Olympic sports commentators have always annoyed me with the “how do you feel?” question immediately after an athlete finishes an event. It’s such a shallow, inappropriate question at that moment in time. Regardless of whether you just won a gold medal or a grand final, the typical answer is both inadequate and self-obvious. You feel great. Amazing. Exhilarated. Overwhelmed. Whatever adjectives you offer at that moment all probably fall short of communicating the real emotion of winning.
But I find the most irksome question is when the sports commentator asks the winning athlete “did you ever dream you’d be here winning a gold medal?”, as though the athlete was somehow unexpectedly caught by surprise with their win. Such a question shows a complete lack of understanding of what it takes to reach the pinnacle of sporting success. The drive, the focus, the goal setting, the early morning training, the daily practise, the sheer dedication to achieve at the highest level of your chosen sport… Winning is not an accident. It is the results of thousands of hours of training and commitment and a single minded focus on being the absolute best you can be.
“Did you ever dream of winning a gold medal?”
Yeah dude, I did. Every day for the last 4 years.
Every. Single. Day.
Winning is not an Accident by Chris Betcher is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.