Ringing in the Olympics: Derek Redmond

Many of the best memories are for me, inevitably, dominated by GB glory. However, I’d like to think this would have made the list no matter my nationality. And anyway, this isn’t exactly a glorious moment. And yet, it kind of is.

Now this is one I have to admit to having not watched live, though you’d have had to be living on Mars to have not picked up on it during the Games. Redmond was fairly well known to the British public as a member of the 4x400m gold medal-winning team at the 1991 world championships. However, his career had been mostly blighted by injury and withdrawals, including one on the morning of his first heat in Seoul.

Nonetheless, things seemed to be turning the corner as he took to the blocks in his 400m semi-final, with a dreamed-of place in the final very much on the cards. The starting gun fired, Redmond careered round the first curve…and the rest is now enshrined in Olympic legend (and recounted by Redmond and others in the video, below).

This embodiment of the Olympic spirit was to serve as an inspiration to millions in years to come, including legions of men looking themselves in the mirror on a Saturday night and wondering if they’re really up to the task ahead. For what Redmond and dad could not have known that fateful August afternoon was that this act of a fatherly intervention in order to rescue a fallen son was to become the go-to illustrations for many a sermon around the world, including one of my own.

Cheers, Del boy, I owe you one!