13. The Good Sport
Sometimes when athletes push
themselves too hard, they get injured. That's what happened to Jean Thompson
while she was training for the 800-meter
race in
The 800-meter race would be a hard
one to keep up. It was close to half a mile
– about eight times the length of a football field. The team managers knew that Jean could run well, even with her injury. But they were concerned about her
confidence. So they made an unusual
decision. They decided to enter Bobbie in the race, too. They figured
that Bobbie could give Jean some moral support for this very tough race.
Bobbie had never trained for this
event. She was used to shorter distances
like the 100-meter and 200-meter races. But the 
officials persuaded Bobbie to try out for the preliminary heats. Wanting to help her team and
Bobbie had been running last in the race the whole time,
keeping an eye on Jean. She could tell something was wrong. Maybe she saw a
change of rhythm or a change in the way Jean was running. Maybe she noticed that
Jean was in the wrong lane. Whatever the reason, when she saw what was
happening, Bobbie put on a burst of speed and caught up with Jean. For the rest
of the race, Bobbie kept talking to her teammate: "Don't give up," and "You can
make it." With Bobbie's words in her ears, Jean kept running, right to the end
of the race.
Many people were convinced that Bobbie could have moved up
further, and maybe even won a medal. But Bobbie made the choice to stay back and
let Jean come in ahead of her....
Alexandrine Gibb was to write later
that year: "Bobbie Rosenfeld's sportsmanship in this event was one of the
high spots of the games. In the annals of
women's athletics, there is no finer deed than this."
Bobbie Rosenfeld: The Olympian
who Could Do Everything
ISBN 1-896764-82-7
Toronto: Second Story Press, 2004
Printed with permission from Second Story Press
www.secondstorypress.ca
All rights reserved.