There always two sides to a coin – or should we say a gold medal?
We invited two Olympian rowers, Aisyah Rafaee, M.S., OLY. and Matthew Brittain, to join us for our 20 Conversation series on “Winning”. As we got deeper into the conversation, it became clear that although both shared a passion for rowing as their chosen sport, the two Olympians had very different approaches to success.
Aisyah forged her path to the Olympics solo with just her coach, while Matt plotted his path to Gold medal success at the London Olympics with 3 other guys as part of a team – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The two also had different approaches to dealing with what came after, and as Aisyah puts it, “the worst period of her life”. For Aisyah, she consulted a mental health coach to separate her “human” and “athlete” identities, while Matt set sights on the next big goal, and on being an inspiration for other athletes on what can be possible.
Moderated by Stephen Davies, we were able to listen to an inspiring conversation with two world-class athletes, who told us how it all started, the good days and the bad along the way, and the coping strategies they used to deal with the high level of pressure on their journeys to compete against the best in the world.
Watch the summary video to gain an Olympian mindset!
Catch the full video here.