Four years! That’s how long we will have to wait to once again see the greatest sporting event on the planet. There is absolutely nothing like the Olympic spirit and there is no better way to galvanize a nation than with a bit of Olympic success. Unfortunately there is also no better way to divide a nation than to fall short by a few hundredths of a second. I really felt for the athletes that had built themselves up only to fall agonisingly short of their four-year goal. Sadly I feel that modern day Olympians (medal hopefuls) are pressured into ‘branding’ themselves in preparation for the potential benefits of being gold medalists. The only problem is, if you don’t win gold, your brand isn’t as marketable. Due to this, I suspect, there may have been a few carriages before horses in London.

Having said that, how can one go into the Olympics with the mindset of being a certainty for a medal? Nothing in life is guaranteed and that cliché never holds truer than at the Olympic Games. Throughout my career, I have always been taught to worry about what I can control: the process of training, the effort of training, and the responsibility of doing everything right outside of training so that once again I am able to repeat the process. Not matter what the task, all one can do is try their hardest, in pursuit of the best possible outcome. Ideally, in competition, that means running/swimming/lifting a personal best, but of course, all of this is easier said than done.

Think of the variables that the athletes encounter: different country, food, housing, bed - the list goes on forever. Of course all of the athletes and their support teams will do their best to mitigate any potential issues but that doesn’t change the fact that a funny thing happens when we are out of our comfort zones; we get nervous. Occasionally, such ‘nerves’ can propel us to new world records and at times they can leave us reeling, struggling to understand what went wrong. The reality is, every athlete deals differently with nervous energy; some thrive on it while others are held back by it.

There are times in an athlete’s journey when you only get one shot, one opportunity to perform your skill under pressure and if you fail, your career may too. That is the reality of life. Everyday, people front up to interviews, some perform well and will be rewarded with a job, while others, no matter how well they prepare, are unable to put there anxieties aside and relate well. Now, that isn’t necessarily because they aren’t smart, qualified or able, rather, they haven’t been able to perform at the moment when most critical. Why is this the case? One word - practice.

No matter what the situation, there is absolutely no substitute for repetition. In sport this is often referred to as experience and in the elite sporting environment, the ‘Big E’.  Experience is what makes guys like Jude Bolton, Ryan O’Keefe, Jarrad McVeigh, Rhyce Shaw, LRT, Marty Mattner, Ted Richards and Adam Goodes so valuable. It’s their familiarity with situations that they have encounter on previous occasions that allow them to make better decisions than a 40 gamer like myself. 

Lets hope that all of the Olympians, especially the Canadian and Australians remember their short falls and successes for their next ‘one shot’ in Rio.

Yours truly,

Mike Pyke

Note: this blog is a week late as I’ve been pre-occupied with school and footy, apologies for the out of date references.

Have you got anything relevant in the football or news world you would like me to discuss? Send your queries to media@sydneyswans.com.au, and include your name and hometown and I’ll try and discuss them in my next blog.