A couple of days ago, Annabel explained on her networks that she was and posted the viral video of NBA player Giannis Antetokounmpo. We were so interested in the topic that we asked him to elaborate a little more on what he thought. Here we leave you his reflection.
Annabelle Fisher
It's been 10 days since I last rode a bike... Getting knocked out by a virus two weeks before a race isn't ideal. I'm never sick, ever. Broken and destroyed, yes, but sick, never ever, so not only is it a bad time, but I'm not handling the disability particularly well. I just want to train and compete (and win) and when the one thing you've sacrificed everything for is taken away from you and it's largely out of your control, well, there are no appropriate words... but I find myself here in Kansas counting the days for UNBOUND.
Whether I will be on the starting line or not remains a strong debate. It's a long way from Switzerland to the US to not compete, however, 326.5 km is a long way to run when you're sick. I'm not a 100 meter sprinter. I train no more than 35 hours per week for 9.59 seconds. My season is not reduced to a single test. My career is long and varied and somewhat volatile, but it is an extremely complex journey with much still to come. If you have 2 minutes, watch the video, Giannis says it better than me.
I think Giannis hit the nail on the head… “There is no failure in sport. There are good days, bad days. Some days you may be successful, other days you may not. Some days it's your turn, other days it's not your turn. And that's what sport is about. You don't always win. Other people are going to win. As simple as that." What people forget is that professional sports is real work done by real people. We have short and long term objectives. We are set goals and assigned roles by our managers and coaches, and we integrate personal milestones to track progress and maintain motivation. It is a fragile and complex job that can be destabilized by many external factors, which makes it extremely difficult, because we not only work with our muscles, but also with our heads and our hearts.
Now, racing itself plays little role in this. Anything can happen in a race. We all know it, well… the people who are in the race know it. The perception of success is a completely external element and generally comes from places like Instagram, for example.
However, this is not unnecessary pressure. There are many pressures that come with being an elite athlete, most are completely justified, it is how each individual athlete handles those pressures, which could result in outbursts of “poor me!” But with high performance comes high pressure, this is normal, however, there is great misunderstanding and great mistreatment towards us. We can do superhuman things, but we are still simple mortals.
People want to associate themselves with success, and “failures” (for lack of a better word) are dismissed. I would actually say sometimes “failures” are underrated, since it is those steps toward success that define our greatest moments. Do you remember who finished second in last year's Gravel Series? Or just the winner?