"At long last the moment has come!"
It looks so easy and effortless.
It doesn't look like they're trying that hard.
I'm sure that I could do it too,
I'm just not motivated enough.
Unless...
Unless motivation isn't enough.
Unless I'd need to do something more.
But what?
What makes someone an athlete?
And could we all become olympian athletes?
What does the science say?
Whatever the discipline, both mind and body have to get used to the exercise
by doing it over and over and over and over.
Until it becomes natural, automatic.
But in order to reach that point, you'd need a lot of motivation.
You can get it several ways, one of which is external and comes from your coach,
the person who knows when and how to listen, direct, guide
support and push their athlete to surpass themselves
as well as force them to take a rest.
Then there's your own motivation, the one that's in your head.
The one that makes athletes get up in the morning
and start training again in spite of fatigue and muscle pain.
"Keep running! Only 3k left!"
"Ugh, I'm sick of it..."
"Come on, there's not much left!"
"No, no. That's enough."
Why doesn't she get unmotivated?
In theory my legs could go on but my head won't let them.
Her head is more efficient than mine.
She can get over the pain and seek performance.
On top of training her body, she has also trained her mind not to quit.
Finding the psychological elements that are at play here
is a very trendy research topic.
What is that mental strength and psychological stamina that moves athletes forward?
It's likely a combination of stubbornness and perseverance.
But that's not enough.
Athletes also need to be confident, competitive, optimistic and perfectionistic
in order to reach a state of deep concentration
in which their activity becomes automatic.
In order to reach that state, some recent studies show
that athletes need to have suffered a critical trauma
in their childhood.
Death, disease, a divorce...
They would find refuge in sport
and get their first positive feelings from it.
Ideally there would be a second big change,
either positive or negative,
e.g. getting a different coach or getting injured
halfway through the athlete's career
to remind them why they first got into the sport.
Surpassing yourself in sport and in life are closely intertwined concepts.
Imagine practising your sport for years
and one day a complete novice comes along
and is already better than you!
Motivation isn't everything and we're not all equal physically.
There are obvious traits:
someone tall would do well at basketball,
someone flexible would do well in gymnastics,
and if you choose a sport for which your body isn't fit,
chances are, you won't be great at it.
And then there's genetics.
Studies on the importance of genetics for athletic performance are plentiful.
Get ready for the numbers.
You can genetically inherit athletism by 66%;
muscular strength and mass between 31-78%;
maximum muscular strength by 74%,
and total power by 84%.
The very fact of doing sport can be accounted for by genetics between 48-71%.
Fun fact:
a study has calculated the theoretical time
that our species should be able to reach at a marathon,
taking into account physiological capacities
that are heavily influenced by genetics.
1h 57' 58''.
That's 5 whole minutes faster than the current world record.
The question isn't whether genetics influence our performance.
That is absolutely the case.
The question is which genes are responsible for our predispositions (or lack thereof).
What is the gene of physical performance?
If only we knew.
It seems to be a combination of genes
which have little influence on their own
but make one athletic all together.
The only identifiable one so far
is the gene for sprinting, ACTN3.
That's one of the sprinting genes anyway.
About 16% of the population don't have this gene.
But if you look at the olympians, they all have it.
Though having the gene ACTN3 isn't enough to become an olympian,
not having it seems to impair it.
The search for the genes behind performance is tough
because some sports require opposed abilities to others.
A long distance runner requires stamina
and a 100m sprinter requires explosiveness.
And there's another factor,
one of the most important ones.
Luck.
Choosing the best sport for you,
being supported by the right coach,
not getting injured,
being ready at the right time,
being born in the right country in times of peace,
in a place with resources,
in a supportive family
that drives you there and back,
in a social environment that supports you
and of course in a family (or with sponsors) that pay for it.
Financial needs vary hugely from one sport to another
but they're usually no less than $15.000 per year.
The best athletes will earn a very comfortable living
but that leaves out all the others that don't make it on the podium
and have to have a job in order to pay for their sport.
So could we all become olympian athletes?
Unfortunately not.
So what now?
Should you quit? Without the right body and genetics, the right mindset, the money, the support...
Is it not worth it?
Of course it is.
There's no need to be the best.
You should keep doing sports because it makes you feel good.
Turn off the screen and come out to run,
play basketball, swim and cycle
or go gardening.
There won't be any medal
but it'll feel good.
Come on, it's nice here.
[previous videos are also subtitled]
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