Under my hat: Willie the winner

It was in May 93 in Istanbul. Sparta was at the Europa Cup and the day before we were out training on the stadium.

I was jogging around feeling petty of myself. It was unbearable hot and I felt heavy and miserable. I stopped to do stretching and looked at the others. It was the first time I saw him run. They called him Willie. Of course I had heard of him before, our new running talent, but not yet seen him in action. It seemed to be incredibly easy and effortlessly. I thought he was running 200m pace, 200m jog and took a split on 26 secs. Couldn't believe it. I took one more. Again, 26 sec. and it was obvious that he enjoyed it. I had never seen anything like it. It was a breeze and he went on and on. I was witness to the finest art of running and from that moment I was his biggest fan.

The day after Willie won both the 800 and 1500m and ran a great last trip on our 4x400m relay. I saw his talent for running as unlimited and at the same time I clearly understood the limits of mine.

Two years later he was world champion and I was family man and baby jogger.

Peder Troldborg