The question was posed – Why did I commit so much of my life to being an elite athlete?  At 15 I made the national team, saw the sport at the international level and knew that I would go to the Olympics and wanted to see how good I could get.   

Twelve solid years of my life went into being an athlete.  The last 2 or 3 years I competed were the turning point and the hardest.  I was no longer a serious medal contender and had to consider retiring from the sport without having performed my best at the Olympic Games, a failure.  

At that point I had competed in three Olympics.   Decision = forget about the gold, the medals, the result, just do everything possible, to do my best.  If I can do that and know in my heart that I brought it to the table at the Olympics, then what place I finish does not matter.   As it turned out my best in 2002 got me that elusive Olympic Gold.  

Whatever field you decide to pursue, making a commitment to stick at it no matter what and always striving to do your personal best, will determine how successful you are.

I recently celebrated the 10 year anniversary of my historic gold medal win at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

Passing this milestone has made me think of the value of 10 years.

Prior to my olympic gold medal win I spent just over 10 years dedicated to training for Olympic competition.  In this time I competed in 4 different Olympic games, was part of the short track relay team that won the first ever Winter Olympic medal for Australia – a bronze in 1994 – had 2 major accidents, worked hard to rehabilitate myself for competition despite the odds, and then competed in the 2002 Olympic games and came away with Australia’s first ever Winter olympic gold medal. 

It seemed that this 10 years or so was a lifetime in itself.

Conversely, the last 10 years have seem to speed by.  All my hard work and dedication in my Olympic career gave me rise to a new direction.  I am now a successful motivational speaker, MC & Event host, and have spoken at over 500 events both in Australia and internationally.  I have also been blessed with a wonderful wife and 3 beautiful children.

Slowly or quickly, the years will pass regardless of what you are doing.  One thing I know is that the more you put in, the more you get out, and that the prize at the end, whatever that may be – a gold medal, a successful career or a happy family -  it makes all the effort worthwhile.

Have a look at the Channel 7 coverage of my 10 year anniversary celebration. 

Whatever your dream, anything is possible.

So what turns your dreams into reality?  For me a dream was just the first step.  Passion, persistence and teamwork are the key ingredients to keeping the dream alive. 

Passion – make sure you love what you do and have a burning desire to succeed.

Persistence – don’t ever give up once you have set your mind to something, no matter what obstacles come your way.

Teamwork – make sure to have the right team to support you.

My dream was the olympic games.  I was fortunate enough to compete in 4 Olympic games and finally succeeded in winning the gold medal in 2002 at Salt Lake City.

One success strategy that I did not always do very well was maximise the skills of those around me.  When you are young and one of the best in the world it is easy to start to think you know everything.  

There are always people around who can help you.  In professional sport, it might be someone who is an expert on nutrition, injury prevention, technique, race tactics, setting up your equipment, etc, etc.   Make sure to investigate what experts are relevant to your field and seek them out.

Many people will offer you advice and most of them won’t know what they are talking about.  Those people need to be listened to and filtered out.  The ones who can really help may not come to you, you might have to find them.  It’s not all about you, success, in any arena, is about having the right team.

Someone once asked what attitudes and behaviours does one need to acquire to be the best in their field.

As many of you know I was the first Australian to win Winter Olympic gold at the Salt Lake City Olympics.  My victory may have come in unusual circumstances (watch the race) but was not unfounded.  I had put in over 12 years of hard work and commitment, highs and lows, finally leading to that ultimate moment of triumph.

When I was training in the olympics, I used to have a sign on my ceiling, it read: ‘This is the Olympics, get up’.  I knew that my competitors would be getting up and I did not want them to have an advantage over me. 

Win or lose I needed to know that no stone was left unturned.  Now, when I think about my sporting career the most satisfying thing is, knowing that I gave everything I had, every training session.

This is much the same for any aspect of life or in business.  You need to make sure you “show up” every day, in everything you do.  Leave no stone unturned and always give your best.