My thoughts on Beijing 2008 Olympics

Hi,

Me and Ah Bi had been watching Beijing 2008 Olympics every night without fail since the beginning on the 8th of August. Whether it's swimming, cycling or athletics, those 29 contested sports are truly mesmerizing. To see all the world class athlete performing is a wonderful experience. I can see the athlete give all their best hoping to get an Olympic medal in honour of their country. They make new friends and rekindling their existing friendship among the players. In every sports, the athlete use this as their world class stage. Their ability and the spirit truly spellbinding.

My thoughts on those winning the Olympic gold medal or people aspiring to be olympian. Sort of my 10 points on how to be a winner !
1. It's like becoming a millionaire. The first gold medal is always the hardest. Once you get it, you tend to get more. Think Michael Phelps btw.
2. I always remember this Chinese saying "Toi siong yat fern zhung, toi har sap lien kung" That meant a wonderful performance on stage is actually attributable to lots of hard work at the background. When watching those gymnastics event, their agility and their prowess shows a lot of hard work to reached that.
3. You must have the hunger/confidence to win. That reminds me of our Malaysia compatriot badminton player - Lee Chong Wei. He only get Silver medal. He's just hoping that the other opponent to crack under pressure rather than to improve oneself. No wonder he lost by a considerable margin.
4. Set a BHAG (Big Hairy Audicious Goal) - When I see how Michael Phelps set a goal of 8 goal medals, there's a lot of pessimism on him achieving that. He never gives up and focus on himself to succeed. Amidst all those challenge, he went for it. Now he's considered the athlete that won the most medal in Olympic history
5. Treasure your moment - When the athlete is on top of the podium receiving the gold medal, they truly cherished it. Whether it's singing the national anthem of their nationality or ecstatic. It's truly an emotional event to see. It's time to enjoy the fruit of your labour.
6. Don't ever give up - I can see a lot of athlete didn't win in their previous Olympic games. They not just trained harder but improved as well. When the goings get tough, the tough gets going.
7. Be mentally prepared. This goes without saying, in most sports, the winning margin is very little. Some just 0.01 second or 1 point margin. I would say it's negligible. What determines between the winner and the loser in the end is how calm or mentally strong when it's not went on their way initially.
8. Give out your best - In watching those events, the athlete will give out their best. How do you know ? Their personal best record. When commentator giving those statistics, that truly makes me felt you won't regret it later down the road even if you're not winning. At least you give your best short. As someone would say make a dent in the universe.
9. Enjoy and have fun - Sometimes when you're not enjoying the process, you may not feel relaxed and not giving out your best. I can see Usain Bolt winning the 100m & and 200m effortlessly and he enjoys it in the process.
10. Focus - In those shooting or archery event or games that requires extreme precision and focused mind. One need to trained and accumulate those experience to be extremely focus. Same in life as well, do focus things that feel important and makes the most difference (Think Tipping point or 20/80 perhaps ?)

As the Summer Olympic draws to a close this Sunday, this is by far the most memorable, grand and exciting sports event that I've witnessed. We're still hoping when Malaysians can finally get their Gold medal in Olympics. Hopefully we can try harder and be better in 2012 London summer Olympics... until then, it's time to contemplate back on life.