Olympic Games Swimming – Winning Gold.
1. Start training – today!
Every day – every session – every lap is an opportunity to improve something: your skills, your speed, your fitness, your technique, your pacing, your breathing control….get in there and start working towards the Olympics…. today.
2. Believe anything is possible.
Imagine Michael Phelps on the blocks about to swim the first heat of his first event in Beijing.
Can you imagine him thinking, “Wow – I don’t think I can do this. It’s going to be too hard. I will never beat the “Spitz” record”. No way!
Winning at the Olympic Games means believing you can do anything!
3. Challenge yourself – everyday
To win at the Olympic Games, you need to be thinking like, acting like, working like an Olympian now. Many swimmers think they will “build” their performance over the next four years. In fact, it’s the reverse.
Think, act, behave and be like an Olympic Gold Medalist now.
4. Get enthusiastic
Be excited. Get loud. Be passionate. This is your dream. Get enthusiastic and make it happen.
5. And then infect some others with your enthusiasm
Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching? Nothing will help you stay focused on achieving your dream more than the company of other people who are just as excited about it as you are.
6. Do some research – understand where your event (and the sport is going)
What’s the current world record in your event? What was it five years ago? Who won the Olympic Games Gold Medal in your event in Atlanta? In Sydney? In Athens? In Beijing? In Rio?
Learn as much as you can about the history of your event to help you understand what you may have to do to win in the future.
7. Improve your skills
There is no doubt that starts, turns, dives, finishes and underwater work have improved at an incredible rate in the past ten years – can you imagine where they will be in four years?
Work on your skills every day. If you are swimming 50 – 100 – 200 metres make skills practice the core of your every workout, i.e. skills first….swimming strokes second! It’s that important!
8. Stay on top of changes in equipment, etc
Make sure you know exactly what is happening with changes in training equipment, supplements, training ideas, changes to suits, etc – do not be left “on the blocks” in the technology race.
9. Find a coach who wants to win at the Olympic Games as much (or more) than you do
You will need a coach to help you achieve your Olympic goals. Find one who is passionate about winning – and wants to win in London. Together you will be unstoppable.
10. Plan
“Don’t fail to plan….you know the rest. You need to put in place an Olympic Games Gold medal plan. Include training, competitions and recovery time and don’t forget important stuff like school terms, exams, etc.
11. Be as committed and professional out of the water as you are in the water
When you are in the water – train like an Olympic Games gold medal winner! But also eat like, sleep like, think like, dress like and recover like a Gold Medalist.
The way you do anything is the way you do everything.
12. Get your family to come along for the ride
How important are moms, dads, brothers, sisters, grandmas, granddads and friends to swimming success?
Priceless!
13. Find something else – other than swimming – to be passionate about
The best swimmers can “switch off” – turn off their minds and enjoy other activities. Being able to switch off refreshes your mind, re-energizes your spirit and re-vitalizes your body.
Get passionate about another sport or reading or going to the movies or music…anything you enjoy doing.
What you do when you are not swimming – can often help your swimming as much as training or racing or going to the gym.
14. Improve your underwater stuff
Underwater kick is now the fifth stroke. (There is no doubt at some stage somebody will suggest underwater races). But until then think about what you do underwater as just as important as what you do above water.
15. Learn to deal with tough times
No Olympic Games campaign is easy. Sometimes you will be injured. Occasionally you will lose races. Often your muscles will be sore and you will always be tired. Learn to deal with the tough times and come through them tougher and stronger than ever.
16. Get tough physically
Semi finals mean you need to be able to race fast more often. Chances are you may have to go close to the world record in in the heats just to make the semi finals and then break it to get an inside lane in the final!
When training gets tough – learn to love it. Enjoy the “burn”. The price you pay to be the best in the world is the hard work you do each day.
17. And even tougher mentally
What do all Olympic champions have in common? They are tough under pressure and calm and composed at competitions.
Spend just five minutes a day working on your mental skills: relaxation, focus and control over emotional stress and you can do anything.
18. Clearly understand who you are.
Spend some time really thinking about who you are, why you want to win in the Olympics, what your strengths and weaknesses are and what you need to do to improve to be the best you can be. In the end, you have to do it your way – but you need to understand what your way is!
19. Race regularly
Embrace the race! There are opportunities to learn lessons through racing that you just cannot learn in training. Learn to love racing. Chase opportunities to challenge yourself in meets. Seek to race faster swimmers to extend yourself.
Embrace the race!
20. Learn a lesson a day
Start a diary. Write down one lesson you learnt today. And every day, write down a new lesson – a lesson a day. Over the next four years you will have enough lessons to win ten gold medals.
Remember – mistakes are not fatal– mistakes are opportunities for motivated, positive people to learn, improve and progress.
So good luck with your Olympic Dreams – I will be the first guy to come down and shake your hand when you succeed.
