Olympics 2018 – Gravity, Grit and Gratitude

Olympics

It’s the 2018 Winter Olympics from Pyeongchang.  A time to celebrate the human spirit.

And I have the flu.  So this week, the newsletter is going to have to be a Future-Casting team effort!  I had lots of opportunity to watch hours of athletes push themselves.  Each of the categories below has an Olympic moment.

I seeded the list with moments that roused me. Which are yours? Which sports and athletes inspire you? Is the GenZ in your family motivated by a different sport?  Which moments and EQ skills would you add? Please add your comments below – I am looking forward to a vibrant discussion in this community.

Gravity, Grit & Gratitude

Beauty in motion.  The first quad salchow landed by pairs figure skaters Meaghan Duhamel and Eric Radford.

Waiting to Exhale. Chloe Kim just hanging in the air.

Focus.

Celebration and Elation.

Injury. American luger Emily Sweeney who crashed at 68 mph in the middle of her final run.

Disappointments.

Powering through. Watch 21-year-old Norwegian Klaebo effortlessly kick into high gear and just fly up a hill halfway through a challenging cross-country race – and then pickup his skis and walk off the track while the rest of the competition was splayed exhausted at the finish line.

Resilience.

Besting your own best.  Canadian Alex Gough and Austrian David Gleirscher were among athletes who focused on their personal bests, and who made the podium when their sports icons’ runs were not as successful.

Lessons in Photo finishes. When a lifetime of training comes down to a stretch of the leg, and two hundredths of a second. .002 seconds. Took longer to type.  Where the decision between silver and bronze, bronze and no medal can come down to the photo-finishes. Bloemen finished second in 6:11.616 in the 5,000m long-track speed skating.  He edged Norway’s Sverre Lunde Pedersen by two hundredths of a second.

Flexibility.

Resurrection & Redemption.  Mark McMorris won the Bronze medal in the 2018 Snowboard Slope style just 11 months after a life-threatening accident.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend ahead, sharing time on the couch watching the Olympics with your family, and long discussions on the glory of the human spirit.

What stretched your ‘I’m possible’ this week?

Research & Credits

• Photograph: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gold_medal_of_the_2018_Winter_Olympics_in_in_Pyeongchang.jpg
• Mark McMorris – tweet: https://twitter.com/markmcmorris/status/962895021375541248