The feather of an eagle Alwyn Morris, the Mohawk from Quebec who held up an eagle feather to honor his aboriginal heritage after winning gold in kayaking in Los Angeles in 1984.
Symbols are often more profound than words.
For Olympian Alwyn Morris the eagle feather stood for the lessons he learned from his grandfather - perseverance and dedication. Morris was born in 1957, not far from Montreal, in the Mohawk community of Kahnawake. He moved in with his grandparents after his grandfather became ill. His grandfather recovered, but Morris stayed to help out around the house. Morris' grandfather had been a prominent athlete in lacrosse and hockey.