#1302886 Marinha - 2017 - Aspirante ao Oficialato da Escola Naval/CPAEN 2017

As lhe Olympics Approaches, a Lesson in Overcoming Adversity

8ert R. Mandelbaum, MD
Ju[y 20, 2016

I've known a lot 01 athletes who qualilied lor the Olympic Games               injuries. But I know 01 only one who qualified beca use of an injury.

Cliff Meidl's story captures the spirit 01 the Olympics.

In November 1986, Cliff, a 20-year-old plumber's apprentice, hit three buried high-voltage electrical cables with a jackhammer. An estimated 30,000 volts surged through his body, exploding bone and cartilage lrom the inside ali the way up to his head. To put that into perspective, electric chairs use only 1500-2000 volts for executions. So it's sale to say that Cliff should have died.

And he nearly did. His heart stopped. Paramedics were able to get it going again, but they had to resuscitate him on the way to the hospital.

As part of a team with renowned plastic surgeon Malcolm Lesavoy, MD, and others, I got to work reconstructing Cliffs legs. Our best hope was to avoid amputation.

But very quickly, we noticed something else going on - something that had nothing to do with our expertise. Through every step of his painlul rehabilitation, Cliff grew more and more determined. He never complained. He just asked, 'What's next?"

Belore he had even linished the rehabilitation, Cliff started paddling various watercralts. The days spent on crutches had already strengthened his upper body, and he took naturally to the sport. The same year in which he was injured, he began competing in canoe and kayak events, and in 1996 he qualilied lor the Olympics - not the Paralympic Games, the Olympic Games.

Four years later, in Sydney, Australia, I was overseeing the sports medicine team at the Olympic soccer tournament. I was sitting in the stands during the opening ceremonies when Cliff walked into the Olympic Stadium carrying the Stars and Stripes.

It's a long-standing tradition lor delegations of athletes to select one among their number to bear the Ilag, and the choice olten symbolizes some extraordinary accomplishment. I had no idea that Cliff would be selected. So when he strode into the stadium with a normal gait, I nearly broke down.

Moments like that reinlorce what I have always believed: that sport can bring out the best in us alI.

The Olympic Games (...) are devoted to celebrating the human capacity to improve body, mind, and sou I.

They are about taking part - not necessarily about winning. Cliffs peers in the US delegation of 2000 recognized that when they elected him to bear the nation's colors. He never won a medal at the games, but the spirit with which he overcame adversity inspired ali of them.

The Olympic moUo - laster, higher, stronger - can help our patients realize that the real victory is the "win within." The Win Within: Capturing Your Victorious Spirit is the name of the book I wrote to show people that coming back Irom adversity is part of our heritage - that we as human beings are more adapted to adversity than we are to success.

Adversity is the engine of unimagined opportunity. It can unleash our energy and stimulate our will. It moves us to succeed. If I don't have lood, I have to go get some. If I'm cold, I have to build a shelter.

I remind patients who don't participate in sports that they have the heritage of athletes. We ali have the genes of pursuit-hunters who survived by running down their prey and running away Irom their predators. That's why even now, in 2016, when we go out and take a run, we leel good. We get an endorphin surge and our lipids go down. Our hearts and brains become clear.

The life of sport and sport of life are interlinked. Exercise is our birthright; it's our legacy; it's why we are here.

We no longer have to lear saber-toothed tigers or cave bears. But when you look today at how people can be successful in 2016, it's by avoiding the predators in our urban life: overeating, inactivity, and smoking. And it's by rising to meet adversity.

(Adapted trom http://WNIN.medscape.comlviewarticle/866279)

According to the text, which statement is correct?