Eye on the Prize
Originally posted to: chenmark.com/weekly-thoughts
When playing youth sports, we recall being told not to celebrate a goal until it actually went into the net.? It sounds silly, but we will admit to having, on more than one occasion,?mentally scored a goal, only to find the shot blocked and then scrambling to play defense.?
We’ve had a lot of fun?watching the Paris Olympics.? In our third (and final) installment of Weekly Thoughts – Olympic Edition, it seems not celebrating too early is a lesson for both youth and elite athletes alike.? Take, for instance, the case of Spanish race-walker Laura García-Caro.? Earlier this year, when competing in the 20km racewalking Olympic qualifier race at the European Athletics Champions, García-Caro made a massive mistake.??British site Unilad?explains:?
“After 20 kilometers, García-Caro closed in on the finish line in third place behind Italian athletes, Antonella Palmisano and Valentina Traplett, who finished first and second respectively. Seeing a bronze medal almost within reach, footage showed García-Caro grinning and throwing one fist into the air, consequently causing her to break the consistent movements that had been powering her through the race. She stepped closer and closer to the finish line, but seemingly didn’t realize that Ukrainian competitor Lyudmila Olyanovsk was hot on her heels. As García-Caro began to celebrate, Olyanovsk powered forwards and overtook her to snag third place, causing the Spanish athlete’s face to drop in horror.”
As one social media commentator noted,?“Imagine speed walking for hours and then losing at the end because you wanted to celebrate.”? That’s tough (and?the videos are worth watching).?
It feels odd to admit that we use lessons learned from youth sports when running Chenmark, but we do often think of the importance of not celebrating wins too early.? One of our core values is to?Play the Long Game, which means despite some short-term successes, we shouldn’t get too ahead of ourselves before crossing the proverbial finish line.? When things are going well we must remind ourselves to keep our eyes on the prize.? There is always somebody right behind us willing to grind away our edge if we spend too much time congratulating ourselves.
Have a great week,
Your Chenmark Team