It’s a safe bet that most Olympic athletes have been dreaming of wearing a medal and standing on those winners’ boxes in the Games.

But not Lesley Bush. This gold medal winner was entirely surprised when it happened.

“Nobody expected me to win. Not me, not my coach, nobody,” she recalled on a warm spring day at Calusa Harbour in Fort Myers, where she lives.

That was in 1964, although the memory – and the lessons learned – are still fresh. She was 16 then and is 77 today.

Bush began diving at age 12 and was soon accomplished at the sport. But the 10-meter platform was relatively new at the time and her coach urged her to give it a try.

She ended up defeating the reigning champion, a woman from East Germany.

“It’s like somebody just plucks you like and says, ‘Wouldn't you like to do that?’” she said. She points to a photo of herself with the gold medal around her neck. “And you can see in the face of this young girl. Like, wait a minute. I didn’t plan all of this. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

And then in 1968, it didn’t.

As successful as she was in 1964, she was equally unsuccessful in the 1968 Games, doing
“miserably,” she said.

“But that’s how life is,” she said. “It’s up and down and up and down and you think everything is great, and there you go.”

There’s another life lesson she hasn’t forgotten.

She looked around and saw all the athletes getting along and wondered why there couldn’t be world peace. “I haven’t lost that,” she said. “I haven’t seen it, but I haven’t lost it.”

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