The capacity to overcome

Gordon stayed close to the leader, American turbo Fred Kerley, who is reported to have run the seventh fastest ever individual 400m in the history of this event.

With 50 metres to go, and Gordon second, the Tobago-born athlete literally opened his belly and spilled his guts to pass a dying Kerley and bring home gold to Trinidad and Tobago.

As a four-month-old baby, his mother, Cynthia Cupid reminded me that her son suffered acutely from some undiagnosed stomach ailment.

He spent almost a year in hospital, as the doctors eventually operated. She agonised over his survival.

Today, Lalonde Gordon, 28, is a world champion to add to his double bronze medals at the 2012 London Olympics.

Congrats to Team Solomon, Richards, Cedenio and Gordon.

The words of the legendary American football coach Vince Lombardi (1913-1970) resonate in my mind: “The darkest moments of our lives are not to be buried and forgotten, rather they are a memory to be called upon for inspiration to remind us of the unrelenting human spirit and the capacity to overcome.”

REZA ABASALI El Socorro