The Tokyo 1964 Olympics lies largely forgotten.
Joe Frazier, it’s boxing champion went on to defeat Muhammad Ali in the Fight of the Century in 1971.
Ann Parker, a young British girl, decided - almost on a whim- to run in the women’s 800m race, and ran a world record, then immediately retired to embrace motherhood.
But like Yoshinori Sakai, the baby born under the shadow if the atomic cloud on Hiroshima, what moves me is the story of Abebe Bikila from Ethiopia - the man who - barely a month after having his appendix removed - finished the Tokyo Olympics marathon with a gold medal around his neck.
The same man who, strapped overnight in the seat of his overturned Volkswagen Beetle, emerged from hospital paralysed and in a wheelchair - but went on to rise from the ashes of despair, to pick up a bow and shoot in the London Wheelchair Games , precursor of the modern Paralympic Games.
Japan is no stranger to rising from the ashes.
Walking down the streets of Naka Ward in Hiroshima, you will find yourself gazing up at an unassuming grey building with small plants lining its balconies - a tiny backlit board reads “Shima Geka Naika” in Japanese.
75 years ago, this building was right where the atom bomb exploded - bringing instant death to 80 thousand people, among them 80 doctors and medical staff of the Shima Hospital at ground zero.
The founder of the Shima Hospital, Dr Kaoru Shima - a surgeon, was away operating in another city that day, surviving to rebuild the Shima Hospital - which now stands as a marker of the epicentre of destruction, but also as a beacon of hope.
Today’s counts show that the SARS-CoV-2 virus has infected nearly a million people around the world. There is no doubt, these are bleak times. But unlike in the war years, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have not been cancelled - they have only been pushed forward to the future - a future bright with hope.
Let us rise from the ashes of war, with the shining star of victory.
Title image : Abbe Bikila celebrating a gold medal marathon win. Rome, 1960 - wikipedia.com
Image credits: Shima Hospital, Hiroshima today - wikipedia.com
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