The pivot of a lifetime. And, the Olympics.
The Olympics are coming, the Olympics are coming… and they’re going to be very different from anything we’ve ever seen before.
Japan’s Prime Minister recently announced a lockdown of Tokyo due to increasing Coronavirus cases and concerns. But today’s newsletter’s not focused on all of the problematic issues. Yes, there are real concerns we should all have, but for today’s email I’m choosing to focus on how Olympic journeys, or really any bold endeavor, can begin.
Every athlete has a different story about how they were inspired. My childhood hero was Olympic gold medalist decathlete Dan O’Brien. During our Olympic Team processing in Vancouver he told us about how he’d been inspired by the 1980 Miracle on Ice U.S. hockey team when they defeated the Soviets. (Kinda funny to listen to my source of inspiration talk about his source of inspiration as a way to pump us up!)
Then there’s my old college friend Abby Wambach (Go Gators!). Abby, the youngest of seven siblings, began playing soccer because her older sister wanted to play — and then went on to become arguably the greatest soccer player of all time.
As for me, my dream was sparked not by easy glory, but failure and redemption.
I watched Dan O’Brien fail to make the Olympic Team in 1992 (think, Dan vs Dave), and then go out and set a World Record months later. Four years later, in 1996, my family and I sat in the Olympic Stadium in Atlanta and watched his full redemption end with an Olympic gold medal. And so, at 17 years old, I set off to be a decathlete at the Olympics with my path starting at the University of Florida.
Which leads me to the point of today’s newsletter: sometimes things don’t work out and we have to pivot. Sometimes we do all the things right and we still don’t reach our goal.
So in August of 2000 I was sitting on my couch in Gainesville, FL two days out of Tommy John (elbow) surgery. I was miserable, defeated, and heavily medicated! I realized my track dream was DOA and it was time to move on in life. But, was it…?
That day on that couch I wrote the below email, unedited typos and poor grammar and all, to the U.S. Olympic Committee in an awkward, fumbling, and desperate attempt to not let my dream die that day… and I learned the important lesson — sometimes the best things in our lives come from the worst. (and you should always proofread important emails…)
To whom is may concern, August 2000
I was writing in regard to inquiring as to what your standards are for accepting athletes to try out for the National Team. I am ignorant in this respect to the sport. I am a former Decathlete at the University of Florida (originally from Buffalo, NY) and am looking for a new sport to be successful in. I was known as a fast, powerful athlete in college and have always though and been told that Bobsledding would be a great sport for me. I have been looking all over the internet for some pre-requisites for speed, power, and the like, but have come up empty handed and just decided to inquire.
I run a 3.54s FAT 30m standing sprint, a 2.78s FAT 30m fly (equalling 6.32s FAT for 60m), have run the 100m in 10.60, have a 3.20m SLJ, 35.5” vert., have thrown the Underhand 16# Shot 15.80m and Overhead Shot 16.20m.
In the weightroom I have (1 rep max) cleaned from mid-thigh 125 kilo’s and Squated 450lbs.
We do most of this training in the early fall of conditioning for track, I am sure if I simply trained for these attributes I could surpass all of my lifetime bests in them. If there are any other tests that are to be performed, I am sure in that the past few years of track and field training I have contested them.
I am 6’1”, 190 lbs currently, but have been training in a different manner that the pure speed and power athletes would in a bobsledding environment. Part of my training involved distance and some slower movement, hurting my speed and power. These marks may not be suitable for National Team bobsledding, but if they are even close I am very interested in learning more and training for the sport.
Any information that can be given to me regarding this would be very appreciated, or if there are set standards, a copy of them would be great. Hopefully I will here back from you soon and thank you for the opportunity.
Steven Mesler
