Joel Jager stated things quite eloquently in his personal blog a few weeks ago.

Jager, a deeply religious man, called it “divine irony” that his son, Evan, has become a world-class runner and will run in the Olympic Games on Friday and likely Sunday in London. Evan Jager did not come from a running family; he just found his love for the sport by himself.

His father, in fact, was never able to run. Joel Jager contracted polio when he was 10 months old and his left leg, after several operations, is significantly paralyzed. It is just another wonderful sidebar to the story of the 23-year-old Algonquin native’s ascension to becoming an Olympic athlete.