Actually, I saw it by mistake. I wanted to take a break in front of the TV and then continue writing. The break ended up lasting over a hundred minutes. The documentary Moses 13 Steps, which won the main prize at the Sportfilm Liberec festival in October, won't let go of the viewer until it's over, and it stays with you even afterward. It makes you want to run. The film offers many perspectives, many diverse testimonies about Edwin Moses, the American 400m hurdler who set the world record four times, won Olympic gold twice, twice won World Championships, and, most importantly, was undefeated for nine years, nine months, and nine days, from 1977 to 1987. There’s something mysterious about those nines.
Specifically, this means that he won 122 consecutive races. The streak ended on June 4, 1987, in Madrid, when he had bad luck: he had to deal with food poisoning, and just when it seemed he was on his way to victory, he stumbled over the final hurdle, lost his rhythm, and gave his relentless pursuer Danny Harris a chance. The streak, which was unparalleled not only in athletics, came to an end. It had to happen eventually, even though many fans thought it was impossible. It happened on June 4, 1987. However, Moses bounced back and managed to win ten more races in a row. Even at the Seoul Olympics a year later, when his career was nearing its peak, he managed to win a bronze medal.
The 55-year-old German director Michael Wech, after documentaries on Boris Becker and Michael Schumacher, has created what is perhaps his life’s work. He chose the ideal subject, one who embodies the desire for perfection and the continuous overcoming of obstacles.
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Within a year, he literally changed the sport.
Moses managed this not only on the track but also in life. He improved thanks to his high intelligence. As an African American, he wanted to succeed. At college, he studied mathematics, mechanics, and physics with excellent results: he wanted to become an aerospace engineer. Because of this, he was able to calculate that to succeed in the event he chose, he needed to master a thirteen-step rhythm, with the crucial rule that each hurdle had to be cleared first with the left leg, as it was closer to the inside lane, ultimately creating the shortest and most efficient running path. Others needed fifteen steps.
In Montreal, where he won in 1976 with a new Olympic and world record, it was his very first race abroad. Before that, no one knew Moses. Afterward, everyone did. "In one year, he literally changed the sport," says influential coach Bobby Kersee in the film. His intelligence surpassed those around him. Even on the track, he resembled a bearded, bespectacled philosopher who had wandered off course from a lecture hall. Had he wanted, he could have succeeded as a scientist.
He chose athletics, which allowed him global fame and the opportunity to earn money. Every meet organizer wanted Moses, and if they really wanted him, they had to secure a lot of money. In the film, he recalls his first paid race in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1977, where he received six hundred dollars "in hand." Later, when preparing for a race in Cologne, Germany, which was expected to have 60,000 spectators, he asked himself: "Why does everyone except athletes make money?" "It didn't make sense. From the beginning, I was a radical. When we didn't get what we deserved, we simply didn't run," Moses explains in the documentary. Amateurism was a hypocritical relic. You can't push the limits of human potential without daily, many hours of training. It's a full-time job. The fact that today the best athletes can earn a good living from their skills is thanks to him. Just like his push for tackling the issue of doping, which ran rampant in the 1980s with all sorts of substances, like cancer. Moses took a stand, wanting clean athletics, and he succeeded. To some extent, of course: cheats today have a harder time than in his time. Some of the records still stand, although it's clear that they wouldn't have been possible without the support of chemicals.
Among the strongest moments of the film are the testimonies of Moses' classmates from Morehouse College, which was founded in Atlanta in 1867 to support African American education. Among them are filmmaker Spike Lee, actor Samuel L. Jackson, and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. It’s a fascinating insight into the heart of this exceptional institution, which nurtures resilient and confident individuals, and which is generally not widely known. Their testimonies unanimously say: "He was so exceptional!"
Edwin Moses was not an activist for the rights of the African American minority, like sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who in 1968 at the Mexico Games won gold and bronze medals in the 200-meter race, and during the victory ceremony raised their clenched fists in black gloves to the sky to protest human rights conditions in the United States.
Moses was made of different stuff. That’s why his complex approach to existence, in which the athlete and the intellectual perfectly intertwine, continues to inspire. Not a trace of vanity, narcissism, or aggression. His stoicism, ability to concentrate, and a kind of constant detachment allowed him to be himself. Had he received the kind of expert guidance he would have gotten at prestigious schools with athletic programs focused on track and field (UCLA, Oregon, Stanford, Florida, Texas), he probably wouldn’t have achieved what he did as a self-taught individual who just wanted to be an engineer above all. Perhaps this is the most important message of Thirteen Hurdles. Actually: definitely!
You can read more insights from Petr Volf on the world of art and sport HERE.
