Guor Marial is from Sudan. He's a refugee now in the United States of America without a passport. Marial is a runner and a hero for his native land. At the recent Olympics he was able to run under the Olympic flag. He didn't win any medals but his very running in the Olympic marathon earned him "gold" status in Sudan and among Sudanese refugees everywhere. Murial is man of spirit who lives under the shadow of another Sudanese hero, Manute Bol, who was a former NBA player. Outside of professional basketball Manute Bol lived for the people of Sudan. They were his favorite charity. It was Bol who put his life on the line by going to Sudan to help rescue many of the 20,000 Lost Boy refugees such as Marial and Lomong. Lomong ...

She was born in the village of Bokoji in1969, the seventh of 10 children. As a young school girl she began to run and has been running ever since. Derartu Tulu became the first Ethiopian woman to win an Olympic medal. She rose to fame at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona convincingly winning the 10,000 meters race. She had made history, and with the national tri-color flag draped over her shoulders, she did a victory lap placing her in the ranks of eternal Ethiopian heros Abebe Bikila, Mamo Wolde and Miruts Yifter. Her competitive career is marked by her winning 35 gold, 12 silver and 15 bronze medals.  It wasn't always easy for Tulu. After each of her three childbirths she needed to get back into running shape. Leg injuries set her ...

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do."  Eleanor Roosevelt

Yesterday (8/2/12) the Olympic community and the world celebrated 16 year old Gabby Douglass's gold medal triumph in gymnastics. She will now have that sought after opportunity to be a role model for young girls. Fifty-six years ago (1956) another African American 16 year old began her Olympic career at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. Wilma Rudolf, the Tennessee born child who was so sickly and never expected to even walk, won a bronze medal in the sprint relay track event. Wilma went on to be the first American woman to earn ...

"It seems that God brought me to Earth with a mission to play soccer,"   Edson Arantes Do Nascimento (Pelé).

"Heroes walk alone, but they become myths when they ennoble the lives and touch the hearts of all of us. For those who love soccer, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, generally known as Pele, is a hero.

Performance at a high level in any sport is to exceed the ordinary human scale. But Pele's performance transcended that of the ordinary star by as much as the star exceeds ordinary performance. He scored an average of a goal in every international game he played--the equivalent of a baseball player's hitting a home run in every World Series game over 15 years."  http://www.time.com/time/......

The 2012 Summer Olympics have begun. There will be the pagentry with its parade of olympic athletes who have honed  their skills 24/7 over many years of training for this moment in olympic history. There are many perspectives through which to view the Olympic Games. Certainly there are the individual and team Olympic records which will be challenged, and the daily tally of Gold, Siver and Bronze medals involving competitions among nations. Of interest to me are the individual stories of athletes who make a difference, not only within their sport, but for all of the world through the lessons about life they teach.

Hopefully through this blog we can share and accumulate some of the heroic stories of athletes who stand out as examples ...