by Richard Helling

Created on: August 03, 2008

So I took a whack at it and I missed. They say there's no shame in trying your best and failing but those people are full of it because they really have no idea of what they are talking about. I dedicated my life to becoming the best that I could be and I came up short. No gold medals. No all-American certificates. No national titles. No conference titles. No scholarship. Just five reconstructive surgeries and a bunch of titanium in my right ankle and a conciliatory "Sorry kid it just wasn't meant to be"

Unless you've lived it and breathed it and let it totally consume you, you can't possibly imagine. I've seen it first hand and I still can't totally believe it. Blood sweat and tears doesn't even cover the first day. It takes commitment that most people can't even imagine. 5:00 am morning runs when it's 10 degrees outside and 400 meter repeats when the track is hot enough to blister your skin and that still isn't enough. Hours in the weight room until the calluses on your hands rupture and bleed is just a regular day at the office. The excruciating sting of the Superglue will fix the ruptured skin that will guarantee one more set to complete the weight workout for the day.

An inner iron will that pushes you just a little farther than your body says is possible. That's where it lies. That is the intangible asset that separates just the incredibly tough from the Olympic athlete. Most people will never know the difference, but there are a few who do. There are a few who know and honor that toughness and respect it for what it really is. It is, quite simply, breathtaking.

Some will call it luck and others will call it genetics, but those people who say that know as much about Olympic sports as they do landing a rover on Mars. I've seen people with ten times the amount of natural ability of everyone else throw it away because they were too lazy to work for it. I've also seen someone with virtually no natural ability work their way to incredibly high levels based on nothing but sheer determination. It boils down to guts. Do you have them or do you not?

The simple fact is that my friend just made his second Olympic team and it is solely because he outworked every other competitor to make it. He won't be on a Wheaties box and he'll never make a seven figure contract for being one of the best in the world. However, he will have something that no one can take away from him. He will have the unyielding respect of those who truly know him and he will have the solemn pride that he is one of the best in the world.

Think about it for one second. To be able to wake up in the morning and look at yourself in the mirror and know that there is one thing in the world where you have defeated all-comers. The knowledge that there might be two or maybe even three people in the world that could beat you at your chosen profession but only if they got really lucky. Imagine being the best in the world at anything and wearing that title so lightly that being asked for an autograph would be cause for an embarrassing moment. My friend will always know that he did it right and that NO ONE can ever take away the fact that he is among the best in the world.

I'm proud of my friend. I wish you could know him the way I do and I wish that other sports figures would take a lesson from his playbook. Regardless of his outcome in Beijing some people are just born winners.

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