00:00He was running the fastest time he'd ever run, but as the race came down to its final laps,
00:05he was bumped and shoved out of the way as the other runners pushed past him.
00:09Nobody expected much of Billy Mills. He was relatively unknown on the world stage,
00:13and he'd never even broken the 29-minute mark in the 10,000 meters, which was considered the
00:19benchmark for elite runners in the event. As a Native American, even at home, he never really
00:24felt like he fit in, and he certainly didn't seem like he was destined for Olympic greatness.
00:28Billy grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, one of the poorest areas in the
00:33U.S., and his mother passed away when he was only eight years old. When his mother died,
00:38Billy became closer with his father, and his father would always read him a collection of
00:42news articles, which he assembled into a book. And one page that stuck out to Billy was a page
00:47about the Olympics and its many competitors. Olympians are chosen by the gods, the passage read.
00:53This line stuck out to Billy, and through his youth, he thought that maybe if he could become
00:57an Olympian, he too would be chosen by the gods, and maybe he'd even be blessed with the chance
01:03to see his mother just one more time. However, tragically, when Billy was 12, his dad also
01:08passed away, and Billy became an orphan. For Billy, running became his way of coping. When Billy ran,
01:14he felt he could strip away the hurt and pain, and create his own sense of self-worth. And he
01:19was
01:19fast, real fast. He became a standout high school runner, earning himself a scholarship to the
01:24University of Kansas. However, despite being named as an All-American three times, meaning he was
01:30selected as one of the best athletes in the country for the sport, when it came time for the team
01:34photos, he was shoved to the side and told he wasn't allowed to be in the photo because he was
01:40Indian. After that moment, he went back to his room in an intense depression, and he considered
01:44whether he'd see his mom and dad again if he just jumped out the window. Thankfully, he didn't.
01:49And instead, he channeled that hurt into a mission to compete at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics to be chosen
01:56by the gods. So there he was, competing against the fastest runners in the world on the Olympic
02:01stage. And surprisingly, he was keeping up. But even then, people continued to disregard him.
02:06He was battling against the world record holder and favourite to win, Ron Clark from Australia.
02:11They fought with each other for the lead, until Ron shoved Billy to the outside, knocking him off
02:16balance. But then, Mohamed Gamoudi from Tunisia elbowed his way through the two of them.
02:21Billy fell back and started to accept third place. But as he spotted the finish line up ahead,
02:27all of his self-doubt suddenly fell away. Billy put everything he had into that last 100 metres.
02:33He pushed past Ron Clark, and he shocked Mohamed Gamoudi as he took the lead. And Billy Mills
02:37crossed the finish line in 28 minutes, 24 seconds. Setting an Olympic record and winning America's first,
02:44and to this day, only Olympic gold medal in the 10,000 metres.
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