Medal of Honor

Medal of Honor

Hundreds of athletes earn gold, silver and bronze medals. But there is one medal that only a few Olympians have earned, and it is the Pierre de Coubertin medal. The Pierre de Coubertin medal is also knows as the True Spirit of Sportsmanship medal, and it has been awarded only 11 times.

I am going to give a few fun facts about the Olympics for the next week. Here is a story about one of the winners of the Pierre de Coubertin medal.

Lawrence Lemieux

It was September 24, 1988, and the sailing competition was underway in the waters near Seoul, South Korea, site of the 1988 Olympic Games. The once-peaceful weather suddenly became very windy. A Canadian sailor named Lawrence Lemieux was running in second place when he noticed an emergency occurring on another course. A boat carrying two sailors from Singapore had turned over, injuring the men and dumping them into the sea.  Lemieux broke away from his race and headed straight for the sailors. He pulled them from the water and waited with them until a patrol boat came. Lemieux then rejoined his race, but he had lost so much time that he ended up in 22nd place.

The International Yacht Racing Union unanimously decided to award Lemieux second place and the International Olympic Committee gave him the Pierre de Coubertin award for displaying such great courage and self - sacrifice.