It is Olympics season. We’ve been tuning into the highlights every couple of days now. Yesterday, we saw Simon Biles’ incredible performance as team USA won the Gold.
Simon Biles is clearly competent. In what might be the understatement of the year, it is clear she has the skills to do her job.
Her medal tally is proof of her excellence. Her skills translate to results – incredible ones at that.
Greatness, however, is a whole different ball game. It goes beyond innovating in the sport (her signature move is now officially named after her) and her excellence over a long period.
Yesterday, she stepped onto the mat with an incredible amount of pressure. She had the gymnast version of vertigo in 2020 and the team left with a silver medal. She was called all sorts of names after she took a subsequent mental health break. The team were expected to win this time around. Some of her awesome teammates had a couple of small slip ups – the pressure was high.
She took all this in her stride and delivered a mindblowing performance – seemingly with ease.
I can’t fathom the amount of practice and work – both physical and mental – that went into delivering that performance. But that ability to deliver when the stakes are highest is the hallmark of greatness.
That’s what I love about the Olympics – it is a celebration of so many humans who’ve committed to habits that are out of the ordinary to deliver extra-ordinary results. Every one of them is competent. Excellence will land them a place in the podium. And, in the case of a few like a Simone Biles and a Katie Ledecky, these games are where they show up to perform and cement their position as all time greats.
In that process, they inspire many, me included, to ask – “If they can do amazing things, why can’t I?”
We can’t always do great things. But we can certainly do small things consistently with extraordinary care.
Here’s to doing more of that.
