The Story of Lawrence Lemieux...

Dear Primary 4-2, our dear classmate Emma shared a story in her journal and it is really a story that we all can learn from, just like what the Olympic message tells us, where winning is not everything.


20 years later, Seoul sailor still a hero

Going on two decades later, Lawrence Lemieux cannot forget. Not that he'd want to.

By The Calgary HeraldMay 30, 2008Be the first to post a comment


Going on two decades later, Lawrence Lemieux cannot forget. Not that he'd want to.

Or people would let him.

The wind on the water at Pusan, 32 kilometres outside Seoul, rippling to an insane 35 knots. Massive waves churning under its savage, destructive influence.

The sight of two fellow Olympic sailors in a totally separate race, one in the water, the other on the bottom of their capsized boat, in distress.

He can hear himself calling out, 'Do you need help? Do you need help?' And he remembers abandoning his race, and the dream of an Olympic medal, to do the right thing. The only thing.

The remaining details, others are always willing to fill in for him.

"It's not that I'm reluctant, exactly,'' protests the 52-year old from his home in Seba Beach, on Wabumum Lake, 60 kilometres west of Edmonton.

"But I'd like to receive some accolades for what I accomplished in my sailing career, and not just this one incident. You know, people win Olympic medals for this country and pretty soon no one remembers their names.

"But this . . . this has taken on a life of its own. This never goes away.

"What I did, anyone would've done. What had to be done. It was no different than seeing someone in a car by the side of the road who's obviously in distress, who might've had a heart attack, who obviously needs help.

"Doesn't happen very often that anyone is put in that position, but you stop. You help.''

During his competitive career, Lawrence Lemieux was far more than sailing's Good Samaritan. But the afternoon of Sept. 24, 1988, is the one for which he is, and always will be, remembered.

Tonight in Red Deer, that singular act of sportsmanship, married to an outstanding competitive career, is being acknowledged once again.

He joins freestyle aerialist Jennifer Heil, basketball marksman Karl Tilleman, field and ice hockey's Ken Goodwin, Dr. Roger Jackson, judo builder Yoshio Katsuta, synchronized swimming's Leslie Sproule, baseball builders Al Price and Al Herback, women's hockey coach Melody Davidson, the 2004-2005 Alberta Northern Lights wheelchair basketball team and Calgary Herald rodeo writer Dwayne Erickson as 2008 inductees into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.

Of that highly unique collection of individuals, Lemieux's story is singular.

Competing in the fifth of a seven-race event in the Finn class of the sailing competition on that September day 20 years ago, he spotted two sailors from the Singapore 470 class team, Joseph Chan and Shaw Her Siew,

"You're not sure in a situation like that the degree of trouble they're actually in. A lot of times the boat can recover. But there came a moment when I instinctively knew something had to be done.

"The Singapore rescue boats were, quite frankly, useless.''

So, he acted. Veering off course, Lemieux reached Chan and then Her Siew, dragging them aboard his boat and waiting for a patrol boat to arrive. By then, any chance of medalling had disappeared in the lashing spray of the choppy Pusan water.

In an age where an Olympic medal can be parlayed into princely sums of money, where athletes curl up in a fetal position and go into a snit-fit at the possibility of not being allowed to use their sponsor's logo to show off for the TV audience, Lawrence Lemieux's act of selflessness seems quaint, almost downright old-fashioned.

And his own protestations aside, all the more remarkable.

"Sure,'' he admits nearly 20 years after the fact, "it was disappointing. But 1984 was, too. I really believe I could've medalled (in Moscow). I finished third at the world championships that year, behind two Americans, and every country can only send one competitor.

"So, realistically, I was looking at a silver. And then we boycotted. Pulled the plug.''

These days, Lemieux is a private sailing instructor. Beijing hopefuls Chris Cook, Oskar Johansson and Kevin Stittle are among the athletes he works with. He lives for today, even if everyone wants to remind him of yesterday.

Whatever has happened to the three of them between 1988 and today, Lemieux and the two sailors he pulled out of the watery tumult are forever linked.

"No, I really haven't kept in touch with them. But one of the fellows wound up becoming the head of their sailing federation, so I see him at different events from time to time.''

There may be no Olympic medals lying around Lemieux's house. But there is, believe it or not, something even more rare.

For his quick-thinking and gallantry, IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch presented him with the prestigious Pierre de Coubertin Medal, saying at the time: "By your sportsmanship, self-sacrifice and courage you embody all that is right with the Olympic ideal.''

Only nine other individuals have received the Coubertin honour.

"Hundreds of Olympic medals have been handed out over the years,'' says Lawrence Lemieux, reflectively. "But there haven't been too many for sportsmanship. I guess that's something to be proud of.''

Tonight in Red Deer, the Alberta Hall of Fame will honour its class of 2008. Individuals who meant so much to their respective sports, to their communities and to the overall quality of life in this province.

All richly deserved.

Included in that group is one man in particular who embodies much more than the ideals of the Olympic spirit; who with one gesture of sportsmanship going on two decades ago personified, in its finest form, the generosity of the human spirit.

gjohnson@theherald.canwest.com
© (c) CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.