LogFAQs > #956515270

It's funny, yesterday NBC showed an interview with Biles where she was saying how at 24 she's "old", doesn't recover as quickly and thinks more about the consequences and injury potential of what she's doing.

I don't think that's a great mindset to have for someone at the top of their sport, even though I understand and agree with everything she said. You've got to be single minded and a bit ruthless at the pinnacle because the margins are so razor thin.

NBC did a piece on the U.S. Men's backstroke swimmer (sorry, don't remember his name). He got this letter from some of the older gold medal backstrokers, who were telling him that while medals are great it's about enjoying the experience, friendships you make, etc. Naturally right after that he went out and "only" got the bronze, breaking the U.S. streak of winning every gold since 1992 in that event.

I thought after that piece, "with a mindset of not getting gold is okay, he's not going to win". And so verily it did come to pass. The acceptance of failure (relatively speaking...) as an option is the death knell of an athlete.

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