Thought for the Week
Your only real competitor is you. Need proof? The country with the most Olympic medals per capita is…drumroll, please…
That’s right, with a population of just over 33,000 and three Olympic winners in the 2020 summer Olympics,* one in every 11,000 people in San Marino won an Olympic medal! In fact, if you live in San Marino, you’ve probably met them and may even be homies with them.
Compare that to my country, the U.S., in which only a measly 1 in every 854,000 people won an Olympic medal that year. Or China, where only 1 in every 38 million people won an Olympic medal that year. In other words, if you live in San Marino, your chance of winning an Olympic medal is 3 ½ million times greater than if you live in China!
What’s in the water in San Marino?!
Determination
After 61 years and 25 Olympics, one of the world’s tiniest countries did the impossible, or rather, three of her citizens did. How? By competing against themselves. By remembering that personal best is the only “best” that really matters.
Allesandra Perilli, San Marino’s first-ever Olympic medalist–who didn’t even qualify for the finals in the previous Olympics–said she regularly reminded herself, “Always look to the future, only taking the good of the past with you, because after every downhill, there is an uphill.”
That Hill is You, and No One Else
But don’t forget, depending on where you live, there are 11,000 people, give or take, cheering you on!
You’ve reminded me of an experience from years ago, playing racquetball with a much better player. To compete against her would’ve been ridiculous. But I did keep track of the points I earned, to see if I could improve my score, and considered the game a personal “win” if I did better than the time before. Of course, I learned a great deal from her in the process. This idea of “personal best is the only ‘best’ that really matters” provides an important stepping stone to satisfaction in life.
Very true, Nancy.
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I suppose you still need some athletic ability.
Is this mentality unique to San Marino?
I don’t know, Kara.
We visited San Marino 4 years ago. It is such a lovely and charming little country. Also, it is very nice to visit a country that is even smaller than the one we live 😂
;>)
I learned to compete against myself when I began running. My goal was to improve my personal best, although I have to say that when I came in third place in a 10K (and there were others in my age category who came in after me), I felt pretty good. But, mostly is it about competing against myself. Thanks for the reminder, Mitch.
My pleasure, Madeline.
Perspective and context matter – and what an interesting way to look at the numbers to put the Olympics global standings into humbling and empowering context!
Thanks, Ab.
eye-opening
Using the same per capita logic a Canadian Icehockey magazine declared my small hometown Örnsköldsvik in northern Sweden the Icehockey capital of the world. 13 NHL player from a town of less than 20,000 people. Among them some top players such as our neighbor Peter Forsberg (The Hart Memorial Trophy as MVP, the Art Ross Trophy as the scoring leader in 2003, plus the Calder Memorial Trophy as top rookie in 1995, and Olympic gold medal)
Wow!!
First of all, congratulations to San Marino! I really had no idea.
“A personal best is the only ‘best’ that really matters.” This is so true. I’m trying to remind myself of this, but sometimes when I’m going through a lot, I forget, though I shouldn’t.
Thanks for another great reminder, dear Mitch! ❤️❤️
My privilege, Afrodite❣
Interesting facts there Mitch. I remember that in the 2012 Olympics my own county of Yorkshire would have come 12th in the medal table if we had been a country 😂
That’s very impressive, Charlie. Free Yorkshire! ;>)
True. I’ve been recently reminding myself of that.