Posts Tagged ‘vancouver olympics’

Paralympics More Inspiring Than Olympics In Some Ways

Monday, March 15th, 2010

I’m trying to catch some of the Vancouver Paralympics on TV.  I have to admit, this event has not interested me in the past but it certainly does now.  With more media coverage than ever before, the Paralympics, which is the Olympic games for disabled athletes, is finally getting decent publicity.

Of course the level of sports performance at the Paralympics is not going to be near the level of the Olympics but I’m finding so far that it doesn’t matter.  To me, the Paralympics is more inspiring than even the Olympics in some ways — and if you have been reading my posts recently, you already know that I’ve been deeply inspired by the Vancouver Winter Olympics.  So this is really saying a lot about how I feel about the Paralympics.

Watching blind skiers, skiers with one leg, skiers with no legs (just using their arms), sledge hockey players who hit full contact on the ice and even an awesome performance of a break dancer who uses crutches during the opening ceremonies, just puts me in awe of these wonderful Paralympic athletes.

I welcome your comments about the Paralympics too (but spammers forget about even trying since the Akismet plugin is doing a wonderful job in weeding out comments that are strictly spam).

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Winter Olympics Motivational WebTV Episode Up

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

The Winter Olympics episode of Clint Cora Motivational WebTV is up now.  In this third episode, I talk about two stories from the recent 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics that really inspired me.  I hope you don’t mind the goofy introduction but I’m just having some fun.

The two stories I will be referring to will be of Alex Bilodeau and his brother Frederic as well as Joanne Rochette.  If you missed the actual performances of Alex or Joanne on TV, here are the links from CTV but I don’t know how much longer these video clips will be active – so see them ASAP or do search online if they pull the clips off.

Alex Bilodeau Gold Medal Run

Joanne Rochette Short Program Skate

To really benefit from the Winter Olympics and any other top notch sports event, I think it’s best to go deeper than just enjoy them for the entertainment value.  There are always great stories of struggle, perserverence and overcoming challenges for any elite athlete no matter which sport.  If we choose to really understand these stories around them, we can be inspired ourselves to achieve success in our own lives even if we are not elite or even weekend athletes.

I’m glad that the broadcasters have chosen to create interesting profile segments of individual athletes since it’s through such airtime that we begin to learn about the background stories of these amazing athletes.  One thing that really stands out no matter how incredible the athletic skills of these athletes are, their stories always bring us the human side of them which we can all relate to.  That’s why I consider the Olympics so wonderful in addition to just the athletics.

Now, to understand why I was so moved by these two athletes, here is the latest episode of Motivational WebTV. Previous episodes are also available.

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Inspired By Canadian Figure Skater At Olympics

Friday, February 26th, 2010

I watched Joanne Rochette, figure skater from Canada compete in the finals last night at the ladies event in the Olympics.  I was totally inspired by her determination and courage.  Four days before her first skate, her mother suddenly died of a heart attack while in Vancouver.  Joanne decided to continue with the competition.  She could have easily withdrew given the tragic circumstances.  After her first skate, she came in 3rd position.

After the finals last night, although her skate wasn’t perfect and nowhere near the performance of the Korean girl who took gold (now that was a flawless skate), Joanne still managed to win a bronze medal as the world and her father watched.

Of course she broke down a few times after her performances which is expected but before and during her skates, she was right down to business.  Now that’s focus and courage again.  Totally inspiring!

Feel free to comment but please make sure it is relevant.  We have added a very effective spam blocker here.  So if your intent is to spam, don’t bother as Akismet does a great job for us now :)

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Vancouver Winter Olympics Hockey Jerseys

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Since we are in the middle of Winter Olympics fever and there has been so many motivating stories to come out of the games, I found a source for Olympics hockey jerseys for your favourite hockey countries.  Just click on the graphic below for more details on them.


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Who Says Figure Skaters Are Not Tough?

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Too many people, figure skating is one of those ‘fluff’ sports in the winter Olympics where the skaters are not considered as ‘tough’ athletes, unlike say hockey players or skiers.  But one of the most inspirational moments during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics for me has been the story around Canadian figure skater Joanne Rochette.

Like many athletes, Joanne has her family staying in Vancouver in the Olympic families accommodations which are separate from where the athletes stay.  A few days just before Joanne’s first competition at the games, her mother died suddenly of a heart attack.  Under these tragic circumstances, it would have been understandable and even expected for Joanne to remove herself from competition.

However, she chose to continue on with the competition plans despite the sudden loss.  I just watched the opening night of the ladies figure skating and she ended up skating to a personal best in scores leaving her in an astonishing 3rd place position so far.  Of course, the whole arena and country was behind her.

No matter how Joanne Rochette does in the rest of the competition, she has shown a courage that most people don’t have.  She is teaching us that if one is on a mission, you stay on that mission no matter what.  So who says figure skaters are not tough?

I’m certainly going to cover this story in my Motivational WebTV show for sure.

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What Winter Olympic Athletes Can Teach Us

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

As I’m watching Winter Olympics on TV, I thought about all the things that the athletes went through to get to the games including all the years of hard work through training and sacrifices they have to make.

Through their examples, there are definitely many things that the rest of us non-Olympic folks can learn for our own lives, even if not involved in athletic pursuits like the athletes are.

For example, one of the first things that come to mind is the absolute dedication to training towards their goals.  It’s always amazing to realize that most of these athletes trained for years, often since childhood, to finally make it to the games and some events like freestyle moguls skiing last a mere 23 seconds.  So for us, we should certainly realize that many of our own goals will not be achieved overnight.  Like the Olympic athletes, we have to work on our goals on a regular basis over time.

Athletes also get injured every now and then.  Champions also do not win each time they compete.  There will be losses and they have to deal with them and make comebacks as they learn from losses.  Same with us.  We must not let failures stop us from our long term goals.  There will be peaks and valleys which we have to know how to deal with.  This is perserverence.

Another thing we can learn from Winter Olympics athletes is no matter how good they are or how much natural talent they have, they cannot achieve their skill levels and perform at their levels without the assistance of many support people including coaches.  Many of our own goals will also require the help of other people in our lives whether they be mentors, coaches, partners and others who can teach us.  Of course, support when we need it is a plus too.

I will write and talk more about the Winter Olympics in upcoming Motivational Quotes newsletters and Dose of Motivation audio podcast.

So let these awesome Winter Olympics athletes thrill us during these games in Vancouver but also appreciate what we can learn from them even if we are not athletes.  Enjoy the Winter Olympic games!

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