(Esc. Naval 2017)As the Olympics Approaches, a Les

(Esc. Naval 2017)

As the Olympics Approaches, a Lesson in Overcoming Adversity

Bert R. Mandelbaum, MD

July 20, 2016

 

            I’ve known a lot of athletes who qualified for the Olympic Games __________ injuries. But I know of only one who is qualified because of an injury.

            Cliff Meidl’s story captures the spirit of the Olympics.

            In November 1986, Cliff, a 20-year-old electrical cables with a jackhammer. An estimated 30,000 surged through his body, exploding bone and cartilage from the inside all the way up to his head. To put that into perspective, electric chairs use only 1500 – 2000 volts for executions. So it’s safe to say that Cliff should have died.

            And he nearly did. His heart stopper. Paramedics were able to get it going again, but they had to resuscitate him on the ways to the hospital.

            As part of a team with renowned plastic surgeon Malcolm Lesavoy, MD, and others, I got to work reconstructing Cliff’s legs. Our best hope was to avoid amputation.

            But very quickly, we noticed something else going on – something that had nothing to with our expertise. Through every step of his painful rehabilitation, Cliff grew more and more determined. He never complained. He just asked, “What’s next?”

            Before he had even finished the rehabilitation, Cliff started paddling various watercrafts. The days spent on crutches had already strengthened his upper body, and he took naturally to the sport. The same year in which he was injured, he began competing in canoe and kayak events, and in 1996 he qualified for the Olympic – not the Paralympic Games, the Olympic Games.

            Four years later, in Sydney, Australia, I was overseeing the sport medicine team at the Olympic soccer tournament. I was sitting in the stands during the opening ceremonies when Cliff walked into the Olympic Stadium carrying the Star and Stripes.

            It’s a long-standing tradition for delegations of athletes to select one among their number to bear the flag, and the choice often symbolizes some extraordinary accomplishment. I had no idea that Cliff would be selected. So when he strode into the stadium with a normal gait, I nearly broke down.

            Moments like that reinforce what I have always believed: that sport can bring out the best in us all.

            The Olympic Games (…) are devoted to celebrating the human capacity to improve body, mind, and soul.

            They are about taking part – not necessarily about winning. Cliff’s peers in the US delegation of 2000 recognized that when they elected him to bear the nation’s colors. He never won a medal at the games, but the spirit with which he overcame adversity inspired all of them.

            The Olympic motto – faster, higher, stronger – can help our patients realize that the real victory is the “win, within”. The Win Within: Capturing Your Victorious Spirit is the name of the book I wrote to show people that coming back from adversity is part of our heritage – that we as human beings are more adapted to adversity than we are to success.

            Adversity is the engine of unimagined opportunity. It can unleash our energy and stimulate our will. It moves us to succeed. If I don’t have food, I have to go get some. If I’m cold, I have to build a shelter.

            I remind patients who don’t participate in sports that they have the heritage of athletes. We all have the genes of pursuit-hunters who survived by running down their prey and running away from their predators. That’s why even now, in 2016, when we go out and take a run, we feel good. We get an endorphin surge and our lipids go down. Our hearts and brains become clear.

            The life on sport and sport of life are interlinked. Exercise is our birthright; it’s our legacy; it’s why we are here.

            We no longer have to fear saber-toothed tigers or cave bears. Bu when you look today at how people can be successful in 2016, it’s by avoiding the predators in our urban life: overeating, inactivity, and smoking. Ad it’s by rising to meet adversity.

Adapted from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/866279.

According to the text, which statement is correct?