Don Paige could not bear to watch the race that he knew he could win.
It was Saturday July 26 at the 1980 Moscow Olympics and British runner Steve Ovett was about to win gold in the 800 meters. It was, arguably, the defining moment of a tainted Games. Ovett enjoyed a taciturn rivalry with another British middle distance runner who held the world record: Sebastian Coe, the man now in charge of London 2012.
Paige should have been there too. The American had run the fastest 800m time that year and was considered, if not a favorite, then certainly a contender. Yet he knew he had a chance.
Instead of being in Moscow, Paige was part of the U.S. Olympic team that had, along with 55 other countries, boycotted the Games in protest at the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.
When the starting pistol was fired, Paige stood by a tree in the yard of his parents' New York home as the rest of the family watched the race on his behalf. His father came to him afterwards and broke the news. Ovett had destroyed the field and won gold. Coe had run a dog of a race but still came a distant second for silver.
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