First one person stood up and then another and another. Someone in the crowd began to applaud and soon everyone else 1 in as Glenn Cunninghan made his final lap around the track(跑道). He was about to break a world record in the mile. As he made his victory, you might wonder how he could walk, let alone 2. It was hard to ignore Glenn's scarred legs.
When Glenn was six years old, his 3 were so badly burned in a schoolhouse fire that his doctor never thought he would 4 again. But Glenn thought otherwise. After spending weeks in 5, he got up and started using crutches(拐杖) to get around. When his legs got 6, he tried walking without the crutches. It was very 7. Glenn said later, “It hurt like hell to walk, 8 it didn't hurt at all when I ran. So for five or six years, about all I did was run.”
With all the 9 he had had in running, it was natural for Glenn to join his school's track team. By the time he got to high school, he became a track star and set 10 times in the mile run.
After he 11 from high school, he went to the University of Kansas. Glenn Cunninghan was 12 as “The Kansas Flyer”, and he won the National College Amateur Track Championships in 1931 and 1932.
Glenn went on to run on the U.S. Olympic Team in 1932, received the Sullivan Award 13 outstanding amateur athletes in 1933, and won a silver medal in the 1936 Olympic Games. The boy who was 14 never to walk again won two National College Amateur Athlete titles in track, was named the 15 track performer in the 100-year history of Madison Square Garden, and was 16 to the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.
It was never easy for Glenn. It took him nearly an hour to 17 for a race and the smoke-filled indoor stadium made it hard for him to 18. But he never let that stop him or 19 him down. He just ran as hard as he could with his wounded lungs and scarred legs, and he won.
If determination and spirit can 20 a runner to greatness, it might be said that Glenn Cunninghan was the greatest runner of all time.
