Success would be a simple process, which means exploitation of a talent who would have won jackpot at the genetic lottery. Given that triathlon is a sport gathering three stamina disciplines involving a lot of technics, success of an athlete is the result of a lot of aspects. Our journalistic experience allowed us to get up close with many elites, not allowing a photo fit picture of the perfect athlete to be drawn, we can find common features in the different personalities.
Balance between arrogance and humility – World’s best athletes have this common madness inside them, which is believing they can be the best in the world. This denial of showing a doubt about its capacities can be felt as arrogance. Nevertheless, this process is necessary in order to reach the best of himself. In return, he also has to stay humble so that he can learn about his failures (resilience). An athlete that loses his balance between these two aspects will put the athlete in a passive evolution (passive competitiveness). It is impossible to fully exploit his talent if we are not convinced of his capacities.
Learn how to learn – The fastest is not the most benefited in terms of physiology. To be powerful, this has to go through a powerful and efficient movement. A coach is not only here to determine the optimal training charge, but also to allow you to obtain the right technic. This involves hours of training and especially this capacity of learning the right movement. The athlete must be studious and has to be able to apply quickly the recommendations.
Dedication and focus – To achieve high level, it requires to be dedicated to the task and clearly understand all the requests to fulfil and eradicate distractions. Performance asks for a lot of sacrifices that will influence your way of life. This choice will be accepted only if your satisfaction exceeds results procurement.
Rituals, consistency and process – Accumulation of trainings can create a feeling of a routine where the athlete would feel trapped. It is then fundamental to price this quest of becoming continuously better and this is bigger than just sport. This refers to the process, which is a succession of actions for the perpetual purpose of to come closer to perfection. The athlete has to be consistent in his intentions, accept bad and good days without doubting about everything.
Break the coach-athlete, master-disciple relationship – Some see the relation between coach and athlete in a hierarchic perspective. The elite athlete doesn’t simply have to execute orders. Only he is able to know perfectly how his body reacts and his concerns.
Being patient – It is the sum of efforts which allows to progress and it requires time. Eagerness is generally synonym of injury.
Learning to know oneself – Individuality. An athlete has to be able to make a clear distinction between his weaknesses and strengths. During his career, he as to determine his own profile to know which type of training suits him best (volume VS intensity), or even the number of kilometers that his body is able to embrace.
Being a sport student – Nowadays, the athlete cannot be passive anymore, he has to be curious and continuously seeking for information. He has to control his environment and constantly question his relatives. Knowledge in sport is continuously evolving. The athlete has to act according to this evolutions and learn from other sport disciplines.
Taking risks – To get closer from its maximum potential, he has to accept to flirt with boundaries and even get injured. If you never cross this line, how would you know you’re close from it? Taking risks, it is also to make difficult decisions that won’t suits everyone, but only the athlete knows they are necessary.