By Persevering, Devers Embodies The Olympic Spirit

The Olympics are about drama, about overcoming adversity, about excellence in athleticism despite the enormous challenges. Gail Devers knows what the Olympics are about.

The Van Nuys native is a monument to perseverance. She won the 100 meters in Barcelona in 1992. The gold medal was hers, but the prize of overcoming Graves disease shone more brilliantly.

Devers has battled the debilitating thyroid ailment to a standstill. Relying on various medications and a furious will to succeed, Devers enters the Atlanta Games as one of the favorites to repeat in the women’s sprint events.

“In anything, I feel like you’ve got to get over some type of goal or obstacle in your life,” Devers said. “My whole career, I’ve had to deal with injuries and illness. Maybe they’ve sidelined me for a while, but it hasn’t taken away my determination and will to keep going no matter what the obstacles.”

Besides Graves disease, Devers has dealt with an injury to the insertion muscle in the fold of her left buttocks, which sometimes hits her like a bullet in mid-sprint, causing a sharp pain and disrupting her rhythm and tempo. She noticed the problem in 1994. Rehabilitation was slow, setbacks frequent. She was faced with either surgery or a long layoff. She chose the layoff.

“They said if I tore it again, they’d have to go in and remove the nerve,” Devers said. “They said if I was a distance runner, I’d be fine (after surgery), but since I’m a sprinter, I’d never be the same. I’d lose some fast-twitch fiber. So part of my recovery was to stay away from the (100 meters). The pain now has basically subsided, but if I sit a long time on airplanes, it still hurts.”

Still, Devers made the Olympic team and is expected to be one of the favorites along with longtime rival Gwen Torrence for the U.S. to bring home the gold.

Recently, Devers’ saga was recounted in a movie for Showtime entitled, “Run for the Dream: The Gail Devers Story.” The film may need a sequel, since she claims now to be healthy for the first time in many moons.

Her relationship with Torrence appears to be almost as hopeful as her return from infirmities. Torrence, miffed that she was beaten in Barcelona, claimed that some of the participants used steroids. This did not sit well with many of the athletes. But Devers and Torrence likely will be teammates on the 400-meter relay team. Instead of exchanging dirty looks, they’ll exchange the baton in a patriotic athletic collaboration.

“We’re competitors,” Devers said of Torrence. “We’re always pleasant to each other. We don’t train together, so we don’t hang out. On a relay team, the main goal is to get the stick around the track. Anything else that may bother the women will be left at the door.”

In Barcelona, she won the 100, but stumbled in the 100 hurdles and crawled to the finish line.

Still, there is something to be said for a survivor, a fiercely determined individual who is hit with obstacle after obstacle, only to forge ahead.