The will to return after setback sets great people apart

 

There was one tough fellow who damaged his spine so badly in an accident that he was forced to walk using a cane for the rest of his life.

Only the expert handling of his broken body from the scene of the accident and good medical care saved him from confinement to a wheelchair.

But when people expressed sympathy for him, he shrugged them off with this comment: “Now I have proof that I have a spine.”

They laughed, wryly. He was, of course, referring to the idiomatic meaning of having a spine – a person of courage.

He went about his old duties to the fullest extent that his new condition could allow. It was a condition that required regular medical check-ups which came with a raft of doctor’s orders on diet, sitting and sleeping, exercise, travel and any number of other requirements if he hoped to live a full life.

Blink of an eye

But he took it all in his stride.

With severe adversity such as disability, you are either born with it or you acquire it in the course of life. This happens gradually on in the blink of an eye.

What has occupied the energies of many experts is our attitudes, our reactions to it.
For some people, a scratch on the skin can bring life to a standstill while others can move the world with whatever is left functioning of their bodies, like only the brain after everything else is paralysed.

The field of sport is littered with heroism. It is an endless source of inspiration for those who sometimes feel overwhelmed by life’s setbacks. Whenever I read stories of great comebacks, the one question I always ask myself is this: if I found myself in a similar situation, what would my reaction be?

More often than not, I shudder.

That is why my reservoir of respect for many people in this world runs very deep. Some are famous while others show us their formidable fortitude in quiet anonymity.

Nikki Lauda is one of the great legends of F1 racing. He was a three-time world drivers' champion — 1975, 1977 and 1984.

On 1 August 1976, during the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring circuit, Lauda was seriously injured in a high speed crash.

His Ferrari swerved off the track, hit an embankment and burst into flames. Lauda was trapped in his burning vehicle and suffered severe burns, mainly to the head.

He also inhaled hot toxic fumes that were later found to have damaged his lungs and blood.

Although he was conscious when they were pulling him out of the car, he slipped into a coma while in hospital and a priest administered the last rites. But he didn’t die and just six weeks later at the Italian Grand Prix, he was back on track. Incredibly, he missed that year’s title by just one point.

In a 2015 interview with the BBC, Lauda spoke lucidly about the accident. He said: “There were basically two or three drivers trying to get me out of the car, but one was Arturo Merzario, the Italian guy, who also had to stop there at the scene, because I blocked the road.  

And he really came into the car himself, and uh, triggered my, my seatbelt loose, and then pulled me out. It was unbelievable, how he could do that, and I met him afterwards, and I said, 'How could you do it?' He said, 'Honestly, I do not know, but to open your seatbelt was so difficult, because you were pushing so hard against it, and when it was open, I got you out of the car like a feather.”

Lauda won his second world championship the following year and the last in 1984. He had literary attended his own funeral and then walked away. He missed only two races after his crash and was not fully recovered by the time he was racing again.

His skin was still peeling off and a special helmet had to be made for him. It was as if he was testing the limits to which his body could bear pain but in so doing, he became a great example of how one can overcome a big setback and forge even farther ahead than before.

Kenyan sports lovers, especially fans of Manchester United, are familiar with the figure of Sir Bobby Charlton who has come visiting.

The 1966 World Cup winner was lucky to escape with his life after the plane United were travelling in crashed on take take-off at Munich airport. There were 44 people on board, including Manchester United’s delegation of 17.

After two aborted attempts at take-off, the pilot decided he was good for the third.

The result was a catastrophe. Failing to gain height, the plane clipped the fence at the end of the runway and careened to one side. A wing tore through a nearby house and showered it with jet fuel, setting it on fire.

The wing and part of the plane’s tail detached and slammed into another house.

Practically cut in half, the ill-fated plane finally came to a halt in the snow-covered airport perimeter. Twenty three of the 44 people on board died of their injuries.

These included eight Manchester United players. Bobby Charlton, who had fallen out of the cabin while still strapped to his seat, was at first thought to be in critical condition.

He turned out to be in shock but nursing only minor injuries. The brightest England star of the day, a lad named Duncan Edwards, died of his injuries, extinguishing a highly promising career.

The injuries of eight of the surviving players were so bad that they never played football again.

At only 20 years old, Bobby Charlton would take on the responsibility of helping to rebuild the United’s shattered ranks. He had to mature fast, convert the tragic loss of his close friends as a motivational force for good and lift up not only Manchester United but England as well.

He remains one of the club’s most revered figures to this day.

But for me the most powerful story of all time narrating a comeback after horrific setback is that of Abebe Bikila.

Ethiopia’s Abebe Bikila started East Africa’s dominance of the marathon. In 1964, Abebe became the first of only two people in history to defend his Olympic marathon title.

File | Nation Media Group

I have told it in this column before but within the context of this week’s theme it bears repeating.

Anybody whose social constitution gets suspended and whose world goes into a state of emergency because they tripped on the staircase and bruised an ankle must read the story of Bikila.

Then they should ask themselves what they would do were they to find themselves in his place.

Abebe Bikila was a soldier in the Ethiopian armed forces, attached to the Imperial Guard. The detachment provided security to the Emperor of Ethiopia.

He was enlisted as a soldier but as his amateur athletics career blossomed, so did his military progress; by the time of his death, he had already crossed over into the officer ranks and was a captain in the Guard.

Although he had notched up victories in the late 1950s, it was his Olympic win in 1960 that catapulted him into celebrity status.

He returned home to a heroes’ welcome in Addis Ababa and was given the American equivalent of a ticket-tape parade.

After processions along the streets lined with thousands of people led by a galaxy of dignitaries, Emperor Haile Selassie awarded him the Star of Ethiopia, promoted him to the rank of corporal and gave him a new Volkswagen Beetle and a house.

That car would later turn fateful in Bikila’s life.

In 1964, Bikila became the first of only two people in history to defend his Olympic marathon title in Tokyo in 1964.

Aged 36, he tried to go for a third title in Mexico City in 1968. But age was knocking on his door and one week before the race started, doctors discovered a fracture on his fibula and advised him to stay off his feet until competition day.

He complied but that was still not good enough and he had to drop off at the 16 kilometre mark, leaving Mamo Walde to do the winning in the race made famous by Tanzania’s John Stephen Akhwari.

Volkswagen Beetle roll

In all, Bikila participated in 16 marathons and won 12 of them.

Then his fortunes turned sharply for the worse. On the night of March 22, 1969, he was at the wheel of his beloved gift from Emperor Haile Sellasie — the Volkswagen Beetle.
It was a rain-soaked night.

In books and documentaries, different writers, including his daughter Tsige Abebe, have given varying accounts of what exactly caused his accident. Some people said he could have been drinking.

Others said that he was forced off the road by some reckless motorist and still others pointed out that he was not the most competent driver.

In fact, the car had come with a chauffeur because at the time it was given to him, he didn’t know how to drive.

Whatever the case, the Beetle rolled and trapped him inside it.

Bikila spent the rest of the night there, without help from anybody. The following morning, passers-by freed him and took him to the Imperial Guard Hospital. Tragically, it turned out that he had been paralyzed from his neck down.

The two-time Olympic marathon champion and world record holder was now a quadriplegic.

He would never walk again. Once stabilised but not even able to move his head, they flew him to Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, England for specialized treatment.

Wheel chair sports

The dignitaries from Britain and around the world who visited him included Queen Elizabeth II.

With time, Bikila regained the use of his hands. That is when he embarked on wheel chair sports. In July 1970, he took part in archery and table tennis during the Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Games.

These were the precursor to today’s Paralympics. The following year, he was invited to Norway as a guest during games of physically disabled persons. But Bikila elected to compete in archery and table tennis.

Astonishingly, he also defeated a 16-strong field in cross country sled dog racing. Able-bodied sports people transition from one sport to another but it takes special character to accept permanent disability and become a champion again. Bikila’s transformation became legendary.

How could a man who was so strong and who was so comfortably perched at the top of his world accept that he would never walk again and decide to become a wheelchair sports champion? If he had any regrets, he never showed them.

He remained the same competitive and friendly athlete. For his attitude, Bikila continued attracting invitations and raking in the honours.  

He was invited to the Munich Olympics of 1972 and a full Olympic Stadium gave him a standing ovation when he was introduced. He died on October 25, 1973 at the age of only 41.

The accident had taken too much out of him and he suffered cerebral hemorrhage which was directly attributed to the injuries he had suffered in that car crash four years earlier.

He was given a state funeral with full military honours before an overflow crowd of 65,000 people that included the Emperor himself. 

One day of national mourning was declared and a bronze statue erected over his tomb. Abebe Bikila Stadium in Addis Ababa is named after him.

The GOAT of golf

This week, Tiger Woods was involved in a car crash that left him with serious injuries. He already had a back condition that continually needed medical attention.

The vehicle driven by golfer Tiger Woods lies on its side in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, on February 23, 2021, after a rollover accident. - US golfer Tiger Woods was hospitalized Tuesday after a car crash in which his vehicle sustained "major damage," the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department said. Woods, the sole occupant, was removed from the wreckage by firefighters and paramedics, and suffered "multiple leg injuries," his agent said in a statement to US media. 

Patrick T. Fallon | AFP

The question is whether the tiger will prowl the golf course again.  His great fan, former US President Barrack Obama, tweeted: “Sending my prayers to @tigerwoods and his family tonight — here’s to a speedy recovery for the GOAT of golf. If we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s to never count Tiger out.”

Tiger is walking a road with very illustrious company, past and present. He will be alright.  BY DAILY NATION