The Human Bullet – Sanya Richards-Ross Olympic Success Story

Some people succeed in spite of a traumatic childhood or hardships. Others succeed with love, faith and amazing support from family and friends. Sanya Richards-Ross' life story sounded to me like a fairy-tale. It was not without bumps in the road, but filled with many blessings. The point here is that we can all reach our full potential no matter our upbringing or circumstances.

What struck me the most about Jamaican-American Sanya during our conversation was how humble, enthusiastic and kind she is. With her amazing accomplishments, it would be easy for her to allow her ego to take over. She has multiple Olympic gold medals in the 400 meters and the 4 x 400 meter relay in 2004, 2008 and 2012. Visit the Olympic site, USATF or Wikipedia for more details.

https://youtu.be/iZE-zMsWDtE

As if that isn't enough, she earned a 4.0 GPA in high school while enjoying singing, dancing and sprinting. Today she is a wife, mom, entrepreneur, author, TV spokesperson, blogger, humanitarian and director of sports clinics. I highly recommend her books: Chasing Grace, Run with Me and Right on Track.

What did it take for her to become a champion on and off the track? It all started when she was 9 years old. In Jamaica, track and field is the top sport. She dearly wanted to be a part of it. On "sports day" she beat ALL the girls AND boys! It was so rewarding for her to learn to train and win, she fell in love with the sport at an early age. She advises young women to know in your heart that you're good and you will be. Her dad immediately bought into her dream and told her she was the best in the World.

Another key factor, I believe, in her success was the fact that neither her nor her parents ever did any drugs or alcohol. There was simply no need for them, and she wanted to also be a role model for little girls. Winning became her "drug".

Positive energy and love was huge in her life. She had full family support. Her mom, dad and sister came to every meet and continuously told her she is great. A beautiful symbol of this love, faith and support came when she was in the 7th grade and her mom gave her a bullet necklace, saying she was faster than a "speeding bullet". Sonya wore it to all her competitions.

She also teamed up with the best in the business. Coach Clyde Hart (who also coached Michael Johnson) shared his genius, guru wisdom and training methodology while being a calm and peaceful rock. He verbalized his system with "Push, Pace, Position, Poise" and repeatedly had her say "I refuse to lose". An example of his masterful coaching was when he helped her gain the fastest start on the track - "don't listen to the starting gun, react to it."

Sports psychologist Dr. Donald Corely helped enhance her ability to let go of past thoughts or disappointments and replace them with positive imagery and visualization. Before the 2012 Olympics, she had already "lived" the moment hundreds of times in her head. She knew how it would feel, what she would say and had already mentally won. She also created a vision board with images of the Olympic stadium, gold medal and a victorious photo of her with her hands in the air.

OK. Positive energy, love and visualization are all fantastic. It also takes blood, tons of sweat and sometimes tears to succeed. She has been quoted "People see the glory, but they don't see the story". On a daily basis, she would train 2-3 hours on the track. Then work out 2 hours at the gym. She confided that she felt like she need to add something more ... so added another hour of pure core exercises (picture a thousand sit-ups, crunches, planks, etc...) AND 3 times a week Pilates!

After all this training, she then would plunge her whole body into an ice bath for 15 minutes to reduce inflammation and improve recovery time. I don't know if you've ever tried submersing any part of your body in an ice bath, but it's painful and definitely takes tremendous discipline to stay in. Even with a full day of extreme exercise, her rest and sleep were of paramount importance and she went to bed early regularly.

She trained diligently to make her body become like the best sports car in the world. We talked about what kind of fuel is best for optimal performance. Her dad is a Rastafarian pescatarian (mostly vegetarian and eats fish). This helped her form the habit of mainly eating fruits and vegetables (and fresh juices) and gain power from the Earth. She eats lean chicken and no fried foods and no sweets.

Her racing career wasn't all roses and unicorns. Early on, at the Jamaica Junior World Championships, she went out too fast and was run down at the end. She admits she messed up, but learned a valuable lesson. That's what life is all about. She also suffered the mental and physical pain of injuries or disappointing performances over the years. From those moments, she learned valuable lessons that serve her in life and business to this day ... "Everything happens for a reason. It's a process, be patient and have faith - it will all work out in the end." She also knows that God is on the journey with her and loves her dearly.

Hard work, focus, persistence, attention to detail are all critical ... and never underestimate the power of love.

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