COUNTRY ALLEGIANCE, FALSE OLYMPIAN CLAIMS & THE OLYMPIC GAMES (Achtung Series!)

This blog is going to sting a little…. But, it is ACHTUNG MONDAY, so read at your own risk.

The Olympic Games is universally recognized as the paramount achievement in sports.  Many people may attempt to embark on competing at the Olympic Games, but only a few will become an Olympian.  For the longest time, qualifying for the Olympic Games felt like the biggest albatross around my neck.  I had failed twice before, each time feeling devastated and frustrated with the process and system.

In 2000, despite having the Olympic Games’ standard and being ranked number 1 in Canada I was not selected for the Canadian Team.  Canada typically has tougher standards than the IOC’s standard, and in my case I was off the Canadian standard by 1cm.  For similar reasons I also missed out on the 2004 Olympic Games. 

Having experienced the challenges with becoming an Olympian I have an even greater respect for this title.   I understand the temptation for athletes to switch allegiance, so that they may be able to compete at the Olympic Games. Yet, at the same time I can’t help feeling that when athletes represent a country they really should embody what it means to be a citizen of that country.  And the motivation to switch allegiance should not be about participating at the Olympic Games, but because one really feels they are of that citizenship.

I had the ability to represent other countries, but I knew it wouldn’t have felt authentic.  I wanted to represent the country, which every fiber of my being identified with, and that's Canada!  I AM CANADIAN through and through!  So, in spite of not agreeing with our selection criteria, I remained committed to qualifying for Team Canada, missing 2 Olympic Games as a result.  In 2008 when I did qualify (according to the Canadian standards) it felt as though my persistence had paid off.   I believe that the Olympic Games are about the best athletes from each country competing against each other in the name of excellence.  But, perhaps the Olympics are no longer about countries facing off on a grand stage as it was originally intended by Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympic Games. Perhaps, it's more about being an Olympian.

Some athletes will even go as far as pretending they are an Olympian when in fact they aren’t.  This is shameful!!!!  How can anyone make this claim, and feel proud doing so?  One athlete, Okiki Akinremi, for example, has made a business making this claim along with being a 2-Time World Champion.  He is neither! On his website, he looks into the camera and states he will help you achieve success using his experience of becoming an Olympian and 2-Time World Champion. REALLY?!  That’s just wrong!

The road to the Olympic Games is truly a challenging journey.  There are a lot of tears shed, overcoming of setbacks and believing when there are many reasons to doubt.  You develop in more ways than just an athlete.  And once you become an Olympian you are still striving for that podium.  Pierre Coubertin intended for the Olympic Games to be about personal excellence demonstrated in sports but applicable to life.

Let’s continue to honour this vision.

Owning Excellence,

Nicole

ACHTUNG SERIES WEEK

This week I’ve decided to embark on ACHTUNG TOPICS.  If this is your first time reading any of my Achtung Blogs, be warned they can be hot topics and controversial at times.  I enjoy writing these blogs most, because they afford me the opportunity to explore topics most of us may think about and may reserve for close company discussions.  They are honest and direct.  So, this week’s blogs come with the warning of “Read at Your Own Risk.”

I mean not to offend anyone in my blogs, but hope to offer a deeper consideration on various matters while sharing another side to me.

Enjoy this ACHTUNG Series Week!

Achtung this,

Nicole

Lyrics: THIS IS HOW WINNERS ARE MADE

Another great inspirational clip!  MUST WATCH & READ!!!  Each day is a day to start over.  To have and live the life you've always wanted.   That's what's so incredible.  Our past doesn't dictate our future.  But, our will, desire and hunger for excellence does.  On this Easter Sunday, I thought I'd share with you these lyrics courtesy of LIMU to get your juices flowing for a renewed way of living....

Life is tough, that’s a given.

When you stand up, you’re gonna be shoved back down.

When you’re down, you’re gonna be stepped on.

My advice to you doesn’t come with a lot of bells and whistles. It’s no secret, you’ll fall down, you stumble, you get pushed, you land square on your face. And every time that happens, you get back on your feet. You get up just as fast as you can, no matter how many times you need to do it.

 Remember this, success has been and continues to be defined as getting up one more time than you’ve been knocked down.

If experience has taught me anything, it’s that nothing is free and living ain’t easy. Life is hard, real hard, incredibly hard. You fail more often than you win, nobody is handing you anything.

It’s up to you to puff up your chest, stretch your neck and overcome all that is difficult, the nasty, the mean, the unfair.

You want more than what you’ve now, PROVE IT!

You want beat the very best out there that is, get out there and earn it!

Once you decide that, you’ll know where it is you want to be, then you won’t stop pushing forward until you get there! That’s how winners are made. At the end of the day, success is what we all want.

We all wanna win, and the race will be won. There is no question about that. So c’mon, get out on top, run faster, dream bigger, live better than you ever have before. This is in you. You can do this. Do it for yourself. Prove it to yourself!

Happy Easter!

Cookies I just picked up from Freeport Bakery for Easter Tomorrow.

We are back from our Southern California Spring Break and I will have lots of things to show you next week from our trip!

Until then,

 Wishing you all a very Happy Easter Weekend!

SURVIVING INJURIES... The Nature of Being a World Class Athlete





Perhaps my greatest battle as an athlete has been surviving injuries.  As long as I am a professional athlete, and any athlete is for that matter, this battle will continue.  It goes with the territory.  Especially in an event like the High Jump which requires maximal power and speed for each bout… It is a fine line I and most athletes walk…

I have been competing professionally for 10 years and usually at this point athletes may suffer from overuse injuries.  Fortunately, I do not know this language of injuries.  What I am quite familiar with is “random” injuries.  And when I say random, I do mean RANDOM.  For example, 3 days before the women’s high jump at the 2008 Olympic Games I tore all the ligaments in my jumping foot. 

Whether it is being hit with West Nile or having a Messiah Coach distract my workout, I have become quite familiar with the Emergency Room.  So, the other day when I was asked what I needed most to be successful between now and London 2012, I answered unequivocally “to stay healthy.”

I thought I’d take this Thursday to reflect on my survival in the sport of jumping over a bar…. And I’m certain my stories are not much different from the typical athlete…  I’ve seen injuries end too many athletes’ careers, that every time I pick myself up from an injury I am grateful!

Being an athlete is literally about being physically and mentally tough and being resilient to injuries….  Survival of the FITTEST!

Committed to staying healthy,
Nicole

Spring Break

 The weather is growing a bit warmer.....and we were hoping warmer still for a trip to the beaches of Southern California where we are spending a Spring Break with teenage daughter  in tow. Last Saturday, we drove down to OC and started our vacation with the annual trip to Balboa Island in Newport Harbor.

I grew up n Southern California and spent summers on the Balboa Peninsula. It was an unspoken rule that Frozen Bananas and Balboa Beach Bars were part of the territory. Every weekend, we would make the trek from the beach house up to the Fun Zone to play in the arcades and bump into our posse of cousins with our bumper cars....pedal to the metal. And every weekend we would anticipate and salivate thinking about the big decision.....chocolate sprinkles, nuts or butter brickle.

Often, my mom or my ant would take my cousin, Jenny and I on the Ferry ride across to Balboa Island to shop. We would stop for lunch at the old Jolly Roger restaurant and eat burgers and then stop at the Original Frozen Banana stand....of which there are two mere steps away from each other. I am not sure it mattered to us at the time which one took our money.

This year, the daughter and I got Balboa Bars with Butter Brickle....Tim got a Frozen Banana. The pleasure is still as strong.  We each took our frozen dessert on a stick and wandered along the beach front to see the lights of the Balboa Fun Zone and the Balboa Pavilion across the Bay....

With our stomachs full...and the moon as well....we strolled back to our car for the final leg down the coast.

Spring Break was just getting started.

Dating Shorter Men… PART I (ACHTUNG SERIES)

RELATIONSHIP CORNER
I stand a solid 1.921m (approximately 6’3 ½) without shoes….  I love my height (you can have a lot of random fun with people at this height).   In my eyes, the world is heavily populated by vertically challenged people.  But, that’s just my perception.

As a woman of my stature, people will often ask me how tall are the guys I date.  Well, unlike other females, I do not discriminate based on the height of a guy.  That seems ignorant to me, and not just because I’m tall, but, the quality of a person isn’t determined by their stature.  In fact, I’ve known A LOT of tall insecure men… And really who wants to date someone who doesn’t have a sense of self?

Perhaps, stature presents a masculine quality for some women.  Or perhaps it’s simply a case of supply and demand, whereby the lesser supply of tall men, make them appear more attractive (for some women) than their shorter counterpart.  Who knows?

Dating someone purely on the basis of their height seems as limiting as dating someone on the basis of their race.  The world is filled with phenomenal people – yours to discover!  Placing superficial constraints limits the endless possibilities of men who will treat you the way one deserves to be treated.

Likewise, supply is on your side.  When you limit your superficial barriers you have a wider net to cast true potential.   Essentially, you can have a full realm of possibilities; and in so doing really account for the qualities that truly matter.

Dating someone shorter can also be a means of testing a man’s confidence.  Let’s face it; it takes a lot more Kahunas for a man to date a woman taller than them.  For a man who has insecurity issues, it could test their TRUE masculine qualities.  Do they feel dwarfed and feminized in the presence of a statuesque woman, or empowered?   I will choose the empowered man any day of the week.  You become their uptown girl, like Christie Brinkley was for Billy Joel.

As for men out their daring to date a taller woman…. be sure you have your confidence in place. 

Enjoying the friendly skies,

Nicole