Last night I stayed up waaaaaay too late watching the Olympics. How could I turn it off when my husband's country, The Dominican Republic, won only its second gold medal ever, courtesy of Felix Sanchez?
Felix is 34 years old and runs the 400m hurdles. I'm 30 and I run the 0m hurdles. That man has my respect. But the real reason I love him is that he won DR's first gold medal EVER back in 2004. Then, in 2008 in Beijing, on the morning of his race, he got news that he grandmother had passed away. He was devastated. He ran, but didn't qualify for the finals.
This year, he dedicated his run to her. His spikes said "Abuela" (grandmother) on them. He pinned a picture of himself with her to his shirt, behind his bib.
And when he won, he burst into tears. He took out the picture, fell to the ground, and kissed the picture.
He ran around looking for other Dominicans in the crowd and he found a couple, but no one had a huge flag like the other countries have. So he grabbed the tiny one someone did have and ran around with it.
And on the podium, he cried like a baby as they played the Dominican national anthem. He looked up at the sky and just let loose.
It was such a beautiful moment. It was so nice to see the underdog win. As patriotic as I am, it's sometimes nice to see someone other than an American win. And if it's LoLo's country? Even better.
3 comments:
Aw o tried to stay up but just couldn't make it. What a touching story. I love it when the under dog wins too. I probably would have welled up watching him run around with the tiny flag. These Olympics have been an emotional roller coaster!
It's so emotional to watch these athletes win and to watch their stories. I have cried more than a few times!
I HAVE CHILLS. Like MAJOR chills. Wow. Thank you for sharing this - it was beautiful to read, and it is so warming to see a man feel such emotion. For his grandmother, for his country, for the pride in himself. Yay Dominican Republic!!!
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