London Olympics....sending my hugs!

I think I would be a poor blogger if I didn’t write about the current Olympic games being held in London.

I admit, like many of my dear friends, the washing, ironing and general work has been put on hold whilst I catch up each morning and evening with the progress of Australia and no doubt as is the rest of the world and theirs. The achievements, disappointments and general euphoria of the games are relayed to us beautifully via our Australian journalists currently experiencing the excitement in London and clearly loving each minute of it.

Our wonderful Australian swimmers (and I have a penchant for our swimming prowess) are achieving well and we are so proud of them all (75% of the team, I might add, come from my home state of Queensland and naturally I must boast about this, especially having been a very decent swimmer in my youth. There must be something in the water here, pardon the pun). I was, however, nearly brought to tears yesterday when one of our wonderful female swimmers was clearly devastated she had not procured a gold medal but a silver. It was not the clear disappointment expressed in tears that I wanted to jump through the TV screen and hug her for but the words she spoke basically saying that she hoped that because she procured the silver medal and not the gold, she hoped her parents would still love her. It felt like my heart had stopped for a few seconds after hearing these words and oh how my empathy flowed to her. The questions going through my head was firstly do we have a family here who requires Olympic gold medals for satisfaction?

This became our family discussion and indeed the discussion of a plethora of Australian media for the next 24 hours but none of us could believe we had heard these words. Our fabulous Ray Warren, our legendary Australian swimming and general sports commentator clearly felt for her too the same way I did. After hearing the same words I did he sent a message to her via the TV airwaves assuring her she is much loved.  Me and mine came to the decision that this gorgeous young lady had clearly conjured a few slightly crazy thoughts in her mind over a period of time which she released by verbalising these words simply expressing her own personal disappointment and the need to confirm her need for unconditional love from those she loves and who clearly love her. Totally understandable.

This also lead to a discussion amongst ourselves in front of our television that evening, about how none of us could ever imagine the mental pressure these amazing athletes must have to endure and overcome to be able to prepare themselves and focus entirely on themselves and their events allowing them to achieve their very best, leaving no stone unturned.

Our amazing Susie O’Neill, a past Australian Olympic gold medallist was interviewed just previous to the commencement of the games. Susie stated that to be able to succeed as an elite athlete that you must become totally selfish in your journey to be coming an Olympian. Susie also stated that, since becoming a mum, she found it hard to look back and to remember just how incredibly selfish a person she was during  those years but that it had to be or you would not be able to give 110% to your sport.

I often wonder what that must feel like to be totally engrossed in your life whether it is an elite athlete and quite frankly I envy their selfishness. Clearly complete selfishness works and as we sit and watch these amazing human beings achieve greatness. We forget about what they have sacrificed and also very importantly what their families too have had to sacrifice to be able to support these young people in totality when one of them is being preened to becoming an elite athlete with an Olympic goal. My imagination cannot take me down that road but how I admire them all for it.

Mental agility, through life, is a huge asset to behold. It determines how we manage to cope or not with life’s curve balls and being able to cast aside mentally, things that really do not have any real weight in the grand scheme of things is a talent clearly to behold. One of mine told me that she very recently had had a discussion with some friends who are students of psychology; these students had been in a tutorial discussing just this subject, the Olympics and the mental preparation of athletes. The conclusion was that mental strength held 80% weight of an elite athlete’s preparation and physiology was just 20%.

So as I sit in awe of these amazing humans, whilst watching the day’s achievements and disappointments, I can do nothing but admire each and every one of them. Their disappointments and their triumphs must be experienced because that is what life consists of and I have no doubt that after such extreme mental agility as an elite athlete, their coping mechanisms with their future lives would be better than most of us.

To each and every one of them I wish them well and no matter what, ladies and gents, we, your admirers do truly love your work and I will continue to enjoy your fabulous achievements.