Jim Redmond, who helped his injured sprinter son Derek cross the finish line at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, has passed away at the age of 81, it was announced on Tuesday.
Redmond sprinted onto the track to assist his injured son, who had ruptured his hamstring at the start of the home straight, and the two Britons staggered to the 400-meter semi-finish final’s line together.
The IOC tweeted: “The video is one of the most-watched Olympic moments in social media history.” “Following the passing of Jim Redmond, our sympathies are with Derek Redmond and his family.
Together, they gave us one of the most uplifting Olympic moments ever.
The Redmonds produced an Olympic moment, according to the British Olympic Association, that “will never be forgotten.”
Derek said in a 2012 BBC interview that his father had first attempted to talk him out of trying to finish the marathon.
Initially, he had “tried to persuade me out of it,” the man remembered. “He was telling me that I didn’t need to do this and that I didn’t have anything to prove, but I insisted that I would finish. Then he declared that we would both do it.
“So we did, and I hobbled sobbing across the finish line.”