Olympic Gold Medalist Billy Mills, 50 Years After

This year marks the 50 year anniversary of when Billy Mills stunned the world. He overcame a contentious field of top distance contenders to win the 10,000m race at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. This win squarely secured his place in history as the only American to ever win the Olympics at that length and the second Native American to ever win a Gold Medal.

A few years ago, students in the Native Voices program of the Center for Multicultural Cooperation had the opportunity to interview Billy and learn about the difficulties he faced and overcame to win.

Native Voices had the rare opportunity to interview Bill Mills who is the only American to win gold in the 10000m and the second American Indian to win gold in the Olympics. Billy Mills had to overcome so many obstacles on his journey to the Olympics. His story of perseverance should be heard by all in the Native community.

This week the 2014 Outdoor Championships for USA Track and Field will be occurring over a four day competition on the California State University, Sacramento campus. As part of the activities surrounding the event, participants can run the Billy Mills 10k. My most recent 5k time is equal to Billy's 1964 10k time, but you'll know where to find me come Thursday at 7:00 p.m. anyway, reaching for the next goal.