Brave Hearts

Author(s): Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: Eye Care Foundation

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The Brave Hearts
Olympics were organised in Helsinki in Finland in which 4925 competitors representing 69 countries participated from all over the world. Twenty one year old Walter Deavis had the distinction to represent his country.
At the moment when the high jump event was to start, Walter Davis walked to his place. At 2 mts. and 5 cm. in height, there was no one taller than him among the participants. He was facing the most coveted galaxy of participants before him. The principle which guided him throughout was 'never leave the stage in sheer desperation or disappointment'. Victory should be the only goal. Walter took the run, reached the poles and took a sudden jump. He ranked first in the event by jumping the height of 2 meters. And 4 cm. He set a new world record in the Olympics as far as the high jump event was concerned. He was the first to set a new world record in the XVth Olympics on the very first day of the games. He became the first recipient of the gold medal in those games. He was greeted with tremendous applause. His achievement assumed significance in the world of sports. He found a permanent place in the hearts of millions of sports lovers all over the world.
Walter did not stop there. He jumped higher and higher thereafter. In one of the non-official high jump competitions, he reached the height of 2 meters, and 1342 cm.
Walter Davis became the victor not only in the arena of sports but also in the arena of life as well. He was the same Walter about whom the doctors had predicted, when he was only an eight year old child, that he would not be able to move his legs on his own throughout his life; the same Walter turned out to be the recipient of a gold medal in the Olympics in an event which requires tremendous strength in the legs and in doing so he created a new Olympic record. Walter had proved
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