Olympic athletes that beat the odds

July 29, 2008 by Aubrey01 

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If you live in the United States and plan to watch the 2008 Summer Olympics you will certainly hear inspiring, and deservedly heart warming stories of althletes that succeeded in spite of significant challenges.  In the sport of swimming alone you’ve likely already heard about Dara Torres and Eric Shanteau.  Torres, coming out of retirement at the age of 41 is setting records and Shanteau is battling testicular cancer but plans to postpone treatment until after the games.

Looking outside the US one can also find tremendous stories of athletes achieving their dreams while overcoming tremendous obstacles.

The BBC has a series online titled “Against the Odds” which profiles such inspiring athletes.   Follow these links to see the following stories:

Nery Brenes
Costa Rican sprinter who left behind a town hit by gang violence to get to Beijing

Bernadett Baczko
Neither family tragedy nor serious injury deterred this Hungarian judoka

Hem Bunting
A crumbling Cambodian athletics stadium is home to marathon runner Hem

Ziad Richa
Meet the Lebanese clay pigeon shooter training in the hills around Beirut

Vijender Kumar
An unsung boxing champion fights for recognition in cricket-mad India

Samiya Yuusf Omar
A 16-year-old’s amazing journey from war-ravaged Somalia to the Olympic Games

The BBC should be lauded for creating such a compelling series.