Runnerville

I want to point out CNN.com’s page dedicated to the 2008 Olympic Games. (check it out here)  The coverage is not exhaustive and the content limited, but a highlight for me is featured blogger and personal friend Gilbert Tuhabonye.  Gilbert is one of several athletes and CNN correspondents writing posts leading up to and even during the Games, and he couldn’t be a better choice.

Link directly to Gilbert’s posts by clicking here.

As you’ll read, Gilbert’s story is nothing short of miraculous.  He should be dead right now, not winning 10Ks, running 2:20 marathons, or coaching Austin-area runners.  See, Gilbert is from Burundi, where a violent civil war broke out in the early ’90s pitting two ethnic groups — the Hutus and the Tutsis — against each other.  A violent Hutu mob approached Gilbert’s school on October 21, 1993, surrounded it, and allowed the Hutus inside — many of them Gilbert’s close friends — to come outside.

With only Tutsis remaining inside the school, the mob chained the doors and set the school on fire.  The fire burned for hours before Gilbert, badly burned himself but alive, escaped through a window and ran away from the Hutu mob with his back on fire.  The 18-year-old doused the fire in a small pool of water before dragging himself to safety.

The subsequent story is quite long, but Gilbert would go on to attend Abilene Christian University in Texas (my alma mater) on a track and field scholarship, where he was a six-time all-American and a member of seven Division II team track titles.  Post-college, Gilbert moved to Austin, where, working for Paul Corroza’s successful RunTex store, he began winning local races and motivating thousands.  He even began coaching a group of area wannabe adult and child runners — called “Gilbert’s Gazelles” — motivating them with his knowledge of the sport and inspirational story.  He also trains and dreams of representing his home country, Burundi, in a future Olympiad.

(you can read Gilbert’s harrowing story in its entirety here)

Why does this matter?  Because stories like Gilbert’s are what may connect our sport to the masses.  It is inspirational.  It touches all who hear it.  It gives hope.  It represents humanity at its best — and worst.

I think of Lopez Lomong, the former Sudanese “Lost Boy”-turned-Olympian who will represent the U.S. in the 1,500-meter run.  There are probably others who have overcome great odds to make the Olympic team.  I would assert that stories like Lopez’s (and hopefully Gilbert’s in a future Games) may be just as important in the marketing run-up to the Olympics as the promise of blistering times from Jeremy Wariner.

What do you think?

• Who's the most exciting athlete on the planet? - September 6th, 2008
• Olympics Hangover - August 26th, 2008
• Yes We Can! - August 7th, 2008
• Now I can Sleep - April 23rd, 2008
• competition - April 14th, 2008