INSIGHT - What I learned from growing up with a Winter Olympian

insight inspiration sport Feb 17, 2018

As we watch the Winter Olympics in awe this week let us not forget what we are really celebrating… we are celebrating ‘overnight successes’ that took lifetimes to build!

 

It is easy to feel that what creates success is an athlete crossing the finish line first, but this is just symbolic. What we are actually celebrating is thousands of little things that we never see. Success is not created in front of stadiums full of people, it is created when no one is watching.

 

I was incredibly lucky to experience this first-hand as a teenager when I found myself in a secondary school class with a bubbly, energetic girl called Chemmy Alcott. Chemmy went on to compete in four Winter Olympics and get some of the best results Great Britain has ever seen in skiing.

 

On our first day at school, Chemmy wasn’t hopelessly rearranging her new stationery like the rest of us, she was focused on doing some of those ‘little things’ that would eventually make her a success. She was scoping out her new classmates and looking for recruits to help on her mission to become an Olympian. Before our first week was over she had already selected a group of us to start a school ski team.

As one of a handful of girls who had been fortunate enough to spend some time on snow, I was asked to join the team, and over the following years, I learned so much about what it takes to create success.

 

From the moment we formed a team, the hard work in the shadows began. After school we would bundle into the boot of Chemmy’s mum’s car, gobbling down sandwiches and getting changed en route to the dry ski slope. At break times we would assemble in the school hall and set up circuit training. We started to pay attention to what we ate and how we prepared our bodies. On race days, whilst we may only have been skiing for a matter of seconds we would invest hours in waxing our skis and painstakingly sharpening their edges.

 

From the outside, most people just saw a ‘gifted’ ski team that would win every race. From the inside, there were hundreds of little things which created our success.

 

Out of us all, why was it Chemmy who went on to be the Olympian? Perhaps there was some natural ability, but this could never be proved. What can be proved is her complete dedication and commitment to the sport. She was the first out training, and the last back in. She did more ‘little things’ than the rest of us.

 

The reality is that success takes hard work and there is very little of the glamour and glory that you see so inspiringly splashed across our screens this week.

 

I don’t think it is a coincidence that from that school ski team, so many of us went on to have significant success in our lives beyond representing our country in the sport. From this small handful of girls, we obviously boast an Olympian, but also Mollie King, who became a popular pop star with The Saturdays and Radio 1 presenter. Mollie is known for her strong work ethic and determination to succeed. I transferred the lessons learned from hours of descending a little dry ski slope in Surrey, to build a successful business and become a key influencer in my industry. While we have all had very different paths what unites us is the things we do when no one is looking. The hard work we learned on the slopes became part of who we are.

 

Watching Chemmy commentating on the BBC I can’t explain the feeling of pride. As I read the Twitter feeds of praise calling for her to be ‘the new face of BBC sports commentating’ it almost feels like an overnight success. Then I remember that I have been privileged to see all the ‘little things’ that have gone on in the background. You may see a glamorous girl who has just turned up to present, but I know that to get there she has been on a phenomenal journey... when no one was watching. This is a girl who flew to the mountains with her beautiful newborn baby, just days after giving birth, to hold her presenting space on Ski Sunday. I know this not because she was asking for sympathy. To Chem this was not a drama, she just got on and did what it takes.

 

So next time you find yourself working late, on your own with no one watching, know that you too are checking off some of the many 'little things' that you need to be successful. And next time you see someone cross the finish line, celebrate their entire journey, not just their destination.

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