the pack of some of the fastest runners in the world when, about halfway around the track, he pulled his hamstring and fell to the ground.
Of course, everyone thought he was finished; the broadcasters started yelling out, “Derek Redman is out of the race! Derek Redman is out of the race!” The cameraman stayed with the rest of the runners as they finished the race, but then raced back to Derek Redman who was still down on the track, trying to pull himself back up. He was determined to finish the race.
Much to everyone’s amazement, this great athlete slowly stood up and began to hobble around the track, writhing in pain. You can see this on the video footage. As you watch his face, there were tears streaming down his cheeks. Yet, in spite of his determination, it was obvious to everyone watching that there was just no way he would be able to finish that race; he was in such pain.
Just as Redman was about to collapse for the final time, a man came running down out of the stands. He climbed the fence at the side of the track, pushed his way past two big guards and ran onto the track. The man who came to Derek Redman’s side that day was Derek’s mentor. He had been sitting in a section at the top of the grand stand that day in Barcelona, but he could not imagine anything but getting involved.
The man’s name was Jim Redman. He happened to be Derek’s dad. For years, he had been there by his son’s side, getting up at four o’clock in the morning for practices, encouraging, supporting and cheering his son on. Now, he felt he just could not stand by and let his son fail to finish the race.
So, he came jogging up to his injured son; and, when he got close enough, he reached for him, putting his hand on Derek’s shoulder. Derek took a few more steps and then turned and fell into the chest of his mentor and dad. Then, Jim Redman said these words, which were later quoted in the newspaper. He said, “Derek, we started this thing together and we are going to finish this thing together.”
Then, Jim took his son’s arm, put it around his own shoulders, put his arm around Derek’s shoulders and held his son up. I mean, literally, just held him up as together they made their way around the rest of the track. As you can imagine, the crowd was roaring its approval as Derek Redman finished his race.[/quote]
:RockOn: