Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills says he has spent his entire life battling perceptions.

Mills, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, won the gold medal at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. He said he was never expected to win the 10,000-meter race and almost quit halfway.

"My thoughts were changing from 'one more try' to 'I can win, I can win, I can win'," he told The Gallup Independent. He won the race, becoming the only American to have ever done so.

Mills was on the Navajo Nation on Tuesday to participate in a one-mile fun walk and health fair to raise awareness of diabetes.

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'One of our own ... the best in the world' (The Gallup Independent 4/28)