Along with the rest of the world, I spent much of the weekend watching the Olympics via the messed-up NBC 'primetime' broadcast. Messed-up in that they seemed to forget we are in the 21st century and that people have access to news in real-time over something called the internet. That means that scheduling the broadcast of major events hours after they actually happened and still showing the 'Live' graphic on the screen is both frustrating (it was difficult to avoid already seeing the result on the Web) and misleading. But in spite of that I, like the rest of the world - or at least the USA - found myself glued to the TV any time Michael Phelps appeared.
Putting the incredible trawl of 8 gold medals, 7 world records and one Olympic record aside, what has left an indelible mark in my mind is the 100m Butterfly final and the breathtaking 1/100th of a second margin win over Cavic. But the margin itself is only part of the story. What amazed me the most was that he managed to touch ahead of his opponent at all. After all, he was in 7th place at the turn . He was behind Cavic all the way until that final stroke. And it was the decision to take that final stroke, going against the grain of accepted swimming race strategy, that won him the race. And that is what sets him apart from every one else.
If you want to win - a swimming race, a math test, a project at work, mario kart, a game of scrabble - you have to prepare and work hard, of course. That goes without saying. But when it comes down to it that just might not be enough. To win, at anything, you have to keep going right to the end.
Because only then will you know that you did your best. And in my book that is what makes you a winner.
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