An Italian Olympic track star spent his entire life eating the dust of his father leaving him behind at six months old. Now, he is leaving other would-be competition in the dust after reuniting with his father for the first time in 25 years. Lamont Marcell Jacobs made history on Sunday at the Tokyo Olympics when he became the first Italian man to win a gold medal in the 100-meter dash. In doing so, he was also granted the title of “World’s Fastest Man” for finishing the race in just 9.80 seconds.

I know this is off subject, but when is the USA going to get back to track and field dominance? The last gold medal we won in the 100-meter dash was in 2004. I digress. Jacobs is well deserving of his feat. Having the quickest feet on the stage with the greatest athletes in the world speaks volumes. However, nothing speaks louder than having your estranged dad in your ear encouraging you to pursue your dreams. It wasn’t always like that. “I considered him a stranger, he looked for me on Facebook and I didn’t answer,” Jacobs said in March 2021. “Fortunately, recently, also thanks to the work with my mental coach, a relationship has been recreated. And I’ll go and see him in the U.S.”

I have to say, that’s one heck of a mental coach. As a certified life coach myself, I know deeply the wounds that fathers impress on to their children. So many adults are mature physically, but emotionally and mentally they are little broken children. I am often coaching my clients to heal the wounds of their unassuming fathers. The clients who take my advice to “lean into the pain” eventually come out of their emotional and mental wilderness. I get great joy when my clients realize their father wounds and have the courage to forgive and heal.

“The first thing (my mental coach) told me was that if I wanted to run faster, I had to begin a relationship with my father that I never had. And this was a difficult path for me because I had not met him, known him, or talked to him in many years,” ESPN quoted Jacobs on Twitter after his record setting win. “(Reconnecting with him) gave me the desire, the speed, that something more than helped me being here and win the Olympics.”

The power of daddy! If you’ve read my articles over the years, I am an avid supporter of fathers. To be honest, I don’t believe there is another topic that’s more important to discuss. Fatherlessness has plagued this nation in ways Americans fail to evaluate. Strong dads build strong children and strong children build strong families. Strong families build strong communities and strong communities shape the nations. If you have a father wound from your past, take this Olympic gold medalist’s advice and run back to the heart of your father. You just might win big in life. The alternative is utter destruction. I didn’t make the rules.

Malachi 4:6 says, “And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”