Jim Redmond, who helped his injured sprinter son, Derek Redmond, cross the finish line at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics in what became an iconic moment of Games history, has died aged 81, it was revealed on Tuesday.
Jim Redmond dashed onto the track to help his stricken son, who had torn his hamstring at the top of the home straight and together the Britons limped to the finish line of the 400m semi-final.
The footage is one of the most-watched moments of Olympic history on social media.
Photo: AFP
“Our thoughts are with Derek Redmond and his family following the death of his father, Jim,” the International Olympic Committee wrote on Twitter. “Together, they brought us one of the most inspirational moments in Olympic history.”
The British Olympic Association said the Redmonds had created an Olympic moment that will “never be forgotten.”
In a BBC interview in 2012, Derek Redmond revealed that his father had initially tried to persuade him not to try to complete the race.
“He tried to talk me out of it at first,” he said. “He was telling me that I had nothing to prove and that I didn’t need to do this, but I told him I was going to finish. Then he said that we would do it together. So we did, and I limped over the line in tears.”
EARLY LOSSES: Some sports have already started at the Asian Games in Hangzhou ahead of the opening ceremony on Saturday, including volleyball, with a Taiwan loss South Korea’s bid for a third straight men’s gold medal in soccer at the Asian Games got off to the perfect start with a 9-0 thrashing of Kuwait on Tuesday, but coach Hwang Sun-hong is giving his players little time to enjoy it. With a more testing group match against Thailand today, Hwang is wary of complacency creeping in after his side ran riot against Kuwait in Jinhua, China, southwest of host city Hangzhou. “We’ll pretend this match never happened,” Hwang said after the Kuwait game, Yonhap news agency reported. “We have even more difficult matches coming up later, and we have
‘NOTHING HAS CHANGED’: Jenni Hermoso said that the striking players had been ‘caught by surprise’ by the call-ups, saying it was a strategy to intimidate them Striking Spanish internationals called up to the women’s team on Monday reiterated their desire not to form part of the squad in a new blow for the shaken the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). However, they were told by the government early yesterday that those who did not attend the team’s camps when called up would have to be punished. Spanish National Sports Council president Victor Francos said he would have to apply the country’s sports law. “If they don’t turn up, the government would have to apply the law, which is a pity for me, but the law is the
China hopes to make a splash with the Asian Games, which officially open tomorrow, but nationwide excitement has been muted as the economy sputters and some question the cost of the sporting extravaganza. Delayed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic, the quadrennial Games, kicking off in the eastern city of Hangzhou, will be China’s biggest sporting event in more than a decade, with more than 12,000 athletes from 45 nations competing in 40 sports. Organizers this week expressed confidence in holding a “magnificent” Games, thanks to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “important instructions” and great, broad-based efforts. Analysts agree the event would likely
Hong Kong is one of the smaller Asian Games teams by population, but when it comes to fencing the territory is a regional heavyweight with ambitious medal hopes. Edgar Cheung won gold at the Tokyo Games two years ago — Hong Kong’s first Olympic fencing title and first Olympic gold in any sport in 25 years. It turned Cheung into a celebrity overnight and prompted parents across the territory to rush and sign their children up for fencing classes. Cheung’s historic win in the foil competition was a much-needed dose of good news for a territory mired in social unrest and COVID-19 gloom
RSS