There once was a marathon runner from Ethiopia named Abebe Bikila. In the 1960 Rome Olympics, though an unknown athlete at the time, he ran the marathon barefoot, and won with a new world record. The world came to know him as the “Barefoot Marathoner.”
Four years later, at the Tokyo Olympics, he did it again—another world record, another gold medal. He became the first person in Olympic history to win back-to-back marathons.
However, fate dealt him a cruel hand. In 1969, a car accident left him with a serious spinal injury, paralyzed from the waist down. Many mourned the thought that they would never again see him run.
Yet Abebe was not one to surrender to despair. Just a year later, he entered a Sit-ski cross-country skiing competition in Norway, and won a gold medal. “I can no longer run with my legs,” he said, “but I still have my arms.” His indomitable will blazed on.
When we decide that we’ve reached our limit, we go no further. However, if we keep the door open to infinite possibility and give our very best, we will surely taste the joy of victory.