This is a wonderful story – especially if you like track & field, but even if not, I think. On Saturday, the USA National Track & Field Championship was held, and broadcast on the USA Network. I do happen to love the sport (I even attended with a friend one of its days at the 1984 Summer Olympics at the L.A. Coliseum, when Carl Lewis won two of his four Gold medals that year), and so I tuned in to watch. I even like watching the very long races – including the weird 3,000m Steeplechase, largely because it is weird, running two miles, jumping over hurdles and splashing through pools. As it happened, that night’s event was notable and rewarded people who did watch – rather than turned to another channel in expected boredom. Deep into the race, with only six laps to go. NCAA champion Kenneth Rooks from BYU got bumped and jostled as the pack neared a hurdle…and he was knocked to the ground. For most people, their race would be over. But Rooks got up and little by little moved through the runners. With a bit over a lap to go, I noticed him on the outside, gaining ground, but the announcers were focused on the leaders and didn’t even mention him. It wasn’t until there was maybe half a lap to go that one of the announcers basically said, “Er, guys…”, though even that soon got ignored since – well, Kenneth Rooks fell and obviously didn’t have a chance. But eventually it became clear as the finish line neared that Kevin Rooks actually, and remarkably had a chance. And, with the announcers finally catching on to what’s happening and getting extremely excited, he actually – and remarkably – won! Here's the video of that. It’s edited – so the whole thing (included the post-race material) is only eight minutes, and the race portion is just about five minutes. It’s all worth it, to put everything in perspective, but for those who don’t want to watch it all, here are some “jump to points” -- The first is to jump to the 2:45 mark and watch for about half-a-minutes. This is where you’ll see Rooks get knocked to the ground. He’s right in the middle, wearing a white jersey and blue trunks. The next is jumping to the 4:00 mark. This is the final lap. Rooks will be coming up on the outside. I also highly recommended watching the post-race coverage that starts at 5:55, because they show another angle of the crash, and it’s significantly more pronounced than the main footage, showing how big a tumble as it really was, that put him in last place, a good 10 yards behind the next closest runner, making Rooks’ recovery all the more impressive. Just keep your eye on the runner in a white jersey and blue trunks. He’s the one not giving up.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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