What is this American myth, who created it, and how do we transcend it?

By now we are well familiar with the the Olympic back story of the world class amateur athlete who, against all odds (insert personal tragedy here: mother with cancer, poor upbringing, death of a single parent, former addiction to drugs and now has found God. etc.), has worked very hard and by themselves have made it to the Olympic stage to compete for "the Gold." We see this mini myth of loss or fall and redemption in between sporting events, with the warm, caring voice over, personal interviews with the athlete and those who knew her growing up (insert friend, surrogate parent, grotesquely teacher, etc.), at least one of which will cry or hold back tears, shots of the athlete training, stretching, talking to her coach, close ups of her intense face and look of brave determination, and final interview of the athlete's stating, "I know I can do it, and if I can't there's always the next Olympics."

For some reason the programmers of network coverage of the Olympics feel the need to add this context, this story, this myth of innocence almost lost by a hard and cruel and nearly meaningless universe where the good are held down by the cruel forces of bad luck and or mediocracy) is allowed to thrive, but by sheer strength of individualistic determination and hard work, I need, in a a blind faith in one's own abilities against all the odds stacked up against a person, it's possible to win the Gold, to find redemption and be delivered from evil.
What is this myth? It's one of America's myth, of a classless society, where anyone, despite their upbringing, if they work hard enough can succeed and win fame and glory. More than this, this myth also has blended into it subtle religious themes as well: hardships and cruelness happens to innocent people (we are thrown from the garden of good and evil, even though we didn't eat the fruit, Job maybe), man is more or less in an innocent state by by birth and original sin (or predestination, you choose the flavor of Christianity) we are tainted beings, not of a golden kind while on this earth, unless we keep our innocence and work hard at some goal. Only then, with luck, will we be delivered, and if we don't win the gold, we learn the good lesson that by believing in and having blind faith in something better beyond this fallen and sinful state (this base, ungodly material world) we will be delivered.

And, in the even that we do win the Gold and are champions, then we still remember where we came from, that we are still simple beings who remember their place and where they came from. In other words, this is a myth where the individual, through hard work and perseverance, can attain success and glory.