The Olympic Games are not the greatest sporting spectacle for no reason. However, it is not just the sporting action that unfolds on the numerous tracks, rings and pools that make the Olympics the greatest sporting event. The melting pot of numerous awe-inspiring stories that the Games become with athletes coming from different countries and different backgrounds adds to the greatness of the Games.
In the Olympics, the athletes do not just remain sportsmen who compete for medals but become an extension of their stories that involve like any story, moments of joy, pride, tears and ages of hard work to reach there. Some Olympians, however, have had more than that in their stories that set them apart.
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Here is a look at 5 such greatest jaw-dropping stories from the 120-year-old history of the Games
#1 Emil Zatopek
Emil Zatopek was one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century. His incredible feats on the track just confirmed his greatness that his early life of hardships always promised. Born in a not so well to do family of Czechoslovakia in 1922, Emil was working in a Bata shoe factory at the age of 16 when the moment came that would change his life forever.
Working at the Bata factory, he was asked by his coach to participate in a race. When the young Zatopek resisted on grounds of being unfit, he was coaxed to the race by his coach. And much to his own surprise, Zapotek finished second in the race.
And thus started the sporting careers of one of the best who ever ran on the track. Zatopek ended his career with 4 golds and 1 silver from two Olympic games. He in fact won the 5000m, 10000m as well as the Marathon even in the 1952 Olympic games.
#2 Tommy Kono
At the age of 13, Tommy Kono found himself in an internment camp as a child who suffered from asthma. The rigorous life in the detention centres in the middle of desers didn’t leave any scope for Kono but to indulge his time lifting weights. What came as a blessing in disguise for Kono was the desert air that resulted in him getting rid of his asthma.
Once the war got over, people could see the potential in Kono and despite his family being in detention, the Sacramento-born decided to lift for the USA. Keeping his potential in mind, he was allowed to not join the army and stay in the country while the Korean War raged. The faith paid off as he won the Gold in the 1952 Olympics and followed it up with another in the 1956 Olympics.
#3 Haile Gebrselassie
Born in Ethiopia in a family where he was one of the ten children in the family, Haile Gebrselassie used to run 10 kilometres to his school in the morning and ran back the same distance in the evening. Little did he know that all the running was going to lead him to Olympic glory one day.
And not once, but twice did he finish with the brightest medal in the Olympics, once in 1996 Atlanta and then again in 2000 Sydney.
#4 Betty Robinson
How many people can claim to have won an Olympic medal after coming back from the dead? Well, Betty Robinson can for sure. A 16-year-old Robinson had already made her mark on the track when she became the first woman to win a Gold in the 100m 1928 Olympics.
But a life changing event was still a few years ahead of her and it came when she sat in a biplane with her cousin in 1931. The flight met a tragic end as it crashed, leading to the death of both. Well, not actually.
Miraculously, she was found alive while being taken to the undertaker and remained in a coma for around seven months. Robinson came back to win a Gold in the 4x100m relay in 1936 Olympics.
#5 Karoly Takacs
What do you do when the ticket to your glory in life is lost? Well, if you’re Karoly Takacs then you continue to pursue the dream with all that you’ve got. Karoly Takacs was one of the brightest medal hopes for Hungary when during army training a grenade explosion in 1938 left him without his right hand.
But even this didn’t deter the champion and he trained himself to shoot with his left hand and won back to back Gold medals in 25m rapid fire pistol in 1948 and 1952 Olympics. He later went on to become a coach.
