Olympics is over but good memories will last and inspire!
Gerard Suren Saverimuthu
Regional Technical Leader based in Singapore | Helping clients to infuse Hybrid Cloud and AI for digital transformation | Cyclist and Photographer
The Olympics just concluded! It brought a sense of togetherness, inspiration and motivation that no other sporting event can.?I asked a question to myself: “what are the good examples from the Tokyo Olympics that I can take forward with me to help my career and life?”
There were 339 events in 33 sports contested by more than 11,000 athletes at the Games!?I only watched a hand full of the Olympics action. Here are three of my top moments of Tokyo 2020.
1. Nicola’s Notebook
Australian high jumper Nicola McDermott has won the silver medal and shattered the Australian national record in the process. After every jump she sat down and journaled in a notebook.?While it might be unusual practice, there's a very?seems to be good reason for it.
In a post-competition interview, McDermott explained that?she used her notebook to rate herself out of 10 after every jump.?"I was giving myself a rating out of 10 for every single component of the jump. By the last time, that was my highest, I gave myself 10 out of 10 but I still had work to do," she said. "But I just kept going and going because I knew I had things to work on."
Journaling done right is a practice that helps to meet our life goals, improves quality of life, learn better. In particular, journaling allows your creativity to flourish and expand can be cathartic and make a big difference in your daily well-being and appreciate life to the full.
2. Sifan’s rise from the ‘fall’
Sifan Hassan is an Ethiopian-born Dutch middle- and long-distance runner.?Her journey from being a refugee to one of the greatest athletes of this or any other era was confirmed in Tokyo as she became the first person to win three medals over 1500m, 5,000m and 10,000m.
She was powering through the last lap of the women's 1,500-meter heat when a nightmare situation came true: a runner ahead of her tripped, prompting a domino effect.?She fell down! But she refused to get disappointed but got back on track to beat every runner and completed the qualifier round in #1 position.
What make’s Hassan’s story even more remarkable is that she was born in Ethiopia but moved to the Netherlands aged 15 as a refugee in 2008, where she moved into a shelter for asylum seekers.
When she moved into a house with other asylum seekers she told her supervisor she would like to run, but only had an old pair of trainers. However, her club provided her with spikes. “I think all of us, nobody has a perfect life,” she said. “I tell people: ‘When life is hard, you will see yourself like you never imagined before. Never give up.’”
At some point, all achievers?face road blocks or fall down. In the face of adversity, shortcomings, and rejection, some persevere and refuse to lose hope.?They rise and and run the ‘race’ / goal set before them!
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When dealing with failure, achievers have short memories. They quickly forget the negative emotions of setbacks and press forward resiliently. Keep focusing in your dreams and goals no matter what the circumstance is.
3. Hidilyn’s hard work and determination
Hidilyn Diaz of Philippines made history for earning her country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in any sport after winning the women’s 55-kg weightlifting event.
The daughter of a tricycle driver in a poor village near Zamboanga, Diaz has not seen her family since December 2019. She went to train in Malaysia around February 2020 because her coach thought it would give her focus on qualifying for Tokyo.
But within weeks came COVID-19 restrictions, leaving Diaz to battle gym closures, a lack of access to weightlifting equipment and the grinding uncertainty of whether the Games would be held at all. Finances were running out in a foreign country.
Diaz didn’t give up. She?creatively carved out time to raise money through online training sessions. Not only that, she also worked hard to distribute food packages to poor families back home who were suffering during coronavirus lockdowns. All her hardship was rewarded with a Gold medal.
In an interview Diaz told “I hope to continue inspiring Filipinos, showing them that with hard work and dedication they too can achieve their dreams”.?
Diaz has inspired every human being to dream big! “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them”
"Faster, Higher, Stronger - Together."
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