03 September,2009 11:47 AM IST | | Hemal Ashar
Sporting figures become heroes not just because they provide us with sterling on-field performances but the fact that they reinforce what worldly-wise, cynical people usually believe happens only on celluloid: the triumph of all that is good and great and that indomitable never-say-die spirit.
Two uplifting real life sporting stories recently put a smile on the face, a song on the lips, a tear in the eye and... you know all of that sterling stuff.
The first is that of former Australian Olympic gold medallist swimmer Dawn Fraser, who held the freestyle world record from 1956 to 1972, in an age before swimming waters started churning over material used for swimsuits, fighting off a mugger near her Australia home. Fraser, who is now 71, showed a man who tried to rob her home that he messed with the wrong gal or gran.
Fraser said that the man came out of the gate near her home and grabbed her. She caught him by the ear and kicked him in the groin (ouch!). He was soon caught by the police and would now most probably experience the Dawn (pun intended) of a new era in jail.
In another grits-n-gals story, a 74 (what is it with these 70-somethings these days?) US-based lady, called Rena 'Rusty' Kanokogi, received a gold medal for a lifetime service to judo. Almost 50 years ago, Rusty had been stripped of her gold medal at an international judo competition after the jury realised that she was a woman and had fought against men.
The incident had devastated and fired up Rusty who worked all her life to get international recognition for women's judo and push the sport into the Olympics. Now, Rusty, a judo black belt is grappling with cancer for which she needs chemotherapy and kidney disease for which she undergoes dialysis. She needs a cane for support when she walks, but, she laughs, saying, "I use my cane like a Samurai sword and as for the cancer, it is there, I deal with it."
These athletes are making light of life-threatening situations, the robber could have killed Fraser in retaliation and frustration, he did issue verbal threats. The disease Rusty battles everyday and dismisses laughingly can be fatal.
That is why sportspersons are the stuff of real life fairy tales, they display the same courage that they showed in competition, outside the swimming pool or judo mat too, in short, they make molehills out of mountains.u00a0u00a0
