The Olympics is fantastic for so many reasons. For me, it is that fact that all athletes require years of preparation, there are opportunities for moments of sporting magic, and the event demands courage and dedication to be excellent on the world's biggest sporting stage.
Today was fantastic as the Games gave me a chance to reflect on Rudyard Kipling's poem "If" (see below for the poem). On Day two and Day three of the Beijing Olympics a WAIS review will show three of our gymnasts performing in the team and individual qualification and a swimmer in the Men's 4x100m freestyle relay final. For two of our gymnasts, their individual dreams of personal best performances at an Olympic Games will be unmet, while for the swimmer a lead off leg in world record time was part of a medal winning team and may prove a catalyst for great individual performances later in the meet.
As a member of a multidisciplinary team in the Athlete and Coach Services (ACS), I will ponder these contrasting fortunes. With other members of the support staff we will develop questions and hold conversations with the athletes and coaches when they return from Beijing. These debriefs will provide information for learning and assist the ACS staff as we participate in the preparation of athletes into the future.
But today, I am confident that we have prepared these three athletes, who have experienced contrasting fortunes, with the ability to face their circumstances and return to the competition environment ready to do their best. These three athletes share a devotion to their sport that has seen them develop outstanding skills in coping with all the highs and lows of elite sport. Each individual has the personality and manner to manage both of Kipling's imposters. And it because of this example that they serve as role models and people to be proud of.
Rudyard Kipling - "If"
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!
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