Sean@advancedsp.co.za
There are a couple of exceptional people in this world and Usain Bolt is up there with the best of them. Not because he is the world’s fastest man, but because of his attitude to wanting to be the fastest man alive.
If you started your sporting career with a disability, and by disability, I mean that it could have a negative effect on your outcome later in your career, would you ever have considered that you could be a world champion? Could you ever consider that you could be the best of the best? Truthfully, you wouldn’t, because your physical disability becomes your mental disability. Once people know, they start treating you differently. They don’t push you as hard; they look for excuses why you should take it easy and not push so hard. It is fear of not knowing how to deal with the situation that causes people to react and overprotect, or in a worst-case scenario, toss you aside. Imagine if Lionel Messi believed that he was too small to play the game, imagine if Michael Jordan didn’t believe he could make a comeback and break new records. Where would these people be today? Just an average Joe telling their kids a story of “where they could have been”. That is the sad reality of not being mentally tough enough. Bolt was diagnosed with scoliosis from a young age but he says, “My spine’s really curved bad (it makes an S shape) but If I keep my core and back strong, the scoliosis doesn’t really bother me.” Bolt has been known to work with his team chiropractor to help alleviate his back pain. Bolt showed enormous potential in his early career, but kept breaking down year after year. He had the ability to pick himself up and work twice as hard to get on top.
Imagine if the people around him said he must pack it in because of his disability and that he would never amount to anything because only genetically superior athletes get all the glory.
Bolt is a testament every book ever wrote that only gifted people make it to the top. If you are going to turn around and say the Jamaican superstar is gifted, then explain why his running style is unconventional. He produces more downward force on his right leg, has a longer contract time when landing than most other professional athletes and has an S-shaped spine.
It is incredible to believe that a man beating the odds of a conventional “genetically superior athlete” is to really be an ordinary Joe with extraordinary abilities. Scientists are releasing more and more studies on Bolt now that he has approached retirement age, but one thing scientists are failing to study, is his mental toughness. He has managed to unlock the willpower to fight through adversity, fight through the pain of breakdown to becoming the fastest athlete who ever lived. The real amazement is not the flawless technique, the high knee drive motion and effortless stride length without losing any speed, but the human spirit that lies within. Each and every one of us needs to take a chapter out of Bolt’s book of life, and find that “fighting spirit from within” to be the best.