Hicham El Guerrouj is an Olympic gold medalist in track and field as a middle distance runner. His vision of achieving the title of Olympic Champion led to a tough ten year battle and was almost not realized. El Guerrouj was headed down the path of becoming “The Greatest Never” [to will a Olympic gold medal] and instead became “The Greatest Ever.”
Prior to arriving at his first Olympic games, El Guerrouj was part of the Moroccan relay team that set a world record. He won the indoor world championship, came in second in the world championship, and was on an unbeaten streak in the 1,500 meters as he entered the games. During the 1996 Olympics, on the last lap of the race, while battling for first place, he fell and finished last. He won the remaining races that season, including a victory over Noureddine Morceli, the gold medalist in his ill-fated Olympic race.
For the next four years, El Guerrouj won several more championships and broke a couple of world records. He entered the 2000 Olympics as a favorite. During the 1,500 meter race, he was outrun by another competitor and took the silver. Regardless of the fact that he had beaten every other runner on the track besides Noah Ngeny and received a medal, El Guerrouj did not consider himself a champion. He went back to work in preparation for the next Olympic games.
He shared a comment in an interview about his preparation for the 2004 games that is astonishing. This world champion several times over, multiple world record holder, and Olympic silver medalist said that he was not disciplined enough and that he was going to take things us a notch in order to be successful in 2004. That sounds like a preposterous statement. This man was clearly more disciplined that 99.9% of all of the people on the planet. He was an extremely successful athlete whose past accomplishments required a kind of focus and dedication that is incomprehensible to most of us. There was not a single person on the planet that could have legitimately criticized him for his level of discipline and focus in training. No one, that is, but himself.
There are a valuable set of lessons that all high performers can take from El Guerrouj:
- Push so hard that you risk failing – To win big, you have to take the risk to really put yourself out there. That means not playing it safe so you can win second. Play to win. Had El Guerrouj been satisfied with second place, he probably would not have pushed himself so hard in 1996 and fallen.
- After a defeat, get back up and continue your winning streak – Just because you fail, doesn’t mean you are done. The history of performance and accomplishment should be the focus for the future. The failure should only be examined to determine adjustments that should be made to support more and greater accomplishments.
- Set your own standards – Be clear about your own definition of success and never let others try to tell you to settle. The definition should be an absolute standard versus a relative one. Relative standards don’t hold up as you continue to excel because you soon become relatively better than the competition. Absolute standards or standards that are relative to your own performance are the ones that will continuously support you in maintaining a level of high achievement.
By the way, although suffering from some type of congestion just days before the race and not feeling like himself, El Guerrouj went on to win the gold medal in the 1,500 meter race at the 2004 Olympics. Adding to this victory, El Guerouj took on the most difficult Olympic double distance challenge and won the 5,000 meters race as well, solidifying his place as one of the greatest middle distance runners ever.
Have a powerful day!
Cecilia
