What We Can Learn From Olympians

As the 2008 Summer Games draw to a close, I am reminded why good sports stories are always so compelling.

When I started watching football with my then-boyfriend, now-husband, he knew how to hook me. “That guy broke his back two years ago and they said he’d never walk again,” he’d tell me pointing to the beefy linebacker running onto the field on TV. “That guy was in the Canadian league and they took him as a third string quarterback,” he’d say about the now-champion NFL player. He showed me that it wasn’t just about scores and stats. It was about human beings challenging themselves physically, mentally and even spiritually, as is the case with all athletes who take to the field, court, pool, track, etc. and reach for an elite level.

So in the last two weeks, the come-from-behind, overcoming-the-odds, feeling-the-pain-and-doing-it-anyway stories have been filling the airwaves and I’ve been noticing that the population of bikers and runners on the streets in my neighborhood has gone up. But I’ve also been thinking, as I know a lot of people are, about how I challenge myself- Am I in the best condition I can be in? Do I try my very hardest to reach my goals? Do I believe in my ability to make it happen against all odds, to win my own version of the gold?

Of course, we are also seeing a lot of stories of those who came up short in competition in Beijing, but still there they are. They have reached athlete’s mecca, they have made the journey, and even if they didn’t reach the podium, they fought with everything they had. They inspire us with their sacrifice, with not giving up even when gold is clearly out of reach.

David Neville, for instance, lunged at the finish line in the men’s 400m finals and with that split-second act, he beat the fourth place finisher by a split-second to take home bronze. Is bronze better than fourth place? You bet it is. And even better, he knows that he left nothing on the track. He has the bruised and skinned knees to prove it and, in the years to come, long after the wounds have healed, he’ll have the medal to prove it, too.

When was the last time you lunged to reach your goal? Why not try it now and see what happens?

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Tagged as: miscellaneous career advice