One of the most remarkable stories I heard recently was of amazing composure and determination at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Twenty-six-year-old Japanese gymnast named Shun Fujimoto, while doing the floor routine fractured his kneecap (kneecap). right leg. Kneecap rupture is an excruciatingly painful injury and makes the entire leg very weak. When it happened he said “I felt a strange and painful sensation in my right knee”, he also said later that “it felt hollow as if there was air in it”.
Fujimoto knew that if he retired now, he would jeopardize his team’s chances of achieving a gold medal, so he did not tell anyone, especially the judges and his coach Yakuji Hayata, as they probably would have persuaded him to to retire.
With this injury he had two more events to perform, the Pummel Horse and the Rings. During the Horse event he was totally preoccupied with the idea of doing an impeccable routine and not making any mistakes and obviously with pain he dismounted giving an almost perfect score of 9.5 out of 10 possible.
The Rings proved to be a very difficult challenge for Shun as he was picked up and grabbed by the Rings with his leg encased in a plastic brace, without thinking about the injury, he knew that if he let his mind focus on the event in Question, that he could do this, since the promise of a gold medal was within reach of his country and his team, this was more important than a few seconds of excruciating pain and discomfort.
Everyone waited with ragged breaths as he performed again to near perfection and approached the disassembly of the eight foot tall Rings, as this would be the most painful part of the routine, he would have to keep his balance if he wanted to achieve a high. score for the Japanese team to pass and take the gold. When Shun left the Rings, he somersaulted through the air and the medics on the side of the gym couldn’t believe their eyes as he did another flawless routine and landed on the ground obviously in excruciating pain and clenching his teeth and keeping his balance. .
Shun Fujimoto managed to get his best score in the Rings, a staggering 9.7 out of 10 and then his leg buckled under him causing further injury, dislocating his knee and tearing the ligaments in his leg, he completed the routine amid loud cheers and a round of applause from the audience.
Fujimoto showed even more courage as he limped up to the podium to receive his gold medal with his teammates. Japan won the Gold by achieving 576.85 points to USSR 576.45, only four tenths of a point between them, that score would not have been possible without the incredible performance of Shun Fujimoto, using mind over matter and the determination to go for Gold and don’t quit. A very serious injury got in the way of his Goal, showing that the almost impossible could be done.