Olympic Athletes

Hello!

I just went to a meeting where the Aggie Olympians did a panel discussion...it was WAY COOL! The biggest "name" we had there was Muna Lee (track sprint runner), but we also had Julia Wilkinson, Christine Marshall and Coach Steve Bultman (Swimmer, swimmer, and swim coach) and in Track & Field Richard Adu-Bobie, Fabrice Lapierre and Andreas Behm. She talked about how she has always been coached to focus on herself and not others, and in the finals of I think the 100s, one of the girls false started but it did not get called back so she started off slow and thought they would be called back to do it again....then when it wasn't, she couldn't catch up and got 5th. She was terribly disappointed but says she will be back in 2012 ans she will medal. I liked her and her determination. I thought it was also really interesting that when I think of an athlete, like Michael Jordan, you think of someone who is focused and determined...well, some of these athletes were laid back and sometimes silly. When they asked what they did to prepare the minutes before a race, one guy said, I just put on my shoes and go compete....one of the swimmers said she doesn't focus, she laughs and looks around (she admitted she was major A.D.D). It made me realize that athletes are all different. They talked about how you make practice good habits and then you just go do it when you compete, they want it to be second nature, so you don't have to be this totally determined and focused person....some of them just happen to be great athletes and they are laid back and easy going, they just are really good at their sport. Anyway--it was really interesting. One thing I really thought was interesting is that the swim coach talked about the touch pad scoring and how they tell the athletes and practice with them using their fingertips instead of a flat hand....and how that won and lost the race for some athletes in those photo finish type races. So, that has been my day so far....that and a fire drill....I started this before the fire drill and then just now came back to finish it! Be good and have a fab day! H