NYC Marathon Alums Share the Healing Power of Sports After Tragedy

Clifford Chanin, the executive vice president and deputy director for Museum Programs, sits onstage with New York City Marathon athletes at a special public program. The event is projected on a large screen above them.
9/11 Memorial & Museum EVP and Deputy Director for Museum Programs Clifford Chanin sat down with NYC Marathon athletes in a special public program. Photo by Jin Lee, 9/11 Memorial.

Two months after 9/11, the New York City Marathon brought a spirit of international support and celebration to a city still grappling with the attacks. The significance of the event is highlighted in the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s special exhibition “Comeback Season: Sports After 9/11.”

In advance of the 2018 TCS New York City Marathon, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and the New York Road Runners co-presented a special public program on the healing power of sports in the weeks and months following the attacks.

Participating in an hourlong discussion and Q&A included TCS New York City Marathon Race Director Peter Ciaccia, U.S. marathon record-holder Deena Kastor and 2014 Boston Marathon winner Meb Keflezighi, and 9/11 Memorial & Museum EVP and Deputy Director of Museum Programs Clifford Chanin. The discussion was moderated by New York Road Runners Editorial Director Gordon Bakoulis.

The program participants discussed their 2001 NYC Marathon experiences. In the clip below, Deena Kastor shares her impression of “Comeback Season” and what sporting events like the NYC Marathon meant to the country and the world after the attacks:

“The Comeback Season exhibit is such a beautiful reminder of how much we needed sporting events at the time, but the Museum as a whole lets us be reminded on a daily basis that when we’re faced with fear and grief and illness and diagnosis and whatever else invades our lives and our emotions, that resiliency is in our DNA, in everybody’s DNA. Whether you run with it, whether you go to work with it, whether you live your family life with it, resiliency is a part of all of us and the more we flex it, the stronger and more triumphant we can become.”

Learn more about public programming at the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

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