At the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Finland’s Lasse Viren was one of the favorites in the 10,000 meters. Then on the 12th lap, he got tangled up with Tunisia’s Mohamad Gammoudi and both men went down on the track. That should’ve been the end of his race. Instead, Viren got up fast, caught the leaders, and took over the pace. He ran his last lap in 56.4 seconds and won the gold medal. His time was a world record. One Olympic historian called it surely the only track world record ever set by somebody who fell during the race. Falling isn’t what defines you. What you do in the next few seconds does.
