I felt like I got into my groove a little bit. A little more comfortable with the presentation that I was giving, I felt like I was getting to know the ropes around here, and just part of the team. This would also be our biggest day so far of athletes coming in, including divers (my sport!) and some of the bigger name Track and Field athletes. Yes, that included Aston Eaton and yes, I was pretty much in awe. I mean, come on, he is the world’s greatest athlete! Shattering Bruce Jenner’s world record in the Decathlon last Olympics in London (okay, Bruce/Caitlin’s record may have been broken before Aston, but you get the point).
Knowing some of the divers was fun for me—I went up to Kristen Ipsen right away and although he was just itty bitty when I dove at the club team at Stanford when he would come to weekend practices, he remembered me. Or, at least said he did… I knew a couple of the other divers while competing (or their older siblings), but they didn’t really know me, especially considering that all of them are about 10 years younger than me. Even though diving was such a big part of my life that it feels like just yesterday that I was doing it, it dawned on me how far removed I am now. Regardless, it will always hold a special place in my heart.
One of the ambassadors, Brandon Slay, who won the Olympic Gold in 2000 in wrestling, conducts a lot of these programs for us, and I have heard him speak a dozen times in the past, but his presentation never (never) gets old. I can listen to him time after time and still get inspired (well, sometimes just more inspired for the athletes because as I said, I am quite removed from that world now, but still). In one part, he talks about how their focus shouldn’t be just on getting the Gold. Yes, of course every athlete wants to the get the Gold, but it’s also about your effort that you put into it- don’t be distracted by all that is around you and the pressure for the result, but concentrate on what you have done, every single day, to get you to where you are. If you go out there, and give all that you have to give, then you can walk away from the Games feeling successful. Further, he talks about the story of someone coming up to him after he wins the Gold and asking if he was going to get his medal engraved with his name. He paused for a second at that comment, but then said No. Because to him, the medal was bigger than just him—it belonged to all the coaches he had throughout his career, and his family, and his friends, and his fans, and the soldiers who fight for our country, and everyone in the U.S. cheering on all the athletes. The Olympics is more than about one individual and one sport. It’s about all athletes, from all sports, coming together, as one Team.
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