What Would Happen If Louie Zamperini Never Was An Olympic Athlete

What would’ve happened if Louie Zamperini never was an Olympic athlete? How would that affect his experience as a POW? Louie had an immense amount of aid with being a POW due to his prior Olympic participation. He was already in good shape, both mentally and physically from his Olympic training. He trained for hours every day. He had to push himself everyday to go to the Olympics and break records. When Louie had to push himself very hard he was able to. Louie had to push his body further than he believed was possible. If he never trained or participated in the Olympics, he would’ve been physically and mentally unable to survive as a POW, and keep hope that he would survive. Louie always thought he would survive because “If you can take it

During the build up to the Olympics, Louie had to train hard everyday. When he raced in the Olympics he had to push himself unimaginably hard. Louie had to work hard just to stay level with his competition In the POW camps, Louie was forced to do manual labor everyday. As Louie was starved and beaten, everyday was a struggle. He had to deal with broken bones, infection, and hunger, all extremely taxing on his body. He almost certainly would not have survived if not for his amazing physique before his imprisonment. Over 10,000 POWs died during WWII from starvation, disease, and mistreatment. He was able to survive because he was used to working his body very hard, and suffering through very difficult times. All of these physical attributes he gained from the Olympics helped him survive being a

When most POWs lost hope he managed to keep going while he was starved, beaten, and stuck in horrible conditions. The one experience that kept hope with Louie was the Olympics. He obviously had an amazing time. When Laura was talking about Louie’s Olympic participation she recounted how he was celebrated in Torrance, and how he ate his largest meal going to Berlin. She didn’t have to include these parts, however they are used to highlight how amazing it was. The contrast with that and his POW experience is truly immense; from Olympic star to starving, beaten and bruised. He had to suffer through random and cruel punishment for merely existing. During this time the Olympics served as a kind of ‘happy place’ to Louie. Numerous times in Unbroken it describes him “clinging to the Olympics.” If Louie hadn’t gone through the Olympics he would have no support beam to hang onto during his horrible time as a