Last Tuesday was the 50th anniversary of Ogalala Lakota runner Billy Mills' surprise victory at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Mills, a member of the Ogalala Lakota Nation, remains the only American to win gold in the 10,000 meters track event, and his race was one of those historic upsets for the record books.
Mills was an unknown, a Marine and a Native American. The 10,000 meter run is difficult, 25 laps involving strategy, energy conservation and knowing when to make your move. Experienced and recognized runners were in this final heat going for the top title in the world.
In the last moments, world record holder Ron Clark from Australia famously shoves Mills to the side. But in a herculean effort, Mills came from behind and on the outside to win the race in the last few meters.
One announcer famously lost it, screaming “Look at Mills! Look at Mills! He won! He won!” And with those words Billy Mills went into Olympic history.
It’s been 50 years since his win in Tokyo.
“Well I've kept in touch with Mohammed Gammoudi,” Mills said. “A year ago, in London, we had lunch with Mohammed Gammoudi, his wife and daughter, Nadia.”
“She said, ‘My Dad wants me to tell you something Billy. My Daddy beat you one year before the Olympic Games and told you “more speed.” At the Olympic Games when you beat him, my Daddy said “too much speed” but my Daddy wants me to tell you this. He was so so happy when you won the gold medal in 1964.”
"Why? I beat him?!" Mills said.
“She said ‘no, no, you didn't beat my Daddy, you won. He tells it this way. Thirty meters to go, Ron Clark pushed you, you stumbled. He thought ‘poor Billy, my friend Billy, he's out of the race but it’s my moment to strike.’ Billy's off balance, Clark's off balance and he had to slow down or squeeze between you. He tried to squeeze between you, pushing Clark and you.”http://youtu.be/uOj0zjPzg-c
With thirty meters to go, Gammoudi was in lane 2 in first place and could only see Ron Clark and no Mills. Ron Clark is trailing and Gammoudi thinks “the race is mine.”
“My Daddy told me you're an American Indian, and you were like an arrow being shot out of a bow...woooo! You go by my Daddy and you win and he was so happy. My Daddy said they way you won, it was so powerful. He knew that moment was yours. That was your moment,” Gammoudi said.
“Ron Clark, shortly after the race made a comment to the newspapers that every once in a while, someone runs as if they have wings on their feet. I always felt that that moment was a gift to me,” Mills said.
Mills, at 75, keeps a busy speaking schedule and works for his organization Running Strong For American Indian Youth. Due to a downhill skiing accident, Mills no longer runs, but he keeps active.
Living With Diabetes
One year before the 1964 Olympic Games, Mills was diagnosed as hypoglycemic and border-line diabetic.
“There's no such thing as borderline diabetic so I'm hypoglycemic low blood sugar and I'm a type 2 diabetic. But most doctors tell me I'm not diabetic because of exercise, nutrition,” Mills said.
“Basically it’s in remission. I'm in to a quality lifestyle,” Mills said.
“I'm eating a minimum of 8 to 14 small helpings of vegetables and grains, an ounce or two of mixed nuts a day, of course the protein is easy to get,” Mills said. “I make sure I follow a nutritious diet, I do a lot of stretching and I do enough cardiovascular to maintain an anaerobic type exercise.”
Last year in February Mills was honored first by President Obama with the Presidential Citizens Medal. In January of this year the NCAA named a room after him in their headquarters, an honor reserved for only the very elite coaches and athletes, and awarded Mills the highest award the NCAA gives, the Theodore Roosevelt Award.
“It made it an incredibly humbling 2013 and beginning of 2014 for me,” Mills said.
“All I was trying to do was take Native American cultures and values, extract out the virtues and the values that empower our culture, our tradition, our spirituality and transfer them to at first, my educational pursuit, and then an Olympic pursuit and then finally into a perpetual giveaway, a traditional giveaway,” Mills said.
“With and through the help of multitudes of compassionate people I've been able to orchestrate a very effective giveaway over the last 50 years.”
“To have this national recognition, it’s overwhelming. I humbly tried to honor myself, so I could honor my tribe and by honoring my tribal nation, I brought honor to America,” Mills said.
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