Sportsmanship and Adversity

We asked our readers for their opinions on sportsmanship and the 2012 Olympics.

One Olympic athlete's example of overcoming adversity inspired Umeshka Ratnaweera of Sri Lanka.

Umeshka Ratnaweera (inset photo), 25, from Panadura, Sri Lanka:

I was hospitalized when my Ordinary level exams were only two days away. “How can I write for an exam, when I’m like this?” I thought. I had intravenous saline on, blood being taken several times, an allergy of overdose, I was itching all over, my blood count was down, and I had no energy at all.

I’d given up sitting for the exam although it meant that I’d have to wait another whole year to sit for it.

So there I was, lying weakly on the hospital bed, when I took up an old Reader’s Digest from 1997 and started reading about Mirsada Buric. She was from the Bosnian team and participated in the Barcelona Olympics. She practiced in the shell-blasted streets of Sarajevo, running through sniper fire.

“What I have is only doubt, and I’ve given up already!” I thought.

Her story filled me with enough courage that I sat for my exams and achieved all A’s!

Above: Mirsada Buric runs past the bombed-out Zetra Olympic Stadium in Sarajevo. She competed on Bosnia’s first-ever Olympic team.