Here’s a great example of why Canada’s “Own The Podium” is the right program, with the wrong name.
One of the great success stories is this guy …
http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.js
He was shattered after finishing with a personal best, Canada’s best ever 5th place in the men’s 50KM Mass Start cross country ski race.
… “My goal was to stay with the leaders, conserve as much energy as I could,” Kershaw explained. “It’s a marathon. It takes over two hours. You have to be so calm and collected. I accomplished everything I hoped for, and more. But to be 1.5 seconds from the gold medal in a race so long …… when I see my technicians, it’s going to be really hard. It’s the best 50K of my life. But, at the same time, it’s really tough to place fifth.” …
Devon Kershaw really believed he could beat Petter Northug of Norway, the reigning World Champion.
That’s the psychology you should have to compete at the Olympics.
Kershaw is pysically, technically and psychologically ready to win. That’s what Own The Podium is all about.
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That’s the same race, by the way, where coaches decided not to compete the alternate, blind skier Brian McKeever:
… Alex Harvey of St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que., and Ivan Babikov of Canmore, Alta., were the last skiers on the course to cross the finish line.
Harvey was 32nd and Babikov 33rd, which called into question the decision to sit alternate Brian McKeever, the legally blind skier who was seeking to become the first winter athlete to compete in both the Olympics and Paralympics.
Harvey and Babikov didn’t appear to have anything left in the tank after a series of earlier races, whereas McKeever was fresh. The 50-km race would have been his only Olympic event. …
Gymnastics Coaching.com 