"Find your dream. It's the pursuit of the dream that heals you."

July 11, 2014 8:59 PM

One of the greatest upsets in Olympic History happened in Tokyo in 1964: Billy Mills came from behind to win the 10,000m gold (YT: race edited down to 4 minutes). Mills, a member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux, remains the only American to win this race in the Olympics. Here he is talking to Here and Now on NPR about how he ran the race (it's riveting), the name of the Washington, DC NFL franchise, and in an extra on this page, about Native American history.
posted by julen (4 comments total)

The quote in the title is from advice his father gave him, as described on this page from California Indian Education. The full quote is:

You have to look deeper, way below the anger, the hurt, the hate, the jealousy, the self-pity, way down deeper where the dreams lie, son. Find your dream. It's the pursuit of the dream that heals you.
posted by julen at 9:05 PM on July 11, 2014 [7 favorites]

Wow, that is really thrilling; his stride seemed quite a bit more open to me at the shoulder and the hips than the other two top finishers, one of whom was the world record holder (who bumped into him from behind at one point and caused him to break stride a tiny bit) -- and how could he possibly have had that much left at the end after running at such a pace for almost 30 minutes!
posted by jamjam at 10:21 PM on July 11, 2014

Wow. I didn't know there had been only one American to win that particular race. His father's words brought tears to my eyes.
posted by tuesdayschild at 6:30 AM on July 12, 2014

Great article about Billy Mills in Runners World a few years ago.
posted by Malla at 12:55 PM on July 12, 2014 [1 favorite]