http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5vOhMwRQwI

Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills recalls winning the 10,000 meter run at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics in one of the greatest upsets in sports history. Mills, an Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, was the second American Indian to win an Olympic gold medal and the first American to win the 10,000 meter dash. His triumphs over hypoglycemia and suicidal thoughts inspire him to help others overcome their own hurdles in life.

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“Wings of an Eagle” appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovwmULL2-f0

Alice Coachman describes what it was like to be the first black woman to a win an Olympic Gold Medal. She trained in bare feet, while growing up in rural Georgia. She went on to the win the Olympic gold medal in the high jump for the United States at the 1948 Olympics in London. She was awarded her medal by King George VI and upon her return met with President Harry Truman. She then had to return to a segregated south where the mayor of her hometown Albany, GA, refused to shake her hand. Alice Coachman died on July 14, 2014.

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First Black Woman to Win an Olympic Gold Medal appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvW-3ra14ng

Natalie Hawkins, the mother of American gymnast and gold medalist Gabby Douglas, talks about what it’s like to raise a talented athlete. Hawkins describes how hard it was to send her daughter over 3,000 miles away so that she could have adequate training for the Olympics. She also goes on to explain how Douglas’s host family, the Parton family, made it much easier for her to accept the distance as she saw how they welcomed Douglas into their home with open arms. In this video, Douglas and her mother also talk about how much Douglas missed her family while she was away from them. She recalls almost giving up on her dream for the gold when she got homesick a few months prior to the competition. Hawkins knew that her daughter had sacrificed too much to turn back. Listening to her mother’s advice allowed the 16-year-old Olympian to win two gold medals in gymnastics for both the individual all-around–the first woman of color of any nationality to win the event in Olympic history–and team competitions in the 2012 London Summer Olympics.

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‘I Need to Make This Dream Become Real’ appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGMbdv760rU

A year after her famous accomplishment of becoming the first female gymnast to earn a perfect score in the Olympic games, a young Nadia Comăneci is interviewed. Having won three gold medals during the 1978 Summer Olympic games in Montreal at the age of 14, Comăneci is asked about her new found celebrity status as one of the most famous female athletes around. She also comments on the rumors that have spread about her gaining weight since the olympics, being sick, and even being injured in the 1977 Vrancea Earthquake that affected her home country of Romania. The interviewer also asks her about her shy personality and the possibility of passing on gymnastics to her children one day.

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A Young Gymnast and Superstar appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1M3Wz5jn6s

Nadia Comăneci, the first female gymnast to ever get a perfect score at the Olympics, is interviewed on how that experience affected her. Having achieved this feat at the age of 14 in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Comăneci comments on how she got involved and interested in gymnastics.

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A 14-Year-Old’s Perfect Score appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csSTjUON1xs

Basketball superstar Magic Johnson reflects on what it was like to be part of the 1992 U.S. Olympic basketball team, also known as the “Dream Team.” Johnson describes the competitive spirit and the great basketball he witnessed while training with the members of his team. He also gives personal anecdotes about the amazing shots he saw from basketball legends like Michael Jordan and Julius Erving during inner-squad scrimmages.

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Magic Johnson on the Dream Team appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl8s4OjqY4c

British athlete competing in the 1980 summer Olympic games, Steve Cram, explains what his country’s view on the Olympic boycotting argument was as well as why he thought that competing during this time was the right thing to do.

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Britain’s View on the 1980 Olympic Boycott appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gOtwbYiRfM

Gymnasts that were set to compete in the 1980 summer Olympics in Moscow explain their feelings and views on the president’s decision as well as describe how it has affected their mentality as far as training is concerned.

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An Athlete’s Opinion on the 1980 Olympic Boycott appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCgNSHiB6Vs

Olympic decathlete Bob Coffman reflects on what it was like to be denied the opportunity to try for the gold when the U.S. decided to boycott the 1980 Olympic games in Moscow. Coffman was the ranked favorite to take home the gold just like Bruce Jenner had done for the Americans four years prior.

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Bob Coffman: Denied the Opportunity for Gold appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNv_rP5MZ_0

Canadian Olympic champion kayaker Adam van Koeverden speaks about his journey from being a “terrible athlete” who only made the school’s cross country team because everyone did to an international winner. In 2012, he won his fourth Olympic medal – a silver in the men’s 1000 meter kayaking event – to go with his gold, silver and bronze medals earned in 2004 and 2008. He has also won 21 World Cup goal medals.

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Adam Van Koeverden Shares His Journey to Olympic Success appeared first on Witnify.