Billy Mills
At the 1964 Olympics, he shocked the world and came from behind to win the gold medal in the 10,000 meters race. At the time, he set a world record of 28 minutes, 24.4 seconds and is still the only American to ever win a gold medal in the 10K event. His win was an upset that has been called the second greatest moment in Olympic history.
In Lakota culture, someone who achieves great success has a ‘giveaway’ to thank the support system of family and friends who helped him achieve his goal. As part of his effort to give back to his community, Billy helped found Running Strong for American Indian Youth and became the organization’s National Spokesperson. Today Billy travels over 300 days every year. He visits Native American communities throughout the U.S. and speaks to youth about healthy lifestyles and taking pride in their heritage.
As the 2020/2021 Summer Olympics will once again be held in Tokyo, Running Strong is celebrating Billy’s 1964 Olympic victory and legacy throughout 2020. Please visit this page throughout the year to find out about all of Billy’s speaking events and appearances; news articles about him; and our special “Road to Tokyo Series” where you can follow Billy on his journey to the 1964 Olympics and his gold medal-winning race!
The Pursuit of Excellence
Sharing his personal schema for success, Billy Mills explains how he has been able to unleash the passion and energy within himself to achieve phenomenal success in sport and life. Recalling his legendary 10,000 meter run—the greatest upset in Olympic history—he outlines his value-based concept on how dreams come true, a system which continues to inspire thousands of individuals across America today.
Global Unity
Our world is changing: entire governments have been dismantled, new governments created, existing governments redesigned, universities re-engineered, and businesses reconstructed. Billy Mills shares what remains constant in our ever-changing world and explains how this consistency is our key to global unity.
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