Golden Examples Of Resilience

I’ve been watching a lot of the Olympics these last few weeks. I have a soft spot for seeing people who have dedicated their life to something and watching them meet their moment of achievement.

But that’s not to say that the path to get there was easy. In fact, the three women that stepped onto the podium for Women’s Gymnastics All-Around each have their own version of overcoming adversity to make their dreams come true.

The bronze medal went to American Suni Lee. She’s the defending champion of this event but since the last Olympics, she was diagnosed with two rare forms of kidney disease that almost caused her to quit the sport entirely. But with treatment, support, and commitment - she’s competing at the highest level.

The silver medal went to the Brazilian Rebecca Andrade. Rebecca grew up in a Favela and needed to be escorted by her brothers 2 hours to train at her gym. From those circumstances she separated herself as an elite Brazilian gymnast and qualified for the 2016 Olympics. Following that, she tore her ACL 3 times but still came back in time for the Olympics in 2021. Fortunately she’s been relatively healthy ever since, allowing her to be consistent with her training and become one of the best gymnasts in the world.

And then the gold medal went to Simone Biles. She’s known as the greatest gymnast of all time and brings a level of skill and power that the sport has never seen. In the last Olympics she was the marquee athlete with huge expectations on her shoulders as the defending champion. However, at the competition something felt off to her and she chose to remove herself from the competition for her own safety. She faced a lot of criticism for her decision, but she invested in improving her mental health, kept training, and came back to Olympic competition with big expectations again and won it.

The common thread in the story of these 3 stars is how they’ve all overcome their own adversity. They have chosen to persevere through the circumstances and displayed a resilience that is inspiring the world.

And guess what… You have it within you too! The challenges you’re facing, the obstacles in your way, stay resilient and you’ll have your come back too!