Exploring the meaning of the Olympics’ motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius” – “Faster, Higher, Stronger”

We are near the Olympic Games, the world’s biggest sports event that happens every four years that we often overlook, or we sometimes remember in passing when a favorite athlete competes in a sport we are passionate about. The Olympic Games are a symbol of human performance, a setting in which the best athletes of the planet measure their strength, speed, endurance and artistic abilities, but also a symbol of unity and peace where the athletes from all around the world gather and let aside all the political and cultural differences.

In this article I will discuss the Olympic phenomenon and the spartan conditions in the life of these athletes, which at the same time reflect their toughness and excellence with almost superhuman qualities.

To this purpose, In will unveil the journey of a high performance athlete by analyzing his sacrifices, challenges and motivation and the road to Olympic excellence and triumph.

The struggle and the sacrifice

The path of an Olympic athlete is often extremely difficult, starting with the lack of the necessary infrastructure, through the lack basic sanitary facilities and up to insufficient supplements and equipment. For example in Kenya, although there are outstanding athletes with a track record of 35 gold medals at the Olympic games, there is only one tartan stadium, which makes training very difficult, causing increased physical wear and tear for the athletes over time. At the same time, shortage problems also exist in more developed countries.

In the United States, athletes are not funded by the government, so that many athletes, such as Monica Aksamit, bronze medalist at Rio de Janeiro’s 2016 in fencing, resort to families, crowdfunding and various forms of sponsorship to be able to finance their preparation for the Olympic Games. In addition, some of the American performers have problems with food and housing, with recorded stories of future Olympians having to sleep even in their own car, without any money to pay rent. Other athletes rely on their full-time jobs to support themselves in their training. The real problem in such situations is that the hard training regime with two or three training sessions a day, every day, does not allow athletes to hold lucrative jobs at the same time, because post-training recovery is essential in the process of training for Olympic excellence. On the other hand, equipment such as running sneakers and the necessary calories intake from proper food, which sometimes exceed 5.000 calories per day, make the training of athletes very expensive, leading to various compromises. Half of the top 10 performers in athletics in the United States earn less than 15.000 USD per year from sponsorships, prizes, and those ranked below the top 10 probably earn almost nothing, which makes the career of an athlete very stressful, especially in a country where the standard of living is extremely expensive. (1)

In most countries, athletes come from poor backgrounds, their talent and ambitions making them stand out more often than not due to suitable circumstances. For example, Nadia Comaneci, born in communist Romania in 1961, was doing a cartwheel in the school yard when she was noticed by her future coach Béla Károlyi. However, things would not take a necessarily happy turn for the young athlete.

Since childhood, Nadia Comaneci took part in a very tough training regime in communist Romania, the conditions being terrifying, especially for young girls. Gymnastics has a strict regimen for athletes since childhood. In the communist bloc, the gymnasts were treated very poorly by the coaches; they were cursed, beaten and starved so as not to gain weight. Nadia was followed by the communist security services since her first international competitions. The living conditions were very bad, which ultimately compelled her to flee from communist Romania to Canada for a better life, later marrying the American gymnast Bart Conner. As part of the horrible treatment when preparing for competitions in Romania, gymnasts ended up eating toothpaste because of hunger, they were followed to the toilet and the shower by the coaches so they would not drink water, and the beatings administered by the coaches sometimes ended tragically. The situation had become so serious that communist officials had to intervene to calm the situation. (2)

In Kenya, where multiple Olympic champions were born, the competition is very high with hundreds of runners at the competitions. The poor financial condition makes the athletes run for cash prizes, to escape poverty, and not so much to win medals and chasing Olympic glory. They run on dirt roads, lead a solitary life being weeks away from their families, prepare their own food, including bread, take care of the modest sports base in Kaptagat and emphasize the communion with nature which is very important to them. The struggle and desire to get out of poverty is yet so great, that it has reached an epidemic level of doping cases, with 180 cases recorded since 2017 among Kenyan athletes. What differentiates the desperation of Kenyan athletes entangled in doping scandals is the fact that these are individual doping cases and not revealed within a state-sponsored scheme as it was, for example, in the case of Russia. (3) However, despite the difficulties, Olympic athletics legends came from Kenya throughout the decades with notable names such as Faith Kipyegon, Kipchoege Keino and Eliud Kipchoge among them.

The physical and mental challenges

Sometimes, the situations in which the coaches force the athletes to train reach the level of abuse, which seriously harm the athletes because there is a risk of injuries when they force themselves beyond their physical capabilities at the moment. Furthermore, the additional pressure can affect their mental health, so that they end up developing various stress and exhaustion disorders. For example, Simone Bale, the multiple Olympic champion in gymnastics, went through extremely difficult moments and took a competitive break to regain her mental health several years ago. Other factors which add to the incredible pressure on athletes are the expectations from their family, friends and coaches, as well as their own ambitions and massive aspirations to excel in sports performance.

Therefore, injuries are among the biggest challenges for athletes. An injury can leave its physical and emotional mark on the athlete for a long time to come, or even end his/her career, causing financial problems and ending any potential dream of Olympic medals. Recovery after an injury can be difficult, long-lasting and lead to feelings of self-doubt in the athlete. Over time, a fear of relapse can develop, no longer allowing the athlete to compete at full capacity. Statistically speaking, 21% of athletes retire prematurely from sports due to injuries (4)

For many athletes, sport is a core part of their identity, so that injuries and the resulting break in training or early retirement can cause a personal identity crisis, at times evolving into a downwards spiral towards depression and isolation after retiring from their sports-related activities.

Similarly, many Olympic-level athletes managed to overcome injuries and critical moments, remaining in history. Take, for example, the gymnast John Orozco: although he had broken his Achilles tendon twice, a serious injury that ends the career of many athletes, he managed to come back and competed at the Olympic Games in London (2012) and Rio de Janeiro (2016). Another case is the American gymnast Kerri Strug, who at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, landed wrongly on (vault) in the team competition and tore her ankle ligaments on the first jump. The United States was losing its advance to Russia, but Kerri managed to complete the last jump of the event, in terrible pain and with torn ligaments, collapsing in pain after finishing it and thus bringing in USA’s first Olympic gold in the team competition.

In quest for personal excellence

Among the champions, there are some with a deep desire to surpass any record, driven by the ambition to remain in history and be remembered as “the best of the best”. These are the winners of the winners, an overwhelming case-study being Michael Phelps. Although he won multiple Olympic medals in swimming, he found the internal resources to return to multiple editions to keep on gaining further medals while defeating other excellent athletes, champions of their own countries or even other Olympic champions. To sustain this work ethics and performance capability at such a high level for such a long period of time, one must have an extraordinary mental capacity.

Usain Bolt, multiple record holder and Olympic champion in the 100 and 200 meters sprint races, repeatedly returned and won multiple Olympic medals, contrary to all expectations. In the sprint events there is a great competition, with athletes close in value and many unforeseen incidents which can happen due to the short distance. The 100 meter races are completed in less than 10 seconds and the intensity during them is nerve-wracking. The thoughts, the waiting and the tension from the moment of settling in the starting blocks, the start or the race and the risk of disqualification for a false start are compounded by the duration of only ten seconds of the race itself – all these elements can involuntarily strain the muscles of the sprinters, leading to results in the race below expectations. Bolt’s Olympic victories in Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro against the athletes and great rivals Gatling and Gay who had a past stained with doping problems, added further layers of glory to his aura as a sprinting legend.

The eternal glory

Despite a life full of challenges, some athletes manage to achieve eternal glory and remain in the history books. Perhaps beyond the sporting performances, it was the environment and the challenges faced by them which contributed to emergence and the perpetuation of their legendary status.

Nadia Comaneci was a girl who faced alone a totalitarian system with remarkable courage and inner strength and whom the world still remembers for her calmness, artistic elegance and perfect executions which revolutionized gymnastics – and she delivered a role-model for an entire generation of girls who were inspired by her courage, commitment and enduring fortitude.

Jesse Owens (1913-1980), although he came from a modest family, being the grandson of slaves, won 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics, a record that would stand until the victories of Carl Lewis in 1984. Owens’ victories were a powerful statement against the racial segregation and discrimination prevalent in the United States and around the world at the time. His success on the world stage drew attention to the plight of African Americans and other marginalized groups, and his triumphs served as a beacon of hope for African Americans and other minorities facing racial discrimination, thus becoming a symbol of the struggle for equality.

Conclusion

The Olympic Games certainly have dark sides, such as the widespread and well documented cases of corruption and bribery among its officials, the lack of financing for the athletes and the continuous problems related to the violation of human rights in the organizing countries. But if we manage to watch and understand the dreams and ambitions of the competing athletes, to admire their own struggles which are all about overcoming their own condition and/or the desire to excel personally, to pursue a dream that is almost impossible to achieve, we can maybe understand how special they are with their virtually inexhaustible inner resources and the reasons for which they are metamorphosing into models of perseverance which, again, inspire entire generations of young people and adults all around the world.

The athletes, their story and their triumph will remain forever in history.