RUNNING MAN
YOU, ME, THE POPE, your butcher – we’ve all had those moments when we stop what we’re doing, fall silent, and ask ourselves, How could this be? How could I have gotten from where I once was (Point A) to where I am now (Point B)? It’s a universal experience, absolutely, but it’s going to be more intense for some than others. And it’s hard to imagine that many have felt it more powerfully than has Peter Bol.
You’ve probably absorbed snippets of Bol’s background. How he was born in Khartoum, Sudan 28 years ago amid a civil war. How, via Egypt, he arrived in Toowoomba as a boy with no English or interest in running. That was his Point A.
His Point B was the Tokyo Olympic Stadium last August. It was lining up for the 800m final – the first Australian man to do so for more than half a century – in the fourth most-viewed event in Australian television history. It was leading the pack at the last bend before, yes, two Kenyans and a Pole outkicked him, consigning Bol to that cruel mistress of a placing: fourth. It was leaving the media conference to go watch the Boomers play and getting a tap on the shoulder from an Australian Olympic Committee official.
“The Prime Minister wants to speak with you, ” the official said.
“Do I have to?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Please give him my number.”
After some back and forth, Bol found himself on the phone with the (then) prime minister, Mr Morrison, who was calling him “mate” and thanking him for his efforts, which, the PM said, had inspired Australians during the trials of the pandemic. The PM signed off by saying he’d love to meet Bol sometime. That’s a decent Point B.
“Yeah, I’ve come a long way, ” says Bol, who’s taking time out from his preparations for this month’s World Athletics Championships,. “And this is bigger than sports.”
