Teamwork and self-sacrifice are synonymous with each other. Teamwork presents itself in many flavours and forms. Teamwork is the art of joining others in pursuit of a common goal. But it’s not just joining. We don’t join a team. We become a team. Becoming a team requires sacrifice.
There are many parallels we can make between sport and business, a great example of team-work and self-sacrifice occurred in the 1994 Steeplechase Final at the European Championships in Helsinki.
It is important to understand the background of this race, Francesco Pantetta was the reigning champion and his biggest threat to retaining the title was from his fellow Italian, the younger Alessandro Lambruschini, there wasn’t much love lost between the two of them. If anything happened to Lambruschini, Panetta was guaranteed a medal maybe the Gold, so what he did in the race was remarkable.
Lambruschini fell early in the race on a barrier, Panetta stopped and pulled him to his feet. This created a gap to the rest of the field which then Panetta closed bringing Lambruschini with him. As the race developed the German runner went to the front to slow the race so he could use his fast finish and probably win, Panetta saw this, went to the front and sped the race up again.
Lambruschini came through to win the race, with a second unfancied Italian coming in second and Panetta came in 8th well outside of the medals, in a race that because of his age was his last realistic chance of a major medal.
Would you sacrifice your personal chance of glory like this for the good of the team?
