Nine Gold Medals Summary & Analysis
by David Roth

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  • “Nine Gold Medals” Introduction

    • "Nine Gold Medals," by the American singer-songwriter David Roth, is based on a story about a 1976 race held by the Special Olympics (a sports organization for competitors with intellectual disabilities). While competing in the 100-meter dash, a young runner accidentally stumbles and falls to the ground. Rather than continue the race without him, however, all of the other athletes turn around and lift the fallen runner to his feet. They then walk across the finish line arm-in-arm in a powerful display of kindness and empathy that, the speaker declares, epitomizes the true spirit of the games. Compassion and camaraderie, the poem insists, are far more valuable than winning.

  • “Nine Gold Medals” Summary

    • Athletes had traveled from all over the world to compete for first, second, and third place. They had trained long and hard in anticipation of the Olympic Games.

      Crowds gathered around the race track to root for these young athletes, and the final race of the day was just about to start.

      As the names of the competitors for the 100-meter race were announced through the loudspeakers, nine young runners waited at the starting line, focused and ready for the sound of the pistol that would signal the race.

      The gunshot rang out, and the runners sprinted forth down the train—but the youngest runner in the group slipped and tumbled down to the ground.

      The young man cried out in heartbreak; everything he'd worked so hard for had suddenly come tumbling down. But, I swear to you, unbelievable though it may sound, this is what happened next.

      The other runners all came to a halt—even though they'd trained so long and hard for this race. Then, every single one of them went back to help the fallen runner; together, they pulled the young man back up.

      Next, all nine of the runners linked arms and headed for the finish line together. The 100-meter sprint slowed to a walk. The "Special Olympics" banner hanging above the track could not have been more accurate.

      The race then finished with nine winners. The athletes crossed the finish line together, hands still linked. The "Special Olympics" banner and their beaming faces tell you everything you need to know.

  • “Nine Gold Medals” Themes

    • Theme The Power of Empathy and Compassion

      The Power of Empathy and Compassion

      David Roth's "Nine Gold Medals" tells the (mostly) true story of the 100-meter race at a 1976 event held by the Special Olympics (a major sports organization for athletes with intellectual disabilities). As the race begins, the poem's speaker recounts, one runner stumbles and falls over. Instead of trying to win the race as might be expected, however, the other runners turn around to pick their fallen colleague up, and all nine competitors end up crossing the finish line hand in hand. The poem praises this act of kindness, suggesting that the runners' display of empathy is a far greater victory than merely winning the race would have been.

      Getting to the Special Olympics, the speaker knows, is the culmination of a long and difficult effort for the nine runners. The athletes have spent "many weeks and months" training for this moment, and they've traveled from "many countries" to be here. Their efforts have all been "building up to the games" and there are lots of people watching! The stakes, in other words, are high: the runners have trained long and hard to get here, and they're eager to win.

      Given how much is riding on this race, then, one might expect the other runners to pay no attention when one of their number "stumble[s] and stagger[s]," falling down not long after the event begins. However, as the fallen young man cries out in "frustration and anguish," his fellow runners all respond to his suffering. In a display of astonishing—and unexpected—empathy, the eight other runners stop, turn around, and come back to "lift[] the lad to his feet." They know better than anyone how much this race means to him and how disappointed he must feel—and they'd rather that no one win than that one athlete be heartbroken.

      As all nine runners join hands and cross the finish line together, the race ends with an unconventional kind of victory: the triumph of empathy over competitiveness. Through their simple but remarkable act, the speaker suggests, all nine athletes become winners in a bigger, more meaningful sense than they would have been if they'd simply taken the "gold" for themselves. These "Special Olympics," then, are truly special: the race becomes a poignant and powerful demonstration of a rare, beautiful kindness, something far more valuable than any individualistic victory could be.

      Where this theme appears in the poem:
      • Lines 1-33
  • Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Nine Gold Medals”

    • Lines 1-8

      The athletes had ...
      ... about to begin.

      "Nine Gold Medals" tells the remarkable and (partly) true story of the 100-meter race at an event held in 1976 by the Special Olympics, a sporting organization for athletes with intellectual disabilities.

      The opening stanza establishes the event's stakes: athletes have come from all over the world—"from so many countries"—to compete for a medal at the "games." They've trained long and hard, for "many weeks and months." All of this work has been"building up to" one thing: "the games." These games are the culmination of immense effort, and these athletes are, presumably, under a huge amount of pressure.

      The poem's second quatrain then sets the scene. Spectators have "gathered" around the track in order to cheer on the athletes. The speaker also notes that this is "the final event of the day." This, then, is the moment it all comes down to for these runners.

      These two stanzas set up the poem's meter, which is best characterized as a very loose mixture of anapestic tetrameter and trimeter. Most lines have four feet, while the final line of most stanzas has three. The most common foot is the anapest (a foot with three syllables arranged in an unstressed-unstressed-stressed pattern, da-da-DUM), but there are lots of iambs (feet with an unstressed-stressed syllable pattern, da-DUM) thrown in, especially at the start of lines. Here are lines 1-2, for example:

      The ath- | letes had come | from so | many countries
      To
      run | for the gold, | for the sil- | ver and bronze

      The meter isn't all that regular throughout the poem (even here, readers can see that line 1 has an extra unstressed syllable dangling at the end), but much of the poem follows a similarly bright, bouncy rhythm. The galloping feel of those anapests, in particular, evokes the swift gait of the runners themselves.

    • Lines 9-12

      The loudspeakers called ...
      ... of the gun.

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    • Lines 13-16

      The signal was ...
      ... to the ground.

    • Lines 17-20

      He gave out ...
      ... here's what occurred.

    • Lines 21-24

      The eight other ...
      ... to his feet.

    • Lines 25-28

      Then all nine ...
      ... nearer the mark.

    • Lines 29-33

      That's how the ...
      ... words ever will.

  • “Nine Gold Medals” Symbols

    • Symbol The Nine Gold Medals

      The Nine Gold Medals

      Gold medals are a standard symbol of victory. At the Olympics, as at other sporting competitions, they're given to those athletes who win first place. In this poem, though, they represent something more specific: the triumph of empathy and compassion.

      In the final stanza, the speaker declares:

      That's how the race ended, with nine gold medals

      The speaker doesn't necessarily mean this literally. That is, there probably aren't nine actual, physical gold medals being given out to all the competitors. Instead, these figurative medals represent the fact that these runners are all winners, regardless of their race times or who crossed the finish line first.

      Indeed, the athletes all cross the finish line together, meaning there is no out-and-out victor! The nine gold medals reflect a different type of victory altogether: that of humanity's better nature over its more competitive instincts. Community and kindness win out over the desire to beat everyone else—and that's what the speaker feels deserves celebrating.

      Where this symbol appears in the poem:
      • Lines 1-2: “The athletes had come from so many countries / To run for the gold, for the silver and bronze”
      • Lines 29-30: “That's how the race ended, with nine gold medals / They came to the finish line holding hands still”
  • “Nine Gold Medals” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

    • Alliteration

      "Nine Gold Medals" uses alliteration to ramp up the poem's tension or drama. Take line 10, for example, which is part of the poem's long build-up to the start of the race itself:

      The one hundred metres the race to be run

      The alliteration of "race" and "run" calls readers' attention to the important event at hand. The quick repetition of that firm, rousing /r/ sound also makes the moment right before the race begins seem all the more exciting.

      That excitement, in turn, makes it even more heartbreaking when one of the runners trips and falls, thereby ending his race and his dreams of victory. The speaker turns to alliteration again to highlight this moment:

      But the youngest among them stumbled and staggered

      The alliteration here is harsh and spiky, appropriate to an image of an athlete taking an unexpected tumble. The poem then captures the young man's frustration with a booming, punishing /d/ sound in line 18:

      His dreams and his efforts dashed in the dirt

      These /d/s are so insistent that they're almost violent, and they help convey a sense of crushing defeat.

      Of course, the poem has a happy ending. The other athletes turn around and help their fallen comrade back up:

      [They] lifted the lad to his feet.

      Here, alliteration gives the line a little sonic lift. These lilting /l/ sounds are pleasant on the ear, making an uplifting moment sound more uplifting.

      Where alliteration appears in the poem:
      • Line 1: “come,” “countries”
      • Line 10: “race,” “run”
      • Line 15: “stumbled,” “staggered”
      • Line 18: “dreams,” “dashed,” “dirt”
      • Line 19: “standing,” “story”
      • Line 20: “strange”
      • Line 24: “lifted,” “lad”
      • Line 30: “holding hands”
    • Assonance

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      Where assonance appears in the poem:
      • Line 1: “come,” “countries”
      • Line 10: “one hundred,” “run”
      • Line 15: “youngest among,” “stumbled”
      • Line 17: “frustration,” “anguish”
      • Line 26: “one hundred”
      • Line 31: “nine smiling”
    • Metaphor

      Where metaphor appears in the poem:
      • Lines 13-14: “The signal was given, the pistol exploded / And so did the runners on hearing the sound”
      • Line 18: “His dreams and his efforts dashed in the dirt”
    • Parallelism

      Where parallelism appears in the poem:
      • Line 2: “for the gold, for the silver”
      • Lines 7-10: “the final event of the day was approaching / The last race about to begin. / The loudspeakers called out the names of the runners / The one hundred metres the race to be run”
      • Line 13: “The signal was given, the pistol exploded”
      • Lines 16-17: “he fell on his knees to the ground. / He gave out a cry of frustration and anguish”
      • Line 18: “His dreams and his efforts”
    • Repetition

      Where repetition appears in the poem:
      • Line 27: “And the banner above”
      • Line 31: “And the banner above”
      • Lines 32-33: “Said more than these words ever will / Said more than these words ever will.”
  • “Nine Gold Medals” Vocabulary

    Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

    • Games
    • Spectators
    • One hundred metres
    • Pistol
    • Anguish
    • Special Olympics
    Games
    • (Location in poem: Line 4: “All building up to the games.”)

      That is, the competition being held by the Special Olympics.

  • Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Nine Gold Medals”

    • Form

      "Nine Gold Medals" has a simple, song-like structure. This is no coincidence—this actually is a song, written to be performed to music.

      There are eight stanzas here, the first seven of which are quatrains (they contain four lines). The eighth stanza is a quintain, meaning it has five lines. This is because the speaker repeats the song's final line—"Said more than these words ever will"—twice in a row. This repetition makes the poem's final moments more emphatic and intense.

      The poem might be thought of as a kind of parable—that is, a story with a clear moral message. Here, the story of these nine athletes is meant to convey the power of empathy and kindness.

    • Meter

      "Nine Gold Medals" doesn't follow a strict meter. This is a song, and songs can be quite loose metrically in order to allow for nuances in the singer's delivery. Still, there is a noticeable rhythm throughout the poem, which is perhaps best characterized as a very loose anapestic tetrameter: lines of four anapests, feet with three syllables arranged in an unstressed-unstressed-stressed pattern, da-da-DUM.

      There are plenty of variations, however, and most lines actually open with an iamb (a foot with two syllables arranged in an unstressed-stressed pattern, da-DUM). Take lines 1-2, for example:

      The ath- | letes had come | from so | many countries
      To run | for the gold, | for the sil- | ver and bronze

      Both lines have four feet, and both open with an iamb followed by anapests. Line 2 also slots an iamb in its third foot and a dangling unstressed syllable at the end. The same pattern appears throughout the poem. For example, here are lines 9, 10, 17, and 22:

      The loud- | speakers called | out the names | of the runners

      The one | hundred met- | res the race | to be run

      He gave | out a cry | of frustra- | tion and anguish

      The ones | who had trained | for so long | to compete

      Again, the lines usually start with an iamb followed by three anapests; occasionally, there's an extra syllable at the end. The poet plays with this pattern quite a bit, but there's still an overarching bounce here that fills the poem with momentum. Not coincidentally, all those anapests evoke galloping horses—or, indeed, race runners.

    • Rhyme Scheme

      Each stanza in "Nine Gold Medals" rhymes its second line with the fourth, creating the following rhyme scheme: ABCB DEFE and so on. Recall that "Nine Gold Medals" is meant to be sung. This alternating rhyme scheme is very common in contemporary music, and it adds to the gentle music throughout.

      Note, too, that many of these pairs are slant rhymes, hinging on a shared consonant sound. The first pair of rhymes, for example, is easily missed:

      The athletes had come from so many countries
      To run for the gold, for the silver and bronze
      Many weeks and months in training
      All building up to the games.

      Other rhymes are much clearer. "Run" and "gun" in lines 10 and 12, for example, ring out loud and true, linking the sound of the starting pistol with the action it dictates.

  • “Nine Gold Medals” Speaker

    • The speaker, for the most part, stays out of the way in the poem, functioning as a narrator for the "story" of the race. It's not clear if the speaker actually witnessed this event in person or is simply recounting a story that they've heard. That said, the speaker does involve themselves more directly in the fifth stanza:

      But as sure as I'm standing here telling the story
      Now it's a strange one, but here's what occurred.

      This moment makes the poem seem more personal and authentic, the speaker owning their emotional reaction to the athletes' selfless gesture—and encouraging the reader to see it in the same light.

  • “Nine Gold Medals” Setting

    • "Nine Gold Medals" is based on a true story. It's set in 1976, during an event held by the Special Olympics. It more specifically takes place right before, during, and after the 100-meter dash: one of the most popular races in track and field.

      The first three stanzas set the scene: athletes from all over the world have trained long and hard for these "games," and this is the time when all their work could pay off. The stakes are high, and there's a tense feeling in the air as the athletes stand at the starting line. Spectators surround the field, cheering the athletes on as the "loudspeakers" announce the runners' names. The runners are still and utterly focused, "poised for the sound of the gun."

      Note that the speaker spends a whopping 12 lines building up to the start of the race. This ramps up the sense of anticipation and conveys the way that time seems to slow down when one is intensely focused and getting ready for an event. It also makes the story more tragic—at first at least; this build-up makes the young runner's sudden fall in the second half of the poem all the more crushing, yet it also makes the other runners' decision to help him back up more emotionally powerful.

  • Literary and Historical Context of “Nine Gold Medals”

      Literary Context

      David Roth is a contemporary American singer and songwriter. "Nine Gold Medals" was originally written as a song and appears on Roth's 2014 album Will You Come Home. (Note that there are a few different versions of "Nine Gold Medals" floating around, but minor lyrical changes don't change the song's overarching message about the power of kindness and compassion.)

      Like many of Roth's songs, "Nine Gold Medals" follows a traditional folk model in the sense that the song is a vessel for the story—in this case, of the 100-meter dash at the 1976 Special Olympics. Like the event in question, Roth's approach to music stresses the importance of collaboration, community, empathy, and goodwill.

      Poets and songwriters alike have long turned to sports and sports-related metaphors to explore humanity's hopes and disappointments. Readers might want to check out Bruce Dawe's "Life-Cycle" for a humorous look at sports fandom or A. E. Housman's "To an Athlete Dying Young" for a poignant take on the ephemeral joy of victory.

      Historical Context

      "Nine Gold Medals" focuses on a 1976 event held by the Special Olympics, a sports organization for athletes with intellectual disabilities. According to legend, one runner fell at the start of the 100-meter dash (a sprint race, and one of the most popular events in track and field). The other athletes turned around to help the fallen runner get back up, and they all crossed the finish line together.

      At least, that's how the story goes. According to the Special Olympics head office, the race took place in Spokane, Washington, and has become a kind of urban myth that's morphed over time to be more heart-warming fable than true tale. In reality, it was just one or two of the other runners who turned back to help—the rest finished the race as normal. Of course, this is a song, not a history lesson, and the moral message of the poem remains the same.

  • More “Nine Gold Medals” Resources