Facing Your Greatest Competition
August 26, 2008 Life choices, bouncing back from adversity, facing competition, overcoming obstacles, taking a risk No Comments
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Participating in the Beijing Olympics may seem to many athletes like facing their greatest competition. But as they discovered the greatest challenge was earning a spot at the Olympics and the greatest competition was themselves.
Bernadett Baczko, a Hungarian, began judo when she was nine. As the youngest child with three older brothers, she was already leaning toward being a tomboy when a friend suggested judo.
From the time she began judo she loved it. Unlike some of participating athletes, Bernadette enjoyed many years of training and began winning international competition, spurred on by what she called her “calvary,” lead by her mother.
But in August 2004 Bernadett’s calvary and “charmed” life began to crumble. From being injured when she arrived too late to a competition to warm up, to surgery, to her mom’s death from an incurable illness, potholes began to appear on Bernadett’s journey to the Olympics.
She was just coming out of an 8-month retirement from judo and starting to attend university in Budapest when she her mother’s funeral was held. With her mother’s death, Bernadett had lost her greatest cheerleader.
With the help of her coach, who assembled a new “calvary” around her, Bernadett won the bronze in the 2007 World Championships in Rio. It was this win that earned Bernadett a place in the Beijing Olympics.
Read Bernadett’s story here.
Lesson I learned from Bernadett: Being a winner means facing the worst setbacks imaginable, and bouncing back.
Would you be able to manage such grief, injury and pain in the pursuit of your goal?
