While Teammate Tuesdays has an overarching theme, I try to provide variety with the topics that fall within that theme. I realize that I wrote about the Olympics two weeks ago, but the Olympics are a special event. And as such, I feel they are deserving of an exception and worthy of a second blog.
This week, I want to highlight my favorite “good teammate” moment from the Tokyo Olympics. It happened Thursday during the final event of the men’s decathlon—the 1500m.
Although the grueling ten-event decathlon is an individual competition, Australia’s Ash Moloney was propelled to a bronze medal finish by an incredible good teammate move on the part of fellow countryman Cedric Dubler.
Moloney entered the 1500m only a few points ahead of American Garrett Scantling and Canadian Pierce LePage in the decathlon standings. He didn’t need to beat Scantling or Pierce in the final event, but he did need to finish high enough to ensure he earned sufficient points to hold onto the bronze.
When Scantling pulled away from him on the final lap, an exhausted Moloney felt his chances of appearing on the podium fading. That’s when Dubler appeared at Moloney’s side.
“I just heard (Dubler’s) voice in my brain and it filled me with energy,” Moloney told Yahoo Sports.
Dubler relentlessly shouted encouragement as he ran alongside Moloney. He refused to allow Moloney to falter.
“My job was to get (Moloney) through it and keep track of where everyone was and make sure he collected that bronze,” Dubler said. “I was screaming at him so loud in that last 300 that I had to kind of stop to keep screaming.”
Dubler may have already been out of contention for a decathlon medal. But by helping his teammate win a medal, he sacrificed his own 1500m finish and a chance to improve his individual overall standing. He chose WE (his team) instead of me (himself).
Until Thursday’s event, no Australian decathlete had ever finished higher than sixth in an Olympic competition.
Every once in a while, the sports world gets it right when it comes to praise. Cedric Dubler is rightfully being celebrated as a hero for his selfless action. Perhaps the reason is that everyone of us knows how valuable it can be to have a teammate by our side who energizes us when we are struggling.
An Airbnb-sponsored commercial featuring Paralympic champion Blake Leeper aired during the Tokyo Games. In the commercial, Leeper describes coming up short by trying to do it all by himself. He explains that it wasn’t until he embraced the help of his team that he was able to overcome the adversity that was holding him back.
The message in Leeper’s commercial compliments the lesson derived from Moloney’s race: Good teammates can take us where we cannot take ourselves. They can be the fuel that powers the seemingly impossible.
I happen to believe that we can all benefit from having an encouraging teammate, and that we also all have it within us to be someone else’s encouraging teammate. In the words of Booker T. Washington, “If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”
As always…Good teammates care. Good teammates share. Good teammates listen. Go be a good teammate.
