Apologetic Victory
Here’s an interesting human interest story: Gebrselassie apologises to Tergat for breaking record .
Gebrselassie, after breaking the world marathon record, apologized to long time friend and rival Paul Tergat who held the record before Gebrselassie’s win. Tergat called to congratulate him and got an "I’m sorry" response instead. Very curious indeed.
I’m not that much into sports, but this Gebrselassie’s reaction to his win is, I’m quite sure, not typical of sportsmen. I really wonder why he reacted the way he did. As some very well know, humility and inferiority can often be confused. Was Gebrselassie humble or inferior?
More than that, if he was humble, he would "count all height of honor as nothing" (Thomas a Kempis). If he was genuinely feeling inferior he would have said, "I don’t deserve it". But he said "I’m sorry" to his friend? Virtue or Insecurity? Somehow I feel I can relate to this.
However, one thing that occurred to me was how his pursuit (and his achievement) didn’t get in the way of his friendship. "Hi, Paul, I’m sorry. You can come here and try to get
it back again next year." "Paul is my friend." And it was reported that Paul Tergat would have none of it, telling Gebrselassie he was
delighted for him. Touching.
