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Hello, and welcome to a special edition of Witness. I'm here at | :00:00. | :00:33. | |
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the venue of the 2012 Olympics, to bring | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
you five inspiring stories from the history of the Olympic and | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
Paralympic games. We will have moments of triumph and defeat, pride | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
and agony. All told by the athletes themselves. Witness will travel to | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
Kenya to meet a multiple world-record holder. We are in East | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
Timor to meet the refugee who became an Olympian. And we will hear from | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
the archer who want Britain's first-ever Paralympic medal. But we | :01:01. | :01:06. | |
start with one of the most famous performances in Olympic history. 40 | :01:07. | :01:11. | |
years ago, Nadia Comaneci from Romania became the first units to | :01:12. | :01:14. | |
score a perfect ten. She told Witness how she did it. -- first | :01:15. | :01:18. | |
Olympian. I was 14 when I went to the Olympics | :01:19. | :01:28. | |
in 1976 in Montreal. I was asked by a journalist Hadaway think I will | :01:29. | :01:32. | |
do, and I answered, I hope I will get a medal and if possible, bold -- | :01:33. | :01:42. | |
how do I think. The routine I did on the first date was compulsory, and | :01:43. | :01:45. | |
that is a routine everybody does. But I think the way I did it was a | :01:46. | :01:52. | |
little bit of me then in the book. I wanted to do something people did | :01:53. | :02:02. | |
not do before. I could hear just like, oh, well. -- wow. Faultless! | :02:03. | :02:15. | |
Absolutely faultless! I thought I did pretty good. What do the judges | :02:16. | :02:22. | |
say about that? There is the smile. I was hoping to get a 9.9 or | :02:23. | :02:28. | |
something around that score. I got to see the scoreboard turning | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
around, which showed my competition number, 07 very, and the score was | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
1.0 zero. I thought maybe it would go up to nine. And one of my | :02:39. | :02:44. | |
teammates made a sign to me and said I think it is something wrong with | :02:45. | :02:48. | |
the scoreboard, but this is a ten. That is perfection! I had no idea | :02:49. | :02:56. | |
that this is the first time in the history of the Olympics, I just knew | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
it was the highest score you can get. I was really happy. Being in | :03:02. | :03:07. | |
school and getting a tan and mouth! -- ten in maths! The reason I | :03:08. | :03:14. | |
started to Gnostics is because I used to flip and do things in the | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
house on the furniture that I was not allowed to, and a brick a couple | :03:19. | :03:21. | |
of pieces of furniture -- gymnastics. My mum found out from | :03:22. | :03:27. | |
friends there is a gymnastics place where kids can go. We used to do two | :03:28. | :03:32. | |
training sessions a day, probably five or six others. I liked the | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
challenge myself. If my coach came to me and said, I bet you can't to | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
five of those, I would do eight. I felt free. I felt being in the air | :03:43. | :03:49. | |
and able to turn flips, it was really cool. Now a real hush comes | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
over the audience. One of anticipation. After my first perfect | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
ten, I went to compete on the balance beam. Absolutely superb. I | :03:59. | :04:09. | |
was thinking the competition is not over, think about being, think about | :04:10. | :04:12. | |
before, think about what you have to do next. -- think about beam, think | :04:13. | :04:22. | |
about floor. Have you seen anyone more confident on a four inch beam? | :04:23. | :04:27. | |
Winning the Olympic Games in 1976, I managed to score seven perfect tens. | :04:28. | :04:34. | |
When I stood on the podium and received all of the medals, I was | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
thinking about home. I was hoping my mother and my family were able to | :04:40. | :04:46. | |
watch me. My mum told me that she always was watching the replay. She | :04:47. | :04:51. | |
was too scared to watch the live competition. When I see myself at | :04:52. | :04:58. | |
14, now I get more emotional. As the years go by, I think my historic | :04:59. | :05:05. | |
performance is getting to me much more valuable. And I understand what | :05:06. | :05:14. | |
a big deal that was. Nadia Comaneci, who now lives in America and runs a | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
gymnastics school. Some athletes train from an early age for a Libbi | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
Gorr medals, and for others it is an achievement just to get to the | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
games. Take a Agueda Amaral from East Timor, she became a refugee | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
during unrest in her country. But a year later, she got an invitation to | :05:32. | :05:38. | |
take part in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. | :05:39. | :06:22. | |
The individual Olympic flags, now coming from East Timor, a country | :06:23. | :06:31. | |
with no government, and the United Nations control. | :06:32. | :08:17. | |
A little celebration. Goes down onto her knees. She has a lot to go. She | :08:18. | :08:25. | |
thinks she is finished, and the judges as saying, sorry about that, | :08:26. | :08:27. | |
you have to go again. What a response. Absolutely | :08:28. | :08:39. | |
wonderful. This is what the Olympic Games are all about. | :08:40. | :09:29. | |
Agueda Amaral, taking Witness for a run in East Timor. This year, there | :09:30. | :09:36. | |
will be a whole team of refugees following in her footsteps and | :09:37. | :09:41. | |
running and to the Olympic flag. Nowadays, the Paralympics is a huge | :09:42. | :09:44. | |
part of the sporting calendar, that things were very different first | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
time the event was held in Rome in 1960. We have been finding out more | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
from one of Britain's first Paralympic -- Paralympic ins. | :09:54. | :10:00. | |
In 1959, I was working in Malawi, involved in a car accident, when I | :10:01. | :10:09. | |
became paralysed and was brought to Stoke Mandeville Hospital in | :10:10. | :10:13. | |
England, and from then, my life changed dramatically. The director | :10:14. | :10:20. | |
of the union was Ludwig Goodman, and his idea was movement. People just | :10:21. | :10:28. | |
not allowed to live there, becoming ill and miserable -- lie there. | :10:29. | :10:35. | |
Paralysis keeps the 200 contestants in wheelchairs, but it can't prevent | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
them from being sportsmen. They just wait down I happen to be quite good | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
at archery, and I used to wind the monthly competition quite often. In | :10:44. | :10:51. | |
1960, I was lucky and surprised to be invited to be in the team to go | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
to the very first international sports event for wheelchair people | :10:56. | :10:58. | |
in Rome. To the Vatican where 350 paralysed | :10:59. | :11:09. | |
people completed in what they have called the Paralympic Games. | :11:10. | :11:17. | |
The Olympics had just taken place and we were going to stay in the | :11:18. | :11:20. | |
early big village in the same accommodation. To our horror, when | :11:21. | :11:27. | |
we arrived on the ground, all the buildings were up on stilts. | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
Whenever we went in or out of a building these two soldiers would | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
carry us up two flights of stairs and down two flights of stairs. It | :11:39. | :11:48. | |
was a very tedious business. During the whole of the Games there was | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
such a togetherness. Everybody making new friends, it was great, | :11:54. | :12:09. | |
and we just supported each other. Artery was one of the first to | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
begin. We would shoot six arrows each. -- archery. And then a little | :12:14. | :12:20. | |
army of people, one for each target, would rush up to the target and | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
collect the arrows and the same thing happened again. I have no idea | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
what my score was. And then I was allowed to go off and watch other | :12:30. | :12:40. | |
people doing different events. Then we were ready to go back to the | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
village. Some people said, where is Margaret? She is needed for a medal | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
ceremony! So they then had to lift me out of the coach, put me back | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
into a wheelchair and I was wheeled up a little brown onto the leading | :12:55. | :13:03. | |
position and presented with a gold medal. I wasn't really very excited | :13:04. | :13:09. | |
about it. It had just happened everything was so who will bring. -- | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
bewildering. It was the first medal won by a British person at the first | :13:16. | :13:23. | |
Paralympic Games. I myself managed to take part in five Paralympics | :13:24. | :13:31. | |
over the years. It was just a marvellous experience, the whole | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
thing. Pioneering Paralympians Margaret Maughan, with a very | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
special memory of the London Games. Remember, you can watch Witness | :13:42. | :13:45. | |
every month on the BBC News Channel, or you can catch up on over 1000 | :13:46. | :13:50. | |
radio programmes now -- in our online archive. Just go to the BBC | :13:51. | :13:58. | |
website. Now to Kenya and the remarkable story of a blind | :13:59. | :14:01. | |
Paralympians who fought back from depression to set records in every | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
event in distance running. We went to Kenya to meet him. | :14:07. | :18:01. | |
Henry Wanyoike there. Look out for him in this year's Paralympics, | :18:02. | :18:08. | |
where he will be competing in a marathon. Now for the final film. We | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
go back to the Barcelona Olympics and a story that has inspired many | :18:13. | :18:17. | |
around the world. Derek Redmond was made famous for reasons he would | :18:18. | :18:21. | |
rather forget. I am remembered for two things. One, for being a part of | :18:22. | :18:27. | |
the winning relay team that defeated the Americans in the 1991 World | :18:28. | :18:32. | |
Championships. But the most famous thing that I am known for is | :18:33. | :18:35. | |
actually not finishing the race, and it is for the race in Barcelona. | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
Unfortunately I had had a few injury problems, mainly with the Achilles | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
tendon, and that hampered me through my career. But by the time I was in | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
Barcelona I felt great. There were no issues, no problems. Derek | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
Redmond, in the best form he has shown since he broke the British | :18:54. | :18:57. | |
record, way back in 87. I never thinking, I'm going to win this | :18:58. | :19:05. | |
race. The gun goes... And I had a really good start. Redmond has got | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
off very fast. I am flowing along, things are great and then I hear a | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
funny pop and two or three strides later is what I felt it and I felt | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
the rip of the hamstring. Redmond has broken down! He is on the track, | :19:20. | :19:26. | |
nearly down and Derek Redmond, the jinx has struck again. I remember | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
having a hand on the back of the leg and collapsing onto the floor in | :19:31. | :19:37. | |
pain. Then I remembered where I was and it was just like you're in the | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
Olympics semi-final and that's pretty much what made me get up and | :19:44. | :19:52. | |
start to run, or hobble, and I just bought, you know what, I am going to | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
finish this race. It might be the last three state ever run of us I | :19:57. | :20:00. | |
will finish it for me. I was just about to get into the home straight | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
when I could sense this person on my left-hand side and then I heard a | :20:06. | :20:11. | |
very familiar voice shout out, it's me, and instantly I knew who it was. | :20:12. | :20:18. | |
It was my dad. Up until then I have managed to keep all of my emotions | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
in and hold it together relatively well, but as soon as I saw him that | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
was it, I lost it. I was in tears. I said, I can't believe it. Why is | :20:30. | :20:35. | |
this happening? With his track record of injuries and maybe his | :20:36. | :20:38. | |
only Olympic appearance, he just can't hold it. He had always been | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
there with me and he spent many years standing on the sidelines in | :20:43. | :20:45. | |
the middle of winter, with a copy in his hands, trying to keep warm. And | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
all he was saying was, you are champion, you have nothing to prove. | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
Don't worry. I just said to him, get me back into lane five, I want to | :20:56. | :21:00. | |
finish! And the joke that I always make about that is it is the first | :21:01. | :21:03. | |
and only time I have ever been able to shout at my dad and get away with | :21:04. | :21:07. | |
it. Any other time, I would have got a quick smack around the ear and he | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
would have said, less of your cheek! We still had officials trying to | :21:13. | :21:16. | |
stop us. And they were not quite sure what to do. They said, who is | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
this crazy man who has walked onto the track. What's going on? And | :21:21. | :21:24. | |
right up until the point where I got over the line and walked through the | :21:25. | :21:28. | |
line I'd had no idea what reaction it was having on the crowd. I looked | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
around and people were going mad. People on their feet. Some of the | :21:34. | :21:40. | |
messages and letters and stuff that I get from people, saying, you have | :21:41. | :21:45. | |
no idea who I am, I am not in sport, I've been through some hard times, I | :21:46. | :21:48. | |
just want to thank you for your inspiration. It is quite strange | :21:49. | :21:53. | |
that people to this day still find it inspiring. It is a nice feeling, | :21:54. | :22:01. | |
but I've done some into help so many people in their own ways. There was | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
an outside chance that I would have to battle for gold. Does it make up | :22:06. | :22:09. | |
for that? I have to be honest and say no. British Olympian Derek | :22:10. | :22:13. | |
Redmond bringing an end to this special edition of Witness, from | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
London. Next month we will have another round-up of history, as told | :22:20. | :22:24. | |
by the people who were there. For now, from me and the rest of the | :22:25. | :22:26. | |
team, goodbye. | :22:27. | :22:45. |