Frankie Fredericks

Frank "Frankie" Fredericks (born 2 October 1967) is a Namibian former track and field sprinter athlete. Quotes I’ve had three horrible years, I missed the Olympics and the World Championships. Only my family and manager know what I’ve been through. Even here I was worried as I didn’t know if my Achilles would survive the rounds. I’m living in a new dream, I’m now living a second life. I do not take anything for granted anymore. We would lose 4-0, and my teammates would be laughing. If there was a choice between a test and a practice at BYU, it was an easy choice, If I failed athletically, who cares? I could go home to a good job. If I failed academically, I would have had no job and no life. It (the Olympics) was no big deal to me, I’ve heard from many athletes how they dreamed of running in the Olympics from when they were kids. But me living under apartheid when Namibia was part of South Africa, I never even thought about the Games. I never dreamed about them as a kid, so the Olympics weren’t a big goal when I became an athlete. Winning the South African title was a much higher accomplishment. The country’s young and we don’t have many sporting heroes, We have high unemployment and we have homeless people. But I think sport can bring the whole nation together and make us united. If my country has bigger priorities to attend to, paying for my and my coach’s travel and accommodation costs to Manchester isn’t a big deal. I understand the sacrifices they have made to make my country free and feed its people. I also appreciate that my brothers and sisters died for that freedom and if I can afford that cost of going to the Games, so be it. I basically believe in the Heavenly Father, and I believe He gave us all this talent and I’m making the best out of it, I think I’m relaxed about it. I just believe that sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and I’m not going to take the approach that if I lose I’m going to kill myself. The motivation is just to stay healthy, I’ve been injured and for me it's not so important competitions. The medals are not so important. I had a horrible two years. I spent a lot of money to rehab and just want to show that I can still come back and run. The gentleman of track and field, October 17 2003 External links Category:Track and field athletes Category:Sportspeople from Namibia Category:1967 births Category:Living people