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What does it take to be an Olympian?

West Australia’s own Eamon Sullivan tweeted the other day: “Moving into the Olympic Village, this is when it all begins to get very real. Starting to get very excited.”

The London Olympics are upon us and that excitement is about to burst on to a billion TV screens around the world as we all tune into what these amazing young people are about to strive to achieve. 18,000 athletes from all corners of the globe are going to run, jump, swim, shoot, ride, box, jink and leap into our sitting rooms whilst we sit and marvel at their exploits. Millions of words will be written and tens of thousands of images will be streamed each day telling the stories of those who take part in the Olympic games.

But what is it about the Olympics that stirs the imagination of people from all nations around the globe? Is it the Usain Bolts of this world: those amazing people who are gifted with fantastic physiques who can run faster than the wind? Is it those who capture the essence of a nation’s hopes, such as Cathy Freeman at the Sydney Olympics, when 20 million Aussies ran every step of the 400 metres with her, and gloried at her great achievement?

Or is it the Olympic ideal of faster, longer, higher: goals that we more ordinary people can identify with? Perhaps that’s why we barrack for the under-dogs, people such as “Eddy the Eagle” – the ill fated, be-spectacled ski jumper from the UK who so gloriously failed and yet won the hearts of everyone watching. Or “Eric the Eel” – the African swimmer who nearly drowned completing the 100 metre freestyle in a time most of us would feel comfortable with, but who epitomised the ideal of giving your all despite the lack of natural skill or appropriate training facilities? These men may have been small “O” Olympians, but they left their mark in the history of the Games.

Of the 18,000 athletes at this London Games, most of us will never hear of how they did or where they came in their particular field of skill. The media will no doubt highlight those destined to become the “Stars” of the Games: the Phelps, the Bolts and the Pearsons: people not only blessed with outstanding natural abilities, but with incredible determination, hard work and focus too. But below that stellar level is a massive group of young people who will have trained just as hard - perhaps even harder to make up for a talent gap - who will also be able to call themselves Olympians, and they deserve our attention and adulation as well.

When the athletes parade out onto the track at the opening ceremony, we’ll see a vast group of young, super fit people in the full blush of peak condition. What we will not see is the “road” that brought them to this point. Some years back I went to a breakfast talk by a WA gymnast and former Olympian. She recounted her stories of training, injuries and failures along the way to Olympic success, but her answer to a question from the audience has stuck in my mind. She was asked about her training routine that started at 5am five days a week, getting in two hours before school and another three hours after school. The question, from a school student, was simple: “How do you manage to get out of bed each morning in the middle of winter when it’s dark and cold, to go to the gym to train at THAT hour?”

The answer was deceptively simple. She said: “When the alarm goes off, I just turn over! Then I turn over again, and then I turn over again, by which time I’ve usually fallen on the floor so I may as well get up because I’m wide awake by then!” She had broken down a big obstacle into tiny pieces which then became very ‘do-able’. Instead of facing a few big obstacles on a daily basis, she just had a lot more very small ones that were less of a challenge and ones that she was able to easily complete.

This is a great lesson for all of us when faced with all the daily difficulties that each of us come up against - Olympians and non-Olympians alike! All of us face the challenge on a daily basis of making time for exercise, so why not think “I’ll just do 5 minutes today” and then when you’re out there you might carry on and do 10 or 20 or even 30 minutes more. Or we might think “I’ve got to lose 10kgs otherwise I might get diabetes like my Dad/Mum/Brother/Sister,” but what you could say is that you’ll eat one mouthful less at each meal and aim to lose 2kgs this month, and then repeat that process next month and the following month.

Now that the Games are here, let’s celebrate what these young people have achieved, and may it give us all the inspiration to review what is ‘my personal best’ in 2012, and aim to improve on it for the next Games in 2016.
 

Article written by Dr. Duncan Jefferson. For more articles by Dr. Duncan, click here. For more information on healthcare and private health cover, visit HBF Insurance at www.hbf.com.au.

The content of these articles is not tailored for any particular individual's circumstances. The author does not take into account your physical condition, medical history or any medication you may be taking. Any advice or information provided by the author cannot replace the advice of your health care professional. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent those of HBF unless clearly indicated.