Motivation to achieve comes in many forms
Inspiration takes many forms, from the spiritual to the tangible. Oh, and I suppose you could include the inspo-posts on social media, if it’s your thing.
Whatever it is, I’m always intrigued by what it takes to light the spark that drives someone to achieve.
At the Athens Olympics in 2004, I can remember champion cyclist Sarah Ulmer talking about how her dad Gary had inspired her. Triathlete Hamish Carter spoke of how watching John Walker win the 1500 metres at the 1976 Olympics had planted
in him the seed that led to the top of the dais at the 2008 Games.
So sometimes it can just be something we watch that inspires us.
I can remember how much of an influence Allison Roe and Rod Dixon’s New York Marathon victories (1981 and 1983) had on me, of how I was in awe watching these two New Zealanders win at what seemed to me to be the biggest thing in the world.
Roe, gloved up against the New York chill, and Dixon striding and grimacing through the rain, showed that anything was possible; that running was glorious.
I’ve never achieved anything great as a runner. I run because I love it, not because I’ve ever threatened to break the tape first.
But this week on the Dirt
Church Radio podcast, co-host Matt Rayment and I felt like we’d won a medal when we got the chance to talk to Dixon.
And so we talked to him about what had inspired him – and how he’s passing that on to kids.
In 1972, Dixon won bronze at the Munich Olympics in the 1500m. His hero was his brother John – ‘‘being three years older than me, if he said I could run a mile or climb a tree, I believed him’’.
But his inspiration was Sir Edmund Hillary who came to Dixon’s school where 10-year-old Rod heard him say that Mt Everest wasn’t high enough and to pursue goals and dreams that
were even higher. Twelve years later, Dixon was holding an Olympic medal.
Back in New Zealand, he knocked on Hillary’s door with the medal in his pocket.
‘‘I started telling the story and thought I’d better get it out just to support my story and he held that medal. And he asked me if I could inspire the next generation and I said, ‘Yes, sir’.
‘‘And so, it’s never been in a box, it’s never been in a trophy cabinet, it’s always with me.’’
The medal has been cradled by superstars, presidents and prime ministers. But the biggest kick Dixon gets is when he hands it to kids. ‘‘More than 230,000 kids have held it and you can feel the energy. It’s been very, very powerful.
‘‘When I bring out the Olympic medal there’s something about the way they see it. I love the response and I love standing back and watching these kids hold it and look at it and maybe they see themselves actually getting one of these things. Some of them feel it’s an inspiration for them to do better in school.’’
How does he know how many kids have seen it? It’s because Dixon has never rested on his laurels. He founded the Kidsmarathon, a programme that encourages kids to run a marathon by running about half a mile a day. It stretches across the United States, where he lives now, and in schools in New Zealand, too.
Of all of Dixon’s glorious achievements, it’s perhaps his greatest – encouraging kids to be happy and healthy – and inspiring them to strive for more than they thought was possible.
The power of inspiration, passed from one Kiwi legend to another, and now, through the weight of a medal, on to generations of kids.
At a time when we all need to be inspired to do better, to try harder, to do good – at whatever we’re doing – I think that’s pretty damn special. Inspiring, even.