The instruction from school was simple: ‘Bring in a picture that describes something about your summer vacation’. It didn’t take long for Brigitte, our 7 year old, to decide which picture she wanted to bring. Here it is: she’s holding the (rather small) uniform of one of beach volleyball’s best players in the world - Canada’s own Guylaine Dumont (5^th place finisher in Athens).

Brigitte proudly showing her new gift from Guylaine

From the look on her face, it’s easy to see her delight at being given this gift. She didn’t take it off for a week - in fact, I think she may still have it on underneath her school uniform! Since then she’s played nightly on our makeshift grass court in the backyard, intent on walking in Guylaine’s and her partner Annie Martin’s footsteps. And although Brigitte had the privilege of attending the games, what I witnessed in her reaction was not much different from what I saw since returning home from Athens. Our friends’ and neighbors’ kids talked nonstop about the sports they were going to do at the Olympics in 2016, 2020 and beyond. Such inspiration for all of us!  So, besides inspired kids (and a few adults too), this is what I learned from my summer vacation or ‘Olympic experience’:

1.     The Olympics are an open competition.

At the Olympics, anything can happen and anyone can win. Once you qualify, whether you go in ranked at the top or sneak in at the bottom, anything can happen. For me, the Canadian Beach Volleyball team of John Child and Mark Heese that I worked with went in ranked not last but very close to it (22^nd out of 24 teams).  By any standard, we should not have had a chance to medal or do well. But this is the Olympics where anything is possible and we left with a strong 5^th place showing.

Over and over we told our athletes, stay patient, stay positive, prepare as best we can, wait for the opportunity and then when it presents itself, grab it! Athletes who went into the competition with this frame of mind were the ones who did well. Those who panicked or ‘lost it’ or became negative when potential distractions hit, fell apart. They were not able to maintain focus on the most important thing – their performance.

The truth is, distractions are only distractions if we allow them to be. Like any challenge or setback, we have the power to choose our response to anything we face. 

There’s a lesson in this for all of us.  We will meet many challenges in our career: being passed over for what we believe to be an important job, not closing a sale we felt was ours to lose, mismanaging ‘up’ with an important boss. But the truth is, how we respond to these setbacks – these distractions – will absolutely determine our future success.   Staying patient, positive and prepared puts us into a situation where we can make the most of the opportunities that present themselves – and they always do! In this way, I see life as an ‘open competition’. If we have enough IQ and technical skills to be in the game, then our success will be determined by how we handle our emotions when things don’t go well, when we hit distractions, setbacks or people who act a certain way. We certainly can’t stop these things from happening, we can learn to handle them more effectively. This is a big lesson I learned in Athens.  

2. The Olympics brings us all together.

There seems to be so much that pulls nations of the world apart that it’s exciting to witness how the  Olympics can bring us together and remind us that, at base, human beings are so very similar.  For the most part, we share a simple intention to live in peace, with respect and be the best that we can be. I saw this in everyday meetings with athletes and spectators. I found it chatting with a group of fans from the Palestinian territories at the swimming venue as they cheered their lone swimmer—not caring that she finished a distant last. Or laughing with my daughter Brigitte as a couple of Iraqi football (soccer) fans excited by their team’s success ran by us whooping it up. Seeing the joy in these folks reminds you of what connects us rather than separates us. There is so much right about the world. Once again the Olympics helped me see this and feel some hope for the future.