A True Champion

My friend, Aleisha, recommended that I read a book called The Perfect Mile by Neal Bascomb.  It's the story about three men - Roger Bannister from England, John Landy from Australia and Wes Santee from the United States - and their quest to be the first person to break the four-minute mile.  (It eventually happened in 1954 by one of these men.)

As I read this book, I became a fan of all of these men, especially John Landy.  Not only did the guy run his guts out, but he seemed to be doing it for the right reasons.  He wasn't interested in having his name in the record books - well, maybe a little - but he just wanted to be the best he could be and every race he was in he tried to do better than the last one.

I highly suggest this book to anyone that will listen to me, but the point of this post is not a book review, but to tell you a quick story (with video) of something I found out about my new hero, John Landy.

During the Australian National Championships of 1956, front-runner Ron Clarke fell down after another runner accidentally clipped his heal.  John Landy stopped mid-race and checked on Clarke to make sure he was okay.  After helping Clarke to his feet, Landy is off again and, well, watch the video.

That, my friends, is a true champion!