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 Hamish Carter discovered that for him
winning was all about focus.
He changed his focus
- after finishing 26th at the Sydney 2000 games in the
triathlon - with dramatic results, winning Gold at Athens
in 2004. Hopefully what he learned may also help you
whether in sport or Business. He talks about how he changed
his focus when he won gold compared to his approach in 2000
in Sydney.
"The change I made was pretty
fundamental. In Sydney I was focused on winning the
race. Be I had very little control over that, you
can't control whether you will win or the quality of the
competition. In Athens I focused on my race on what I
could do."
"The emotion of wanting to win can be so
extremely powerful. So much that it can affect your judgment
of what to do during a race or event. Especially in an
endurance event it is easy to go out too hard or to panic if
things don't go well at the start. It can get very
emotional and draining if you start thinking about winning,
instead of what you should be doing moment by moment"
"I always expect alot from myself and
the pressure to win came from myself rather than
from the public. What I learned in Athens was to let
myself relax and trust that what I needed was inside me and
that I had to let it come out. I managed to let
go and let things flow. This meant stepping back from
the ambition and letting things happen more."
"Instead I replaced the idea of
thinking about winning with a focus on what I could do.
If things didn't start well getting anxious about it would
only make things worse so I told myself "to wait" ride
things out and go with the flow"
"I chose to accept the situation because worrying about it would only make things worse.
It takes alot of belief in yourself to do that, but that
approach gave me much more clarity of mind at Athens.
In Sydney what I was focusing on was too big and
unachievable, because there is so much in any competition
that will unfold that you have no control over."
"In badminton I expect it is alot
easier to play well when having a hit around with your mates
compared to playing in a top competition, when it really
counts"
 "I also worked exceptionally hard on
all the little things I could control. I trained 30
hours a week. Knowing that work was behind me helped
with the confidence as well."
"I believe it is important for any
athlete to make their own path. For sure listen to others,
and learn from others and coaches but realise that you
can create your own path and not to just copy others.
To understand that your unique way of doing things is a
strength for you.
"Getting to that point and overcoming the idol
factor is important. Realising that some of your sporting heroes, that
you may have to play against, are only human takes alot of
time and experience. But it is important to allowing you to
trust yourself. This can apply to any situation not
only sport."
"I was told sometimes when I was
making it up the rankings that I was doing things wrong.
This was
because it was a bit different sometimes to what others were
doing. But it was right for me and I knew that
instinctively. It is important to know what is right
for you so you can tell what advice to take and what not to."
"I believe an athlete makes the coach not the coach the
athlete. You have to decide what works for you as your
performance ultimately is your responsibility, a good coach
though can really help you with that decision making
process, technical advice etc."
 "During the Athens race if I found
myself thinking about winning, or if I was ahead, I would stop
and remind myself it was only who is ahead at the end that
counts."
"I kept alot of the emotion under wraps and took a
very clinical approach to focus on the few things I could
control. That was not very much: my shoes, my bike, my breathing where I
positioned myself. I only really thought about
winning when about 50 m from the finish line. Then it
really hit me and was a very satisfying feeling, and you know
that it is something that no one can ever take away from
you."
"After the Olympics people were really
great and very supportive and wanted to pass on their best
wishes which was great. Winning the Olympics changed my life
in a good way, but I also found that it is easy to buy into
the image and get carried away by the whole thing."
"Talking to former great athletes like Sir Murray Halberg
helped alot. He said that winning gold was great but
there was so much more in his life that gave him pleasure
and perspective. I found talking to former great athletes
helped keep my success in perspective and helped keep me grounded"
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