It’s that time again……
Every four years, we all go through this again.
It’s a feeling that creates a tightness in your chest, a sadness in your heart and a series of thoughts in your mind that literally just require you to sit down for awhile and find a quiet space and place to be pensive in order to think about how you will be able to go on with your day without having to cry.
Then there are those moment of immense joy and satisfaction where you realize that you are one of the few privileged people on the planet to hold, to have and to have earned the right to be called an Olympian. It is here that you find yourself in a space of thankfulness and gratitude. It is here where you find that tranquility and piece of mind in knowing that you got there NOT because you were the best but because you were THE BEST at an anointed and an appointed period of time. You got there because of all the help you received, all of the sacrifices that were made and because you were healthy. And that makes you feel blessed and it humbles you at the same time. Because you know that a slight pull, minor tear, hairline fracture or an unfortunate sprain at the most crucial of times could have changed your life DRASTICALLY.
After leaving the Olympics in 2004 I felt accomplished and very sad at the same time. Now looking back on it I can see how I may have been depressed. I sacrificed so much of myself and my person to accomplish a goal and I hoped and dreamed of being an Olympic medalist and I watched a match where I could have most certainly been on my way to the medal rounds, slip through my fingers like the sands of time. After the Olympic Games many Olympic Athletes are left wondering, “So what do I do now?” Because the world is so conditioned to dismiss you if you said that you trained for the Olympics and did not make it and if you did make the Olympics to immediately ask, “Did you win a Gold Medal” as if those things are hanging at the end of branches like fruit. Then when you say “No, I did not” they reply with, “Well, that’s still amazing that you trained for the Olympics.” They say that as if their words are some sort of consolation to the fact that most professional athlete’s last competition ends with a loss. A loss that is like an open wound that never heals.
This is why I contacted 2 Time Olympian, Taraje Williams-Murray, a few years ago to pen the book “The Olympian’s Success Paradox” so that we could explain what it is like for many Olympians and Olympic Hopefuls every few years.
So while you are watching the Olympics this year, make sure you also get an in depth understanding of the Olympics.
Dedicated To Your Improvement,
Dr. Rhadi Ferguson
The Coach’s Coach
2004 Olympian
www.DrRhadiFerguson.com