For These Olympic Athletes, Inspiration Starts At Home

By John Genzale
Sports Business Journal
August 04, 2008

When recounting great Olympic moments, one thinks of Bob Beamon, Mark Spitz and Nadia Comaneci, their feats in the long jump, in the Olympic pool or on the balance beam, respectively. But great athletic performances grow indistinct with time or, like Michael Phelps superseding Spitz, are ushered into the recesses of the mind.

Inspiration, more than competition, is the chief product of the Games. Beyond the Olympic ideals, the spirit and the nationalism, the Games produce unequaled human-interest stories. We remember the humanity long after we’ve forgotten the accomplishment.

 That makes it possible for some athletes to put their signature on the Games before the competition starts. It matters less, for instance, how Melanie Roach or Josh George do in Beijing than how they got there. And they both got there with a little help from their families.

 Perhaps you’ve read Roach’s story in The New York Times or saw it on network news. She’s the American weightlifter who overcame physical and family hardship to realize her Olympic dream.  George made similar media rounds, so you may know that though he was paralyzed at 4, he’s favored to win several wheelchair sprints. The media sees them as sources of inspiration. But what inspires them?

 Focusing over a four-year cycle and competing at the highest level requires more than talent and commitment. It requires support. It’s the payback that inspires Roach and George. Outwardly they compete for country, but inwardly they win for family.

Weeks after Roach lifted twice her weight in the 117-pound class to make the U.S. team, the petite former gymnast was still waking up her husband Dan in the middle of the night, “making him tell me again that it’s more than a dream.”

 A serious spine injury derailed her chances in 2000. Roach was 25 and resolved to succeed elsewhere. She opened Roach Gymnastics in Sumner, Wash., now with more than 500 students. She threw herself into the campaigns of Dan, now serving his fourth term as a state representative from — where else? — Olympia. And she became the mother of three, Ethan, Drew and Camille.

 The highly competitive Roach was coping with withdrawal from competition when Drew was diagnosed with autism. Melanie admitted to “a sadness that could be considered depression.”

 Over six years, “I tried to come back but the pain was too severe.” Then, in October 2006, she had a microdiscectomy, a new, minimally invasive surgery. Five days later, she returned to the gym, “no pain; no medication.” By 2007, she was winning again, including her seventh national championship.

 “We are Mormon and a prayerful family. My prayers were answered.” Josh George’s spinal injury was more profound. You might know that 20 years ago, when he was 4, he fell 12 stories from his bedroom window in Falls Church, Va.

 “Doctors said I was at the perfect age to survive the fall. My bones were not fully developed.”

 He landed straight up into hedges that surrounded the high-rise condo.  Josh broke both femurs and his spinal injury was so severe, the doctor’s initial prognosis was grim. He was hospitalized for months and spent the better part of a year in a body cast.

 The paralysis in the lower part of his body is permanent, but on wheels, he may be the world’s fastest human. In Athens, he won two bronze medals (in the 100 and 400 meters). Maturing as an athlete, he is entered in six wheelchair events (100, 200, 400, 800 and 1,500 meters and the 26.2-mile marathon) at the Beijing Paralympics, and is the favorite in many of them. 

 Josh said he excels because his family “refused to treat me differently.”

 The stories of Josh George and Melanie Roach revolve around conquering personal challenges, but both see family, not tragedy, as the source of their inspiration.

 Roach said, “I would not be competing in Beijing without the support of my family.”

After Drew was diagnosed, “I went to my bishop and told him this isn’t what I signed up for. He told me, ‘This is exactly what you signed up for.’ That was an eye-opener. My perspective improved. I learned to stop worrying about what Drew couldn’t do and started thinking about who he is. Then I transferred that concept to who I am and what I can do.”

 Weightlifting was the antidote and Drew the inspiration. “I couldn’t have made the team without Drew.”

 And she couldn’t handle Drew without Dan. “Dan gets up every night with him. We call them parties. If I had to do that, I couldn’t train. When I see my husband and my family give so much, I just know I have to excel to honor them.”

 Despite his disability, Josh said, “My family treated me like any able-bodied person. I grew up normally.”

 That allowed him to focus on the things he could do rather than the things he couldn’t. His mother Marjorie and father Scott, a financial manager, supported Josh through journalism school at Illinois and long years of training. It was the emotional support more than the financial support that was most important. “I’d miss stuff, family stuff, and that’s important to me. But they were always there to fill me in.”

 The family, including brother Jeremy and sister Jennifer, showed their support in Athens. “When the whole family is behind you, you want to win for them. I always wanted my success to belong to them, too.”

 John Genzale (johngenzale@gmail.com) is founding editor of SportsBusiness Journal.