Category: Olympics

Michael Phelps’ 8th Gold Medal Breaks Spitz Olympic Record – The Affirmation Spot

Today’s Affirmation:

“I thrive on pressure situations. They only up my game.” (hear it)

It was close, but Michael Phelps won his record 8th gold medal surpassing Mark Spitz’s 36-year-old Olympic record. The American Mens 4 x 100 meter medley relay team pulled out the victory that made Michael Phelps the undisputed Olympic champion of champions.

For the second time in these Olympics, Jason Lezak anchored the team and brought home the gold. This time holding off a surging Team Australia.

The Americans won in world record time of 3:29.84.

A clearly fatigued Phelps was humble in describing this accomplishment, but his teammate Brendan Hansen was not shy in declaring Phelps’ accomplishment the greatest in sports. Hansen said, “What the man to my right accomplished is the biggest thing in sports general. It’s bigger than the Tour de France. It’s bigger than a pressure putt at the U.S. Open.”

Five-time Olympic gold medalist Aaron Piersol said, “My hat’s off this guy for this accomplishment.”

Phelps told NBC’s Bob Costas, “I’m at a loss for words. This was everything that I wanted to do and everything I dreamed of. It’s an amazing feeling.”

Costas asked, “You’re a bit like Michael Jordan in this respect. Jordan would extract motivation from any situation. He would even somehow perceive a slight from an intended compliment. So whether it’s (Ian) Thorpe, or it’s (Milorad) Cavic, or Alain Bernard. If it’s something real or imagined that can get under your skin you use it?

Phelps replied, “Oh yeah. I said yesterday I welcome any comments. All they do is fire me up. I love when people say that somebody can’t do something. You want to go out there and prove it that much more.”

Tonight Phelps proved it for now and all time. He finishes this Olympics with 8 gold medals, seven world records, and one Olympic record. He set a goal four years ago to come and dominate these games. He worked towards that goal for four years. Tonight it all came true.

He is an inspiration to us all.

Stay inspired!

Ray

www.theaffirmationspot.com offers downloadable mp3 affirmations for nearly every area of life – sports, sales, wealth and prosperity, health and fitness – to name just a few. Our library is growing all the time. Remember your fifth affirmation on each order is always free.




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Phelps’ 7th Gold Medal a Reminder to All – The Affirmation Spot for Saturday August 16, 2008

It’s amazing what you can learn watching the Olympics. Michael Phelps’ drive towards eight gold medals has been a veritable life lesson for us all. Sunday night we were all reminded that even great people in great pursuits need others to help them succeed.

“It is amazing how much you can accomplish when it doesn’t matter who gets the credit.”

~ often attributed to Harry S. Truman

Phelps’ 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay teammate Jason Lezak kept Phelps’ dream alive when he improbably overcame a huge deficit against the world’s top 100-meter freestyler.

Friday night Phelps was aiming for gold medal #7 – the one that would tie Mark Spitz’s single Olympics record – and again the life lessons flowed.

Phelps was favored in the 100-meter butterfly, but after so many swims he has to be feeling it. At the 50 meter turn, Phelps found himself in seventh place out of eight swimmers. Serbian swimmer Milorad Cavic – Phelps’ leading competitor in the race – had the lead and appeared poised to upset Phelps and deny history. The race seemed to belong to Cavic with 10 meters remaining.

As they approached the wall, Cavic glided and Phelps pushed forward with one last stroke. He touched the wall 1/100th of a second ahead of Cavic.

So? It’s just another swimming race, right? Yes, but there was a lesson in there. We live in a culture where we are constantly comparing ourselves to others. Women compare their figures with models and movie stars in magazines and magazines encourage it. We compare our cars with our neighbor’s car. We compare our results with others. There is almost never a time we are not comparing something about us or our lives with someone else.

Comparing robs us of energy and can sidetrack us. We start worrying about what is fair. This thinking is counterproductive in pursuing our goals. We are here to run our own race, not worry about the race others are running.

Who knows what was really going through Cavic’s mind as he neared the wall. Perhaps he was gliding because he thought he had victory. Meanwhile, Phelps was just running (um swimming) his race.

When we run our race we put the blinders on and forget about the medals, the credit, the fame, or the financial reward we may be seeking. Those things will sort themselves out later. During the race we are all about the race and pushing towards that wall.

Whether you are a sales professional or a writer; an athlete or a student; a scientist or a clerk you must run your own race and – this is critical – allow others the run theirs. Focus your energy. Be all about the race. Never assume you have it until you touch that wall.

That’s what Michael Phelps did. You may not win every time, but your success will be far greater than if you are constantly looking around to see where others are in comparison.

Great swim website featuring blogs and profiles by many leading swimmers:

The Swim Room

Stay inspired!

Ray

Nastia Liukin Wins Gold – The Affirmation Spot for Friday August 15, 2008

Today’s Affirmation:

“I know what achieving my goal feels like. I know what it smells like and tastes like. I know what achieving my goal looks like and sounds like. I envision my life with my goal attained.” (hear it)

 The last few days the world has seemed more like the 1980s than 2008. The United States and Russia are at odds and irresponsible threats are flying left and right. Hardline leaders in both countries seem to have forgotten the common interest they have – all of humanity has – in their getting along.

Against this backdrop, how much more symbolic of the change we need in our world could Nastia Liukin be? America’s newest female gymnastics gold medalist was born in Moscow and now resides in Parker, Texas. She is a daughter of the Russian motherland and a now proudly represents Team USA.

Her father was an Olympic men’s all-around silver medalist for the former Soviet Union at the Seoul Games in 1988. The Liukin family moved to The United States when Nastia was just two years old.

Liukin joins Mary Lou Retton (1984) and Carly Patterson (2004) as America’s only female all-around gymnastics champions. Battling fellow-American Shawn Johnson and Yang Yilin of China all night, Liukin was the most consistent in the end.

She solidified her top spot with an amazing routine on balance beam and then closed the deal with a pressure-packed and nearly flawless performance on floor exercise.

Nastia Liukin took gold in an event that everyone will remember forever. She was poised and dignified in victory. More than that she represents the hopes and dreams of two great nations. These nations should take her lead and pursue their greatness in healthy competiton rather than blustery conflict.

Stay inspired!

Ray

www.theaffirmationspot.com offers downloadable mp3 affirmations for nearly every area of life – sports, sales, wealth and prosperity, health and fitness – to name just a few. Our library is growing all the time. Remember your fifth affirmation on each order is always free.

Michael Phelps Wins Record 11th Gold Medal – The Affirmation Spot for Wednesday August 13, 2008

Today’s Affirmation:

“A great swimmer lives within me. Today that swimmer hits the pool.” (hear it)

Paavo Nurmi, Larysa Latynina, Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis, and Michael Phelps each had 9 Olympic gold medals; until tonight that is.

This evening American swimmer Michael Phelps stands alone. He became the first athlete in Olympic history to win 10 gold medals by winning the men’s 200 meter butterfly in another world record of 1 minute 53.70 seconds. With the ease that has become his habit, Phelps bested a world-class field to claim his record-setting gold medal.

Less than 50 minutes later he snared gold medal number 11. He swam the lead off leg and led the U.S. men’s 800 meter freestyle relay team in obliterating the world record and the rest of the field by nearly five seconds. The U.S. men became the first team ever to break the 7-minute mark in the event.

In the process, Phelps also set his fifth world record in five events and surpassed Jenny Thompson as the most decorated swimmer in U.S. Olympic history.

His success is no accident. Throughout the games the media has talked about his commitment, his single-mindedness during the past four years in preparation for his day in the sun.

Tonight all that hard work paid off. Phelps has already secured his place among the immortals. Before these Olympics are over, Phelps may have enough gold medals to be in a class all by himself. The only question remaining is who will play Michael Phelps in the Hollywood version of his life.

Michael Phelps is proof that when belief, talent, and determination meet dreams come true.

Stay inspired!

Ray

www.theaffirmationspot.com offers downloadable mp3 affirmations for nearly every area of life – sports, sales, wealth and prosperity, health and fitness – to name just a few. Our library is growing all the time. Remember your fifth affirmation on each order is always free.

Why I Love The Olympics – The Affirmation Spot for Tuesday August 12, 2008

Today’s Affirmation:

“Learning helps me achieve my goals in life.” (hear it)

We are now headed into day 5 of these Beijing Olympics. As with every Olympics, there have been underdogs and upsets. The favorites have had their day as well.

Michael Phelps continues setting record after record. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh are dominating on the volleyball court. China’s mens gymnastics won the expected gold medal. The world’s second most populous nation claimed its first ever gold when India’s Abhinav Bindra won the 10m air rifle title.

Meanwhile, the US men’s gymnastics team overcame adversity to win an unlikely bronze medal. Missing its two expected leaders – the Hamm brothers – the US men’s gymnastics team rallied around the near-perfect performance by team leader Jonathan Horton to surprise everyone.

What I love about the Olympics, though, is that it is all about the young people of the world pursuing their dreams with everything they have. In doing so, they are setting an example for us all. That more what our world should be about. 

We all have dreams. Your dreams may not involve putting in 16 hour days at the pool or in the gym. They may not mean going half-way around the world and performing while half the world watches.

However, they are there; within you. They come to the surface in those moments when you wonder if you are on the right track. They are what you imagine your life would be…if only. 

As you watch these Olympics over the next two weeks, let them fuel your dreams. Let them spark your determination not to be denied in your quest to live the life you are here to live.

Stay inspired!

Ray

 

www.theaffirmationspot.com offers downloadable mp3 affirmations for nearly every area of life – sports, sales, wealth and prosperity, health and fitness – to name just a few. Our library is growing all the time. Remember your fifth affirmation on each order is always free.