The Real Lesson Of The Olympics

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall rise up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 President John F. Kennedy’s favorite Bible passage

There are many lessons learned from these Winter Olympics. The participants inspire with their skill level, their dedication and hard work, and commitment to excellence. Years ago, it was the Olympics that inspired me to get back to running. I contacted a teacher who taught Middle School at EA who guided me through those early days of being out of breath after about 50 yards. I went on to run in races.         

But there is much more to learn during these Winter Olympics. We find ourselves cheering them on in celebration of their reaching their goals. Who wouldn’t have been affected by Linsey Vonn’s attempt to win a goal in her comeback only to be denied by her bone breaking fall on her first attempt? During these difficult times, it felt great to celebrate Ms. Vonn and her fellow athletes. She was a model of perseverance and grit.

All the athletes embodied the words that are contain in an 1855 poem by Robert Browning that “a man or (woman’s) reach should exceed their grasp or what’s a heaven for?” That poem is the heart and soul of all the athletes.  

How did the athletes train for four years to spend four minutes or more in the actual competition? They taught us how to win which is the goal of every event. But what about when they lose because they feel that have been judged unfairly or when they fail particularly when victory seems to be snatched from them.

Many sports psychologists have weighed in on the issue of grit and resilience and what sets the Olympic athletes apart.

There is a key theme when runs throughout the literature regarding what causes grit. I thought first of the important words of Teddy Roosevelt in an address in Paris on April 23, 1910.

The Man in the Arena 

The character traits that Olympians have is a sense of purpose that goes beyond their focus on years of preparation to win. They can see their goal while they can see beyond their goal whether they fail or succeed. As it turns out that the adage has verity in its expression that the process is just as important as whether they win or lose even with their goal firmly fixed and their awareness of what it takes to win.

It wasn’t the Olympics, but it was the National Squash Tournament of Israel that Tal Ben-Shahar had directed his whole life to becoming the Israel Champion in that sport, but he learned something that was life changing. He won the title and the victory was hollow. Is that all there is? He was goal centered but didn’t think beyond that moment of accomplishment. It led him to Harvard University where he majored in psychology.

He became a proponent of positive psychology where he learned the watchwords lived by the Olympians. “Learn to fail or fail to learn.” He became a professor at Harvard where he taught positive psychology to 900 students, the largest class in history of Harvard University. Students were flocking to his class because of a curious need that they had which mirrored so much distress in first year students at the school. So many of the Harvard first year students had spent all the focus and effort getting admitted to the school that they never thought about what they were there to do to prepare them for life and a vocation. They needed a sense of purpose beyond just gaining admission to the school. Like Tal Ben Shahar it was a hollow victory, but thanks to that course in positive psychology he and they gained traction to value their purpose on the journey as well as the destination.

For me the high point of the Olympics was when Maxim Naumov was interviewed. He did not win a medal. His parents were killed in a tragic airplane crash with other skaters on board when he was young. He was asked what was most important to him about the Olympics. His response was striking. He held a picture of his parents in his possession of him in the middle of them on either side when he was very young and he declared, “It was the journey!”

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I will continue to watch the Olympics and will rejoice with the wins and also know that those who don’t get on the podium have learned an equally important lesson found in the words of Rudyard Kipling who wrote in his 1895 poem, “If”. “If you can meet triumph and disaster/ and treat those two imposters just the same,” could be the watchwords for our Olympians and the rest of us.