WARNING: This post is going to be a bit long and rather somber, so skip it if you want to keep this thread light reading.
In the early 90's I shared an apartment for about a year with a guy whose sister was in the 1992 Olympics as a middle distance runner. She placed okay but wasn't good enough to make the finals or to be nationally famous. She kept training hard and was absolutely dedicated to being the best in the world. She competed again in the 1996 Olympics and made the finals this time but didn't medal. She rededicated herself to being the fastest female runner in the world.
She continued to improve and became the American hopeful to win gold in the 2000 Olympics. She achieved a bit of fame and even starred in a well known Nike commercial where she is chased by a crazy guy with a chain saw in the woods but she easily gets away when she speeds off in her Nike shoes and he poops out.
Then, in 1999, while actively training for the 2000 games, her brother (the guy I had known a few years earlier) committed suicide during a manic state of mental illness. She dedicated her Olympic hopes of gold to his memory and refused to consider the possibility that she wouldn't win and be the fastest female runner in the world. Failure was not an option.
This caused her to push herself beyond her body's ability to perform and made her vulnerable to injury and illness. But she did qualify for the finals and seemed like a good bet to actually win. Except that she had over trained so much that during the actual race her body gave out and she lost her lead in the final lap. With nothing left in reserve, she watched as her competitors passed her by one by one and she realized that she wouldn't even make it to the podium, much less win gold. Horrified that she had failed, she took a dive on the track and feigned injury, not even finishing the race.
She has described these events in a book she later wrote about mental illness and how to help those who suffer from it, so I'm not merely speculating on any of this. She said that she had made being the world's fastest female distance runner such an absolute imperative that for her to fail meant that she would be disrespecting the memory of her brother. It just wasn't an option to come in 2nd and get a silver medal.
If there is a lesson to be learned from this, I would say that it might be wiser to have the attitude that you should set your goals high, yet reasonably attainable, and try your best to succeed. Then, be satisfied with the outcome, even if you don't achieve all of your goals. It seems to me, that had this particular Olympian had that attitude, she would probably have won a medal, perhaps silver, or perhaps even won gold, and achieved her goal of becoming the fastest in the world. Instead, she ruled out every option except absolute success, and ended up with worse than nothing.
If you want to know more about her (or read her book or see her commercial on YouTube) this is who she is: Suzy Favor Hamilton - Wikipedia
In the early 90's I shared an apartment for about a year with a guy whose sister was in the 1992 Olympics as a middle distance runner. She placed okay but wasn't good enough to make the finals or to be nationally famous. She kept training hard and was absolutely dedicated to being the best in the world. She competed again in the 1996 Olympics and made the finals this time but didn't medal. She rededicated herself to being the fastest female runner in the world.
She continued to improve and became the American hopeful to win gold in the 2000 Olympics. She achieved a bit of fame and even starred in a well known Nike commercial where she is chased by a crazy guy with a chain saw in the woods but she easily gets away when she speeds off in her Nike shoes and he poops out.
Then, in 1999, while actively training for the 2000 games, her brother (the guy I had known a few years earlier) committed suicide during a manic state of mental illness. She dedicated her Olympic hopes of gold to his memory and refused to consider the possibility that she wouldn't win and be the fastest female runner in the world. Failure was not an option.
This caused her to push herself beyond her body's ability to perform and made her vulnerable to injury and illness. But she did qualify for the finals and seemed like a good bet to actually win. Except that she had over trained so much that during the actual race her body gave out and she lost her lead in the final lap. With nothing left in reserve, she watched as her competitors passed her by one by one and she realized that she wouldn't even make it to the podium, much less win gold. Horrified that she had failed, she took a dive on the track and feigned injury, not even finishing the race.
She has described these events in a book she later wrote about mental illness and how to help those who suffer from it, so I'm not merely speculating on any of this. She said that she had made being the world's fastest female distance runner such an absolute imperative that for her to fail meant that she would be disrespecting the memory of her brother. It just wasn't an option to come in 2nd and get a silver medal.
If there is a lesson to be learned from this, I would say that it might be wiser to have the attitude that you should set your goals high, yet reasonably attainable, and try your best to succeed. Then, be satisfied with the outcome, even if you don't achieve all of your goals. It seems to me, that had this particular Olympian had that attitude, she would probably have won a medal, perhaps silver, or perhaps even won gold, and achieved her goal of becoming the fastest in the world. Instead, she ruled out every option except absolute success, and ended up with worse than nothing.
If you want to know more about her (or read her book or see her commercial on YouTube) this is who she is: Suzy Favor Hamilton - Wikipedia
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