Johann Olav Koss: Olympic-Sized Heart
February 13, 2000
The Fletcher Ledger
February 14, 2000
Johann Olav Koss: Olympic-Sized Heart by Erik Cetrulo "We cannot escape the thought that the terrible occurrences that we see all around us are quintessentially our problems. As competent human beings, we cannot shirk the task of judging how things are and what needs to be done. As reflective creatures, we have the ability to contemplate the lives of others. . . Ultimately, the focus of development must be on enhancing the ability of people to lead the lives they have reason to value." --Amartya Sen The question: What do a Nobel prize winning economist and an Olympic record-setting speed-skater have in common? The answer: A propensity to turn certain dogmas of development studies on their heads. Amartya Sen, winner of the 1998 Nobel prize in Economics, recently published a book titled Development as Freedom, which rejects economic growth, per capita income or life-expectancy as measurements of a country's developmental progress and instead redefines the ends of development in terms of the freedoms of choice it creates for individuals. Johann Olav Koss, Norwegian winner of three Olympic Gold medals who set three World Records at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, generated widespread criticism from the Norwegian media for his decision, following Lillehammer, to send sports equipment in lieu of food or medical supplies to the children of the war-torn African nation of Eritrea. The athlete spoke at Tufts Feb. 7 as part of the inaugural event of the week-long Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) conference on the Globalization of Sports, Politics and Society. He was presented with the Dr. Jean Mayer Award for Global Citizenship. Currently, in between heading the humanitarian relief agency Olympic Aid and his own organization, The Sport Humanitarian Group, and serving on the reform board of the International Olympic Committee, Koss is filming a documentary critical of the donation of T-shirts to Eritrea, attempting to show how certain developmental aid can stifle local business initiatives. As a former Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, recipient of The Jesse Owens Award and the Jackie Robinson Humanitarian Award, and named by Time Magazine as one of 100 Future Leaders of Tomorrow and by the World Economic Forum as one of 1000 Global Leaders, Koss is big, both figuratively and literally. In person, the towering 6'4" Norwegian resembles an action figure sprung to life. His story is all the more inspirational in a cynical world where professional athletes are arrested for murder (as two NFL football players recently were) and an entire International Olympic Committee is found guilty of lining its own pockets at the expense of the spirit of the Games. In 1993, five months before he was due to race in the Lillehammer Olympics in front of thousands of screaming hometown fans in one of Norway's most popular events, Koss said he was frustrated and despondent. He had recently lost a race by over 17 seconds, an eternity in speed-skating. At the same time, an official from the Norwegian Olympic Committee approached the team to see if someone might represent their charitable arm, Olympic Aid, on a humanitarian trip to Eritrea. Koss, thinking he had nothing to lose, agreed to go. A small country on the northeast coast of Africa, Eritrea had finally earned its independence from Ethiopia after a 30-year civil war. Koss said he remembered feeling unsure of himself at first, wondering if he should be training instead. Then one day, he came upon a group of children playing war games, pretending to be soldiers and shooting one another. "I realized that I was there for a reason, to give these children another choice for a role model other than a soldier," he said. Koss said the trip changed his attitude toward speed skating. "It was a special trip for me. You focus only on yourself when you are training. Tenths of seconds. Problems with your toe. With your leg. Your skates do not feel perfect, and you are mad. The training is boring. You wonder if the world is against you. This is normal, to think this way. Then you visit a place like Eritrea, and you play football with a boy who has one leg, with a ball made out of shirts that are tied together. I saw how lucky I was that I could train eight hours a day. And I felt the importance of sport, how it could bring people together," he said. Infused with a new spirit, Koss returned to Norway, knowing he was skating for more than just himself, and, after seeing the children playing football with a bundle of shirts for a ball, promising to return to Eritrea after the Olympics with sports equipment. His workouts showed renewed vigor, and as he took the ice for the 5,000 meter race, with 12,000 screaming spectators, he would later say he never felt such inner strength. Koss shattered the world record, racing his last lap in the fastest time he had ever raced in a split. The second-place finisher came in almost eight seconds behind him, producing the largest margin of victory in an Olympic 5,000 in 34 years. He then won the Gold in the 1,500 and 10,000 meter events, setting two more world records by such a margin that his opponents claimed the records would last for another 50 years. After the 1,500 meter race, he donated his prize money to charity. When Norwegian officials informed him they were to construct a statue of him outside the stadium, he politely responded, "I am very honored, but I would prefer that the money for the statue be sent to Olympic Aid." On the last day of the Games, he auctioned off his skates and raised another $90,000. In 1994, Koss retired from speed skating, yet his humanitarian efforts haven't slowed. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, he raised over $13 million that, distributed through UNICEF, provided medical assistance, educational programs and sports activities to 10 million children in 15 countries. His organization, which can be accessed at www.olympicaid.com, is busy preparing for the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. Koss also kept his promise to the children of Eritrea. With the help of Norway's children, he gathered over 12 tons of sports-equipment donations. When the media criticized him for not donating food or clothing instead, he invited them along on the trip. One journalist overheard a parent of an Eritrean youth telling Koss, "Thank you. You know, sometimes we are made to feel like things to be fed and kept alive. You make us feel like human beings." Amartya Sen just might be proud.