Swifter, Higher and Stronger with God
by Peter Vuono

     I've always been a fan of the Olympics ever since I saw 4 time Gold Medal winner, Al Oerter carry the American flag into the stadium in Mexico City in 1968. The games left such and impression on me that watching it became a staple of my training regimen in my quest for improvement in the little known sport of Powerlifting. I often thought about some of the great names and performances that I have seen and thinking about them, it spurred me on to train all the harder. However on a warm Friday night in August of 2012 at the London Olympics, I watched a diminutive Ethiopian athlete who could not have weighed more than 100lbs. make a statement that contained more ins

piration and emotion than any Olympic event that this author had ever seen.
     The broadcasters frequently talked about the Kenyan runners in the women's 5,000 meter run and I was about to keep an eye on them until I noticed that in lane one, the petite Ethiopian runner, Meseret Defar, made the sign of the cross three times. The Kenyans led the pace for much of the race but toward the end in the last 100meters Defar pulled away from the pack and crossed the finish line first in a stunning upset to win the Gold Medal.
     Defar was overcome with emotion  with tears and sobs streaming down like rain. However, she struggled toward the camera and made it clear that she had a statement to make. With the sobs continuing, Defar took from beneath her team shirt a folded photograph of Mary, the Mother of God with the Infant Jesus and displayed it to the TV cameras not saying a word. She didn't have to. This tiny Olympic champion very plainly showed the world where every talent and every gift whether it be Olympic sized or small, emanated from. The Olympic motto had never been expressed so perfectly.