Page 67 of Let the Games Begin
The moment unfolded in slow motion. The words of the announcer started to sound fuzzy and far away. Zeke became more aware of his breathing and took each step forward with quiet but determined intention. Everything except the track faded out.
“On your marks!” said the announcer. And everything came back to Zeke in sharp focus.
“Set!” He lifted his body, heard the audience quiet in anticipation, and held his breath. He could hear the memory of his father saying,Just put one foot in front of the other, but faster than you ever have before.
Zeke nodded, heard the shot, andran.
Running was the closest thing to flying. STEP STEP. Dancing felt like flying too. His mother started every Sunday morning by cleaning the house and dancing. STEP STEP. The sky was the same shade of blue as the first beach he remembered goingto when he was six years old. The joy of each step felt like all the nights he’d spent out in cities around the world with Haruki and Valentina. STEP STEP. Joy was the color green. Green like the juice he’d spilled on Olivia. STEP STEP. There had been a hailstorm the day he’d got the call to say he’d been invited for Team GB tryouts. His brothers had thrown him in the air, and he’d landed on the sofa with a beaming smile. He’d cried as soon as he’d gone upstairs to his bedroom. STEP STEP. His dad had died before he’d ever got to see how far putting one foot in front of the other, faster than he’d ever done before, would take him. STEP STEP. The wind on his face felt like the breeze that blew his shirt back when he rode a bike through Richmond Park in May. STEP STEP. The first time he’d seen Olivia, she’d looked at him with the sun silhouetting her head like a halo. STEP STEP. His feet pounded against the track like they had on stadium fields every summer before this one. It was pure, peaceful bliss. It was chaotic, overwhelming euphoria. It was like his whole body lit up and propelled him forward. STEP STEP. It was over before he’d even really realized it had begun.
“In first place is… Ezekiel ‘Zeke’ Moyo!” shouted the announcer as the whole crowd roared. “He is the winner of the hundred meter final. Zeke Moyo is the fastest man on the planet! Breaking his personal recordandthe world record! Finishing at an extraordinary nine point two nine seconds!” The whole stadium cheered his name.
Zeke couldn’t take it all in. It was so quick. Before he knew it, he was surrounded by photographers. Fueled by pure adrenaline, he ran another lap with a Union Jack wrapped around his shoulders.
The whole stadium was going wild. Coach Adam and his teammates threw him up in the air. Then his family, who’d somehow managed to defy security and make their way down onto the stadium grounds, ran to hug him.
But before he could find Olivia in the stands, he was ferried off to a press conference where he was immediately greeted by camera flashes, microphones, and shouted questions. After all the usual postvictory questions, a reporter asked him if he planned on coming back to the next Olympics to defend his new record. Zeke paused for a moment, looked directly into the camera, and said:
“I’m so incredibly grateful to have won this medal. I’m so grateful to my phenomenal coach, my best friends and teammates at Team GB, and to all the people who have supported me so fiercely. It’s been the greatest honor of my life to run for my country… but I won’t be running for Team GB at the next Olympics.”
The whole room erupted into shouted questions and camera flashes as people speculated about an unreported injury.
“I’m twenty-four, I’m definitely not retiring yet,” Zeke said, quelling the murmurs around the room. “But for the past few years—the last decade in fact—I’ve been running from something. A dream me and my dad had before he passed away. It felt so important to me that it was easier to run away from it than face the reality of doing it without him. But someone really important to me reminded me that while we’re all scared of things not working out, the only way to find out is to try. To put your heart on the line.
“So instead of running away from what I care about so deeplythat it scares me, I’m going to run toward it and take the next few years to live out a dream I’ve always wanted to fulfill.” He took a pause as the whole room leaned forward. He gave himself one last chance to change his mind, but as he searched for reasons he realized that he was completely at peace with his choice; there was no fear telling him to turn back.
“At the end of this year, I will be joining Coach Chikepe and his incredible team of athletes as I compete for Team Zimbabwe. The country my parents were born in, and where I’ve dreamed of competing for ever since I walked onto my very first running track.”
Each row of journalists was taking photos and shouting out questions, but Zeke didn’t need to explain himself. So, he didn’t. Instead, he looked over at Coach Chikepe, who was sitting in the front row. They had so much to achieve together. Then he locked eyes with Coach Adam, who was standing at the side of the room beaming at him. Zeke smiled back as he remembered the advice Coach Adam had given him when he’d gone to his office that morning to tell him about the decision he was about to make. Coach Adam had given Zeke his full support and encouragement. Telling him just how proud he knew that Zeke’s father would have been to see him come this far.
“We’ll talk about all of that in the new year, but right now, I just want to go out and celebrate,” Zeke said as he stood up and left the press conference to the cheers of his friends and family who were waiting in the wings. But there was only one person he wanted to see at that moment. As he spotted Olivia in the crowd, the sight of her smile was more glorious than any gold-medal-winning victory.
56Olivia
DAY FOURTEEN OF THE 2024 OLYMPICS
Olivia was sitting on her bedroom balcony with her paint pots on a table and her iridescent notebook in her lap. Every time she sat on the balcony, she was struck by just how beautiful Athens was. The bright pink bougainvillea bushes growing around each building, the sounds of people filling up the streets below her, and the warm sun on her bare arms.
As the sun rose higher, she realized with complete clarity that this summer hadn’t put even the smallest of dents into her ambition. While the past couple of weeks hadn’t gone quite the way she’d expected, the vision she’d stuck up on the wall five years ago had served her well. It led her to the Village. And to Zeke.
She still wanted it all, the influence and the power. But she didn’t want it just to prove she could or because she still believed that anything other than perfection meant failure. Now she wanted it so she could enjoy it all.
For the past five years, the plan had been a checklist. A clear road map to some future perfect version of herself. But as sheopened her notebook, she decided that the next plan would be an adventure. A list of all the fun she could have, the memories she could make, and the ways she could become the woman she’d always dreamed of growing up to be.
She made a list of goals, and then she made a list of all the things she’d once loved but let go of. Her younger self had decided that she needed to be excellent at something to justify spending her time doing it. But that summer changed her mind. So, she wrote, “Do things you love badly!” and then underlined it three times. She let everything she wanted spill out onto the page. The plan became a manifesto on how to live a full life, not just a successful one.
“Five-year plan?” asked Zeke, opening the door and coming over to join her on the balcony. She looked up and saw the brightest smile she’d ever known. A face so handsome, so deep with warmth, that she could have sat there looking into his eyes for hours.
“I figured I owed you at least one of these,” he said, reaching into the paper bag he was holding and pulling out two tall, cold plastic cups of green juice. Olivia couldn’t help but laugh.
“I’ll need at least twenty to make up for how much it cost me to dry-clean that suit.” But she smiled as she drew him close to press a soft, sweet, gentle kiss on his lips. He put an arm around her shoulder, and she moved closer until she was cozily snuggled into the gap between his shoulder and chest.
“So, this new five-year plan,” began Zeke, looking at her open notebook. “Is there any space for you to finally let me take you out on that date? Any gaps between now and your path to world domination?”
Olivia tilted her head from side to side, pretending to think it through.
“Well, I do have a lot of plans for the rest of the summer,” she said.
“Oh, I can see that,” Zeke said, planting a kiss on her right cheek.
