You train terribly hard, you race and are second. You train even harder so that in four years time, you can achieve Gold. In the last four years of training and racing, you loose only once. All other races, you win and leave the competition behind. The day then comes where the whole world is watching, expecting, hoping that you win Gold and win it in style.
All your competition race and you are the last to race. You know your time is up and you’ve worked so very hard to this moment. You know the time you have to clock and you start your race. Everything falls into place like clockwork. You’re racing the perfect race and heading for Gold. Your time is like none before, you don’t feel any pain and you’re racing according to a scheme you have played in your head countless times.
But then…….
Concentration is at its peak…….and a capital mistake is made. You know you’re in the right lane, but your coach points you to another lane thinking you are in the wrong lane. Split second…..you doubt and in a matter of seconds you take the advice of your coach. You continue racing the perfect race……for the ultimate, Gold.
The atmosphere in the Oval drops, the nation is in shock, your trainer realizes his mistake, he wishes he could dig a hole and just slide in. Your father speaks words which can only be lip-read, as you come round the bend you see your girlfriend with her head in her hands, it dawns on you that there is something really wrong, but admission comes later. The clocks in the Oval are all confused and you ride the perfect race with a time 4 seconds faster than the just set Olympic Record.
The Golden Race………your coach comes to you after the race and gives you the news of your disqualification. Words can’t describe your emotions; do words ever? You realize what a capital mistake you have made. Or was it the mistake of your coach? After all, he pointed to the “wrong” lane.
This happened to Sven Kramer during the 10km speedskating race. Holland is in shock and cannot understand why this happened. A trainer never tells his skater which lane he or she should go to. The skater does this automatically. It’s like breathing, second nature. You could also say that the skater should have known what he was doing and should have stayed his course. Who is to blame? I think both of them. The both made a capital mistake in the heat of the moment. You are still World Champion at this distance, but Olympic Champion is something else.
What do you do now? Process this moment, the loss, the confusion, pick up the pieces and work another four years to the next moment and show the world that you are really the best. And if you ask me, do it with the same coach.
Work hard, wherever you are….
