Bill Wilson of the Daily Jot wrote the article below and I concur with his thoughts about Manteo Mitchell.
There is one athlete at the Olympics that I would like to mention, who caught my eye as having a tremendous amount of passion, courage and tenacity to overcome great odds and secure at least a personal victory, if not the gold medal.
His name is Manteo Mitchell. He is a 400 man, a quarter-miler, and was the lead runner in the US men's 4 X 400 relay. Sprinting a quarter mile is probably still the most difficult race to run. You have to gut it out, even when your lungs burn like the flames of hades and your legs feel like rubber.
Mitchell ran a 46.1 split in the 400. By the second 200 meters, he was in incredible pain. He told USA Today, "If you could have seen behind my face, I was in tears every step. It was bad, it was really bad." Mitchell had heard a snap and continued running. After the race, doctors said he had broken his fibula--one of the most painful breaks a person can suffer. But he kept on running the most demanding race in the sport of track. Why? "I could have stopped. I could have laid there. But I owed it to the guys in the group. I didn't want to let them
down. I just hoped I could finish. I hoped we could still qualify." Qualify they did. But that's only part of the story. The rest of the story comes from an interview Mitchell did on July 21 for the North Carolina Shelby Star newspaper. Here is a quote from Mitchell: "I always have a saying or quote that I plan to run off of for that season...The meaning behind the phrase is powerful and correlates to my running. I look to God for Faith before I run, through believing in Him I am able to Focus, therefore leading me to Finish what I have started. I am a firm believer in Christ and I know His word is true. I may not be the "perfect Christian" but I just want to be an example for people younger than me that anything is possible if you have FaithFocusFinish in your mind." 2 Timothy 4:7 says, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my race, I have kept the faith." Manteo Mitchell is a living example. I wrote the following, we need more Olympic athletes and citizens like Manteo Mitchell. God Bless Manteo Mitchell.
The rest of the story comes from an interview Mitchell did on July 21 for the North Carolina Shelby Star newspaper. Here is a quote from Mitchell: "I always have a saying or quote that I plan to run off of for that season...The meaning behind the phrase is powerful and correlates to my running. I look to God for Faith before I run, through believing in Him I am able to Focus, therefore leading me to Finish what I have started. I am a firm believer in Christ and I know His word is true. I may not be the "perfect Christian" but I just want to be an example for people younger than me that anything is possible if you have FaithFocusFinish in your mind." 2 Timothy 4:7 says, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my race, I have kept the faith." Manteo Mitchell is a living example.
No comments:
Post a Comment