Winners never quit, quitters never win?
Whoa there, Mr. Feisty. You want a messy debate? You got one.
I know your main rant was to point out the insignificance of an athlete's allegiances, whether it be country, city or school, to their successes. I don't agree that the environment you live in can't have a direct, if not major, impact on an athlete's success. Where do you think the motivation comes from? That can affect a person's morale which translates into how hard you train. If you lived in a country that doesn't respect your sport or discipline, or if you didn't have a team around you who shared the same passion for it, you think you would still be as motivated to train?
But really, I needed to comment on this:
"The average person can work really really hard and get to an elite level - but those who win, those world champions are genetically pre-disposed to it; I think."
So how do you know if you're a born athlete? Or "born anything" for that matter? If you win that one race that comes around every 4 years, but you've never ever won a world championship, does that make you a born winner? Or will you argue that some athletes only train for the Olympics and don't care about the Worlds?
I think we need to define what winning really means. It doesn't always mean getting gold.
I'd extrapolate this to walking down the path of what we call life, but I'm late for work. :)
posted by hurc @ 6:37 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Yes, I do want people to post!
I agree, environment, development programs (local club funding, coaches) etc. are important in helping athletes achieve their best, let alone figure out that they're good in a sport. If a child never tries a particular sport, they'll never know if they're any good at it/or if they like it. And in this respect, I think Canada has a "D". Seriously, aside from hockey, what are Canadians inspired to "play"? For example, most people I know trash x-country skiing, McGill does not have varsity speed skating teams (let alone triathlon), figure skating is an extremely expensive sport for a child - if they somehow resist the pressure to play hockey. Its like a guy I met at McGill from Kenya - he aspires to be a world class swimmer but no matter who meets him, when they see his athletic build, they ask him if he's a runner. Canadians are expected to be good at hockey. What else? Look at the patheticness of our swim team at Athens.
I'm not challenging that athletes who win their world title or olympics are different - that's just a matter of priorities-which competition is more important. There's a lot to "peaking" for a race: When you're operating at 99% efficiency, getting that extra 1% means that everything is built up to that one event from months or even years before. Case in point: Lance Armstrong. He was so incredibly focused on winning the TourdeFrance that every year, he would barely race any others. When his competitors were training in warm, sunny places, he would be climbing the Alps in France, learning every detail of the TdF for that coming year. He would race before the Tour without putting in his 100% effort, lose, only so that he would have every extra energy needed to win in Paris.
What I'm saying is that the people who break world records, who can run 100m under 10seconds etc. are genetic freaks. Do you believe that with my bookworm parents' genes I could ever become 6'2" basketball player? Check out the Indian caste system - "warrior" class. You don' think people were born natural leaders &/ soldiers? If there's one thing I've learned in tri its that looks are deceiving. I've met fat guys who can run faster than me, skinny, bony girls who can bike faster than me, and a man with one arm who can swim faster than me.
Its not just about the guy who runs once a month, yet can still do a 18minute 5km. Its the people who can train day in, day out without getting injured or sick. Its the people who can push their anaerobic thresholds to extremely high levels, but don't barf and recover within seconds. They're the ones who race on Saturday, then on a Sunday and then go for an "easy" 10km run afterwards. They're the ones who can do a gymnastics routine on a broken ankle without painkillers.
Here's one of my favourite articles of the life & partying we're missing out by not being at the olympics.
i think sports as well as brains (or the propensity to leverage a physical and mental skill beyond a typical medium effort) is a combination of both natural born talent and environment you grew up with. Having said that, I think either natural born or environment can make up for the deficiency in the other (most NFL players agree the differenciating factor between them and other football player not yet making NFL teams is how hard they themselves work, practice, think, breath football on and off the field) - same thing with natural born talent, some people naturally have a tendency to pick up something faster/quicker than others, or are better at it. For example, Kobayashi(sp?) - the current World Nathans Hot Dog Championship Eater - he is born with a medical condition that his stomache is lower on his body than a normal person's. It gives him the natural advantage of being able to train his stomach to expand to more room than your average person's stomach. Now combine this with his competitiveness and his hardcore almost obsessive disciplined training and you get someone who makes 2nd place of any eating contest a joke.
In the end, a lot of things in life are about How Bad Do You Want It. I'm not great at hockey, my people's body isn't meant to play sports against big skaters on ice naturally. But a lot of people find me "intimidating" on the ice because when i'm out there all i can think of is the puck. a lot of "challenges" on the ice really comes down to who wants the puck more, believe it or not, i get the puck away from good players way more often than one would think (if only i can stick handle...). I think of my hockey buddy Susan who plays on the team with me on Sundays - she started out slower than me, but she plays literally 7 days a week, she's in her mid 40s. She has gotten exceedingly better in the past few months. what she lacks in natural talent she makes up a hella lot for with determination and lots of practice time.
In the end, I think there's something to be said about natural wiring. I think the natural ability/skill helps, but what's more ingrained is the natural push and drive these atheletes have - they WANT it more.
I read a quote about making changes in one's life (or perhaps it was about weight management...)
It said to identify how much you WANT something - wanting to lose weight, change your image, be better at XYZ... Most people understand that they "want" to lose weight. But the people who succeed at their goal doesn't just "want" it, isn't just "interested" in it - they are COMMITTED to making it happen, at the cost of time/money/energy of other activities in their lives. one can "encourage" someone to grow up liking a sport, but in the end whether the person has the drive/urge to stick through the toughness, the pain, the extra effort in training I believe that comes from within - I think that part is born...
not sure if i have a point just thought i'd add some of my comments
Maybe this is the debate between the chicken and the egg.
To use Armstrong as an example again, look at his career pre & post cancer. Yes, he did win a Stage at the TourdeFrance before succumbing to cancer, he also won the world championships (hence, the occasionally appearance of his earned rainbow striped sleeves) but he never had the mental drive to win a 3 week race. In his book, he's explicitly clear that cancer taught him the will to live - the power of the mind. But I also believe that without losing all that muscle mass (look at his pictures before & after), and physical changes that who knows what chemotherapy did, he would never have become successful as a stage cyclist. If there's one thing Armstrong has, its focus. No one is as determined as him. The last two years of the Tour have been a joke with him in it. No one's been close, except for Ivan Basso (with the help of Bjarn Riis) who is only experience/age challenged. I can't wait to see what Vinokourov will do on a new team - if he can get a team behind him, he's undeniable too.
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