“I don’t have the word ‘no’ in my vocabulary,” she said, and one look at Gail Dever’s life can ratify the accuracy of those words.
“I don’t have the word ‘no’ in my vocabulary,” she said, and one look at Gail Dever’s life can ratify the accuracy of those words.
Gail Devers began her career in athletics as a 100m sprinter and reached the pinnacle of her career in 1988, when she became the fastest American woman by setting the 100m national record. But life had scripted a few difficult chapters for her — Gail fell prey to the debilitating Grave’s disease and faced the threat of losing her legs.
Though this was tough, both physically and mentally, her grit and determination took her forward. “I wanted to get back on the track but the doctors told me that I might have to amputate my legs. I was still determined and kept telling myself, ‘I will be there at the Olympics, even if it’s the Special Olympics,’” she said at a media conference in the city. Devers is the brand ambassador for the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon to be held on Sunday.
“If I had lost my legs, it would be like losing my life. Running was my life. There was nothing else I could do. That’s when I had a pact with God, I told him, ‘If you let me have my legs, I’ll run for the rest of my life’,” Gail did return to the track at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics to win the 100m dash and wear the crown of the fastest woman on earth. In the 1996 Olympics, she became only the second woman to defend her title.
“Running gives me the kind of satisfaction that nothing else does. I have not retired from the sport yet and I never will. I will keep running across the globe to give people hope and that’s what brings me to Mumbai,” she said.
This is Gail’s first visit to India and she is in Mumbai with her daughters and husband. “I have come to India for the first time. I already like the place and I am thinking of adopting the country to develop sport, education and other facilities here with my foundation. Also my daughters are very excited to learn more about the city, to get back and boast about their visit to their friends,” she said.
Drawing parallels between the terror strikes that hit Mumbai and New York, Gail said, “After the 9/11 attacks, we had the New York marathon. After the 26/11 attacks, you have the Mumbai marathon. It is in times of difficulty that we have to run as a nation and show our solidarity.”
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