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Nearly one year ago, the world watched the 2024 Summer Olympics. We celebrated the record-setting accomplishments of athletes from around the world. A year or two later, we may remember only a few medal-winning performances. In contrast, an athlete who finished last long ago may be a hero, indelibly engraved in our memory. The 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, were more than 20 years ago. Few remember who won the 400-meter race, yet millions have a vivid memory of the runner who finished last—because sometimes finishing last is the most heroic accomplishment of all.

In the 1992 Summer Olympics, Great Britain’s Derek Redmond exploded off the starting block, his hope for gold just 400 meters away. Every tuned muscle was pushed to its limit. Then, in an instant, one of those carefully trained muscles tore, and the terrible pain hobbled Derek to his knees. At that moment, Derek’s race was over. Everything he had hoped and worked for was lost. Agony even greater than his pain etched his face and flooded his heart and mind. Grasping his leg, Derek knelt on the track, completely still.

What happened next made the whole world stand still. Eyes riveted on their screens, the world watched as Derek Redmond, with tears of pain and disappointment, rose on one leg and began to hobble forward. A stretcher was brought by medical personnel, but Derek refused it, instead hobbling forward on his own. From the stands, Derek’s father pushed past security to help his son. Derek kept going. Quickly, it became clear to everyone that Derek intended to cross the finish line, and that roused the whole watching world. They knew that they were not spectators to defeat, but witnesses to a different race—one run with heart, not haste. In worldwide unison, fans rose to their feet and cheered more loudly and proudly for Derek than for those who crossed the finish line first. That day, Derek claimed victory as he limped over the finish line. And in witnessing his triumph, the world too claimed something: a spark of hope and quiet personal triumph within themselves. 

“Never Out of the Fight”

One might feel as though the world is upside-down, hearing a crowd cheering loudest for the runner who finishes last. To finish the race you know you can’t “win” is one of the most impressive accomplishments in life. But finishing heroically is what all but three athletes in every race do. In every race you watch, most of the runners know they won’t medal, but they shred the track with their cleats as though they were racing for the win. They are—their win! That spirit to fight on to the finish lives within ordinary people every day. That is why the whole world resonated with and cheered the heroism of Derek Redmond finishing. In that moment, Derek Redmond was the avatar of what is best in all of us—Derek Redmond was Everyman. We strive for this heroism in ourselves, and can’t help but honor it in others. Derek Redmond’s story is indelible because it traces the contours of our own lives and strikes that chord of agony, courage, and undying will.

When Finishing Last Is Victory

Disappointments, setbacks, and failures are the inheritance of mortality. We’ve all felt it. We understand what it’s like not to be the best when we desperately try to be. When a runner stumbles, we naturally recoil and turn away—we resonate with the painful reality of stumbling. But respect is granted to the runner who gets up and finishes—after all, they’ve shown us how to care about nothing so much as our own very best. 

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf acknowledges the challenge of mortality and the reality of coming up short, again and again—“falling is what we mortals do.”  We may be tempted to stay down—we may even believe that falling is our destiny. In the race of life, it’s not where you place but staying in the race that counts. “As long as we are willing to rise up again and continue on … we can learn something from failure and become better and happier as a result,” Elder Uchtdorf assures. 

There will be times we find ourselves in Derek Redmond’s situation: dreams dashed and hearts broken as we recognize we have fallen impossibly behind. As it was with Redmond, pain and despair may overtake and immobilize us as we watch the dream slip from us. The temptation to forsake it all is typical. If you can’t win, if you’ve lost everything, why keep trying? Why not throw it all away?

One young person, facing lost dreams, was determined that if he couldn’t have it all, he was going to turn away from it all. Later, in prison, he was encouraged to turn his life around, rebuilding his life and character from within prison walls. He accepted the invitation to live like Joseph in Egypt; determined not to let the circumstances of his life dictate his choices, he found ways to exercise his moral agency for good, no matter his imprisonment. Like Joseph of old, this young man accepted that it wasn’t where he found himself, but the direction his life was aimed that mattered. Daily choices concerning his thoughts, emotions, words, interactions, activities, and relationships were within the scope of his moral agency, even in prison, and would be his spiritual proving ground. He could change, could grow, and he did! Mark saw in him the unique, profound, and inspiring heroism of a person finishing “last,” but finishing well. Across the span of a lifetime and longer, where we find ourselves today—our current position and even velocity—is so much less significant than our trajectory. Forever from now, it won’t matter how far behind we started or how halting our progress was at times, as long as we kept getting up and moving one step closer to our potential.

Addiction: The Inspiration of Derek Redmond for Repentance and Recovery 

Becoming entangled in a web of temptations may be an enticing distraction from painful realities, but often this trap only leads to shattered hopes and dreams. The race seems lost, and despair is easy. The dream of finishing “first” (whatever that means) may in reality be lost, but by the grace of God, finishing well is never beyond reach. Repentance and recovery from a myriad of challenges in life is an inspiring story of heroic “last place” finishes.

Mark, a marriage and family therapist for 30 years, remembers working with a young husband and father who had struggled desperately for years to overcome compulsive pornography use, only to “fail” again and again; or so it seemed to him, even though any objective observer could see a steady growth trend over his years of committed struggle. 

Mark remembers the day that young man expressed in fight-tempered firmness, “I don’t know whether I will ever overcome this”—he paused, then declared—“but as long as I draw breath, I will not quit fighting!” Another young man in recovery similarly wrote: “Even if I lose, I prefer who I am when I fight to who I am when I give up.”   There’s something of that warrior spirit in all of us. The motto of the warrior spirit is “never out of the fight.” Even when some dreams disappear, we stand, if not to win, then to fight on. With that fighting spirit and vision that refuses surrender, change is empowered as one keeps stepping forward. 

Victim Mentality—The First Enemy

Persons struggling to overcome any of life’s myriad weaknesses, appetites, or addictions may discover that the greatest barrier to beginning recovery is the powerlessness of a victim mentality—the idea that life has conspired against them. Owning up to personal failures is painful. Casting blame elsewhere may be palliative—‘it’s not my fault’—but it is also disempowering—if we’re not at fault, then there is nothing we can do about it. We must not escape from or sidestep holding ourselves accountable; otherwise, we surrender our power.

Even when “if only” thoughts and feelings may be justified, indulging them only disempowers us—leads us to dwell on things we cannot change instead of the things we can change, and on what we will do now. How inspiring are Paralympic athletes, wheelchair marathoners, and others, who show us how to face our reality and run with it! Our experiences with “failure” can ultimately produce vital learning, which leads to growth and change. Falling short of success presents the opportunity for us to focus our attention and energy on what more we can do.

Be Willing to Change the Dream 

The longer we dwell on the race that’s lost, the stronger the impulse to just give up takes hold. Instead, we can quickly change focus from what’s lost to what’s still possible—shift defeat to motivation. The irrepressible mantra of the mother of one young man who had wrestled with addiction was “look ahead, don’t look back.” Her words were true. Only misery, torment, and despair came to this young man as he obsessed over his losses.

Faith in Christ can shift defeat to motivation. President Thomas S. Monson cheered for the fallen runner: “The race of life is not for sprinters running on a level track. The course is marked by pitfalls and checkered with obstacles. … Let us shed any thought of failure.” In the race of his life, Derek Redmond shifted his focus from winning gold and glory to simply crossing the finish line, honoring what it had taken to get on that track in the first place. Staying on the field said to the whole world, “What it took to get here was not easy. I belong on this track, and I will finish my race.” A shift in focus is not surrender, but power—making it our race to do what is still in our power to do.

Endure to the End

In life’s most difficult circumstances, the seeming futility of it all can make trying seem pointless. Surely the runner is not at fault for mourning the loss of dreams. Surely those watching bear empathic witness to the pain. When he gathers himself to his feet, though, it is then that we see the spirit that cannot, will not be defeated.  It’s in the fight we choose now that we show who we are. While some dreams and relationships may be lost, we can pick ourselves up and push for our own finish line.

In this world, often only the first-place finisher hears the raucous cheering of the crowd. But “heaven is cheering [us] on today, tomorrow, and forever,” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland assures, and encourages us all: “Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing.”  Every race in life is really our own personal record (PR) challenge. Each of us is running in our own lane. We can find contentment, peace, and satisfaction in today’s PR, improving today over yesterday, reaching for the best possible future version of ourselves, starting from today. In the kingdom of God, every son or daughter who gives their all—their personal best, their very best—sees the loving smile of God and hears those precious celebratory finish-line words, “well done” (Matthew 25:21, 23). Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. That’s our race.

The post Winning the Race You’ve Lost: The Unique Heroism of Finishing appeared first on Public Square Magazine.

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