After a year’s long delay, the Games of the XXXII Olympiad are officially underway in Tokyo!
For generations, the Olympics have been a source of inspiration. In fact, some of the most inspirational feats in sports history have occurred during the Olympics:
- Jesse Owens winning four gold medals in front of Adolph Hitler during the 1936 Berlin Olympics
- Ethiopian Abebe Bikila running an entire marathon barefoot to win gold during the 1960 Rome Olympics
- Fourteen-year-old Romanian Nadia Comaneci becoming the first female gymnast to score a perfect “10” during the 1976 Montreal Olympics
- Michael Johnson breaking two world records and becoming the first ever sprinter to win gold medals in both the 100m and 200m during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics
- Kerri Strug, despite injuring her ankle on her previous attempt, sticking the landing on her final vault during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics
- Michael Phelps setting a record by winning eight gold medals during the 2008 Beijing Olympics and becoming the most decorated Olympian of all time with twenty-eight total medals during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics
I can attest personally to being inspired by an Olympic performance.
If you’ve read my book The WE Gear, you know that its title was inspired by something that occurred during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. After setting an Olympic record for rebounds, USA men’s basketball player DeAndre Jordan used the word “we” an abundance of times in his postgame interview.
While DeAndre Jordan’s Olympic performance was connected to a team sport, it was his actions as an individual that inspired me. The same is largely true for all the performances listed above.
I am occasionally asked, “How does the art of being a good teammate apply to athletes participating in individual sports like golf, running, and tennis?”
Apart from special competitions like the Davis Cup or the Olympics where individual scores are tallied towards a team score, success in these sports is gauged on an individual basis.
Whenever someone asks me how the art of being a good teammate applies to individual sports, my response is: If your individual actions inspire others, then you’re somebody’s teammate. And as such, you have a responsibility to be a good teammate.
For individual sport athletes, being a good teammate translates into being ultra-aware of how they conduct themself. They show loyalty by not allowing those who admire them to be let down through disappointing efforts or dishonorable actions. Their example is everything.
As always…Good teammates care. Good teammates share. Good teammates listen. Go be a good teammate.
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By the way, my all-time favorite “good teammate” Olympic moment happened during the 1992 Barcelona Games. When British sprinter Derek Redmond tore his hamstring in the middle of the 400m semifinal, his father burst through security to help his son cross the finish line.
In my opinion, they were—and will always be—the real Dream Team in Barcelona. If you don’t know the story, watch the video below. (Prepare to be teary-eyed inspired!)
