16 January,2009 08:39 AM IST | | Ashwin Ferro and Harit N Joshi
American sprint legend Gail Devers certain her compatriots will return to form after a disappointing show in last year's Olympics
It is no revelation that Americans take pride in whatever they do. And Olympic sprint champion Gail Devers stressed on this fact a number of times during a press meet yesterday, which she attended in her capacity as brand ambassador of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon.
Terribly hurt
No wonder then that the pride of the multiple Olympic and world champion sprinter took a beating when Jamaica's Usain Bolt & Co breasted the tape for gold at the Beijing Olympics last year. "I was there in Beijing and was terribly hurt to see none of the American sprinters come back with gold. I think it's the first time it has ever happened in an Olympics," Devers said.
However, the Jamaicans were thoroughly deserving of their glory and even Devers couldn't deny that. "They (Jamaica) came as a team and won. Whereas back in the USA there is still a shortage of funds as far as providing for deserving athletes in concerned," explained the 1999 World Champion "That's why my husband and I have started the Gail Devers Foundation so that we can provide for the deserving athletes of our country," added Devers, herself a success story of sheer grit and determination.
A true champion keeps his chin up and always takes life one race at a time. And that's exactly how Devers has lived her life this far, despite a host of difficulties. "I took up sprinting at a young age after my brother kept beating me at sprints and began rubbing the defeat in my face. Soon I beat him and then it became a passion," she explained.
Fighting off disease
However, the biggest adversity that the 1996 Atlanta Games double gold (100m and 4X100m relay) winner faced in her early running days was when she was diagnosed of Graves disease, a debilitating chronic thyroid disorder affecting her feet and which nearly took her legs away in 1990.
"The condition was so bad that I had to literally crawl. However, I decided not to give up and fought the disease for a good 17 months and made one of the greatest comebacks in track and field history. And I'm proud of it," explained the 1992 Barcelona Games' fastest woman.
Proud, just like Bolt must be of his triple gold medal-winning feat in Beijing. Something the hardcore American believes her countrymen will overshadow with time.
"Bolt is a great athlete but I think the nature of sprinting lies in its competitive spirit, and we Americans are very competitive," she said.
