What It Takes To Be An Olympian: 3 Common Myths

With the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games going, Coach Ken Vick hits an amazing mark.  He’s now had athletes in eleven Olympic Games.  It’s been across countries and sports, giving him a unique view of Olympic athletes.

A Diverse, Global Sports View

Ken Vick started as a performance coach almost three decades ago and worked with his first Olympic athlete preparing for the Sydney Olympic Games. Vick’s first exposure to Olympic athletes was as a coach in the sport of weightlifting.

“Olympic sports were always a passion for me.  I was a Weightlifting coach for several international level lifters. The intensity and passion of athletes pursuing their Olympic dream is unique,” says Vick.

That passion continued as his career in sports performance progressed.  He’s coached athletes that have gone on to 11 different Summer and Winter Olympic Games.  And it is not just individual athletes he’s had experience with. 

He’s also been the Global High-Performance Director for Velocity Sports Performance overseeing the training of national teams and even entire Olympic Committees.

Team Great Britain Volleyball needed to prepare for the 2012 London Games and Velocity was tasked with helping them in the year leading up to them.  “Starting to see the differences in Olympic systems was revealing,” says Vick

The Chinese Olympic Committee had been a top nation in the medal count, but in 2013 they started working with Velocity in a few targeted sports and several of their provincial programs.  A few years later Velocity had deployed its systems and staff of performance coaches and sports medicine specialists to the other side of the globe to prepare for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Coach Ken Vick reviews training data with an athlete preparing for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

“The experience of deploying Integrated Support Teams on the ground in China and advising their teams was incredible.  There were incredible cultural and systemic differences, but we had a unique perspective on the athletes themselves. It really highlighted commonalities among elite performers,” comments Vick.

Velocity has worked with Olympic athletes in 32 different sports from 17 countries.  This has provided Coach Vick with a unique perspective on what it takes to be an Olympian.

Myths About Olympians

There are a lot of myths and misconceptions about Olympic athletes. A lot of people will assume it’s all about genetics and talent.  While that’s clearly a part, Coach Vick thinks there is much more.

Here are some of the myths he hears when talking about Olympians with others.

To Be An Olympian You Must Specialize Early

During any Olympics, it is common to see videos of the athlete in their sport. These stories of athletes starting their sport at a young age are often equated with early specialization.  Meaning they start focusing on their sport and serious training at an early age.

There is no doubt some do.  They find a passion for a sport they love early on. 

In other parts of the world, athletes are almost entirely developed in national Olympic programs. These usually force them to specialize in one sport from a very early age.  “I’ve worked with athletes in other countries who moved away to a regional training center and started getting paid by the age of 10 years old.  Training day in and day out is almost all they’ve known for their whole life when they hit a high level,” shares Vick. 

This approach derives from a nation trying to be efficient and targeted in building as many Olympic Champions as possible.

It’s also helpful in sports like figure skating and gymnastics where athletes have traditionally peaked at a young age.

The Multi-sport Olympian

However, many Olympic athletes actually play multiple sports for quite a while.  According to a 2012 study by the US Olympic Committee, the majority of US Olympians played multiple sports into their teens. 

What it takes to be an Olympian; Team USA
The reality that Olympic athletes don’t all specialize early is a surprise to most people.

According to Vick, there’s a reason why a diverse early sports experience are part of what it takes to be an Olympic athlete. “There’s a major downside to specializing early.  It limits the overall athleticism of the athlete and puts repetitive mental and physical strain on an athlete early.”  This can lead to injury and burnout.

“One of the very reasons we’ve worked in some other countries is to solve this problem.  They have too many athletes achieving an elite level only to end up hurt and out of competition.  The wear and tear on them from early specialization has been obvious to our sports medicine staff and the lack of overall developed athletic skills is clear to our performance coaches.  They are clearly skilled in their sport, but they made too many with drawls and not enough deposits in their athleticism bank account, so to speak”

THE REALITY:  While starting in the final sport early is helpful, athletes benefit from diverse athletic experiences into their teen years.

Olympians Are Fearless

Imagine walking out into a crowded stadium with the pressure to perform to perfection in a physically demanding event. You represent your family, community, and the nation whose colors you wear.  All after a lifetime of training, sacrifice, and dreams.

For most mere mortals, this would overwhelm our ability to focus and cope.  The stress and anxiety levels would be off the charts.

So to be an Olympic athlete you must not feel this way, right?

Wrong

It’s not that Olympic athletes don’t have these feelings (and more), it is what they do with them.

Returning to sports after covid

Managing Fear and Anxiety

“Where ever I’ve been in the world, and in any sport, the top athletes learn how to manage these emotions.  They have developed a perspective that makes it bearable.  They embrace it as part of the process and maybe even something they can enjoy in some way.”

The training for many Olympic sports is a long grind.  They are physically demanding, have little financial or technical support, and they are seen until the Olympics rolls around every 4 years.

What keeps them going?  Optimism and enjoyment of the process.

“ I remember being in another country where the athletes were selected at a young age and moved away from home.  Sport for them was a job and had been for most of their life.  At the time the US women’s team was there training with them for a joint camp for two weeks. 

On a training day, I was observing our performance coach and physical therapist getting the team ready.  Most of the athletes in the training hall were sullen and lacked energy.  Then we heard some noise.  It slowly built from a low rumble into some music along with the sound of voices laughing and joking.  The energy was clearly high.  You could hear the positive vibes. 

Then walks in the US squad.  They had a spring in their step and smiles.  They were enjoying the process even in the middle of a grinding training camp.  One of the other athletes asked, why are they so happy.  She lost that and though one of the top-ranked athletes in her sport, wouldn’t go on to make it to the Olympics.”

To handle the stress of competition and the grind of training, athletes need to have optimism they can improve and make it.  This comes from their personal outlook and what they’ve experienced along the way.

THE REALITY: A sense of optimism and a belief that they can improve and make it is required to become an Olympian.

Olympians Were Always Great At Their Sport

When someone ends up at the pinnacle of their sport it is easy to believe that they were always good at it.  You’d think they were always the best from a young age and excelled.  Turns out that’s not exactly the case.

“Yes, most athletes had some success at their sport early on.  It’s part of why they decided to do it; because they were good at it or their family’s supported their effort.   But that they were always the best and highest-ranked is false.  In fact, evidence in a lot of sports shows that athletes who were junior champions, don’t make it to be elite or Olympic champions later. ”

Part of the reason is that development is not always linear.  Whether it’s learning techniques, tactics, or physical development, there are periods where most athletes struggle.

Vick agrees, “The struggle itself might be part of what builds Olympians.  Almost every Olympian I’ve know has had plateaus, obstacles, and setbacks.  How they preserve and continue to work and learn, that’s the mark of a champion.”

One of the most common setbacks is injury.  Whether minor or major, injury is a part of high-level sport.  You cant push the human body to its limits of performance without occasionally going too far.

“Coming back from injuries is one of the biggest places we see that resilience is a required quality for Olympic athletes,” says Vick.  “I’ve seen far too many high levels and extremely talented athletes who don’t have the mental, emotional, and physical grit to come back from injury”

THE REALITY: Success is rarely a linear growth path.  There are obstacles and setbacks which require mental, emotional, and physical resilience to become an Olympian.

USA Olympic athlete Maddie Godby works through a strength training session at Velocity Sports Performance.

More Than Just The Obvious

Vick concludes, “I think the biggest myth is that these are just genetically gifted and uniquely skilled athletes who are expressing their go-given talents.  In fact, they are athletes who conquered a challenging path physically, mentally, and emotionally.”

And that’s part of why we are all so inspired by watching these Olympians.

Team USA Olympic Athlete Talks About Her Training at Velocity

Team USA athlete Maddie Godby is the latest Olympian and track cyclist training with Velocity.  The 28-year-old international competitor came to Coach Vick with the goal of getting stronger and more explosive.

Training 2-3 days a week in the gym, she’s used that same Gymaware technology to monitor and prescribe highly specific training that fits her unique needs as an individual and as a sprint cyclist. 

“We are fine-tuning at this stage so there are targets and we want to hit the right zones.  Just to have that feedback is really helpful.  Sometimes that means adding more weight and other times it means less.” comments Godby.

So far, it’s working.  In May, she performed at a high level in Hong Kong at the only international event in over 14 months.  She spent most of that time off the velodrome track since they were closed in the pandemic.  However, putting in the time, training in the gym has made her much stronger and explosive.  Qualities she’ll put to use in Tokyo. 

But there is more than just training according to Godby. “I’m really good at pushing myself and training hard. So in order to do that I needed to find ways to recover better. So that’s a really big part of what I’ve been doing at Velocity.”

Hear her share more in the video below…

Velocity Sends Athletes To Olympics For Unbelievable 10th Time

Velocity Sends Athletes To Tokyo Olympics

While the sports and fitness industries are filled with hype, flashy social media accounts, and short-lived personalities, Velocity Sports Performance is quietly continuing 2 decades of excellence by sending athletes to another Olympic Games.

When Velocity was founded in 1999 outside Atlanta, Georgia, Olympians from 5 countries were working with legendary coach, Loren Seagrave. Seagrave was an elite track coach and the founder of Velocity Sports Performance.  In that very first Velocity facility, USA Bobsled athletes worked with Coach Seagrave to improve their speed for the 2002 Winter Games.

That tradition of working with elite Olympic athletes continued as Global High-Performance Director Ken Vick set up shop in Redondo Beach in 2005.

“Olympic sports were always a passion for me.  I was a Weightlifting coach for several international level lifters and the intensity and passion of athletes pursuing their Olympic dream is unique,” says Vick.

He’d know something about that as he coached multiple athletes going to the Games and directed the high-performance team behind many others, even whole Olympic Committees. In the last decade under his watch, Velocity has supported 54 medal winners across 13 different sports.

Measured Performance

In Vick’s view “For a performance coach, one of the unique aspects of many Olympic sports is that they are measured objectively.  We time how fast someone runs, cycles, swims, or paddles.  You measure how far they throw or jump, or how much weight they can lift.”

This means that the results of training programs are much more visible.  “You can see if what you are doing with them is working.  You can’t hide bad training behind a great team or tactics,” he adds.

This has been a major influence on Velocity’s methodology in training, sports medicine, and recovery.  “Since we have always dealt with these Olympic athletes, we put added emphasis on measuring training variables and exploring the methods that produced the greatest results.  Velocity’s methods have been based on science, proven in the field, and continually refined to stay on top.”

Today Velocity has brought many of these training technologies and methods to the average high school athlete walking through their doors.  The elite-level devices, monitoring systems, and training methods are accessible to all.

Velocity has supported National teams and Athletes at the Olympic Games in these sports

  • Athletics (Track & Field)
  • Badminton
  • Beach Volleyball
  • Boxing
  • Diving
  • Fencing
  • Freestyle Wrestling
  • Indoor Volleyball
  • Modern Pentathlon
  • Rowing
  • Soccer
  • Softball
  • Sprint Kayak
  • Sprint Canoe
  • Swimming
  • Synchronized Swimming
  • Table Tennis
  • Track Cycling
  • Weightlifting

Supporting Athletes Around the Globe

International Olympic sport has a history of top coaches being recruited to countries with budgets and looking to improve their performance.  Working across borders is part of the game and one of the great opportunities to have a lasting impact globally.

Aspiring athletes and pros in the US weren’t the only ones to notice what Velocity was doing.  With a steady international clientele, the word was getting out.  Countries looking for better performance noticed.

In their build-up for the 2012 Olympics, Team GB brought their developing beach volleyball program to Redondo Beach and asked Velocity to help.  It made sense since Velocity had experience training so many top AVP and international players.  Now Velocity was tasked with helping them raise their game as the London Olympics approached.

The Chinese Olympic Committee had been a top nation in the medal count, but in 2013 they started working with Velocity in a few targeted sports and several of their provincial programs.  A few years later Velocity was working alongside another performance company called EXOS preparing athletes across the entire Chinese Olympic Program.

Velocity coach Mark Williams working with the Chinese Womens Wrestling Team that included two 2016 Rio Olympic Medalists.

“The experience of deploying Integrated Support Teams on the ground in China and advising their teams was incredible.  We had challenges that we never imagined but an incredible opportunity to have an impact,” reflects Vick.  “Making sure we could coordinate the sports medicine, strength training, speed work, conditioning, and recovery was a task.  There was an outdated system there, language and cultural barriers, and we were trying to make a major shift.  That’s a tall order, but we were able to see results.”

Years of working with elite performers have driven a methodology based on integrating these different domains.  When the entire integrated support team works together to support the effort of the athlete and the plan of the sports coaches, the results speak for themselves.

Velocity Supports Olympic Teams and Athletes around the globe

Winter Olympics Too

Velocity’s expertise doesn’t stop when cold weather hits.  Athletes and National Teams from the Winter Olympic Games have relied on Velocity as well.  Olympic hockey players, speed skaters, bobsledders, skiers, and snowboarders have all been trained by Velocity.

“Many of the winter sports have incredible demands on the athletes. Take slopestyle and halfpipe events.  The forces these athletes experience on jumps and landings are enormous,” says Vick.  “We have to not only train for the event but sometimes, more importantly, to be durable and healthy.  If you cant practice and develop your skills on the snow because you’re hurt, it doesn’t matter how good you are.”

That’s why Velocity has hosted several national teams in its elite centers.  The impact was so visible that they’ve also deployed coaches and sports medicine professionals to work with teams and travel around the globe.

Elite Technology

Managing Velocity staff working with teams all around the world in different time zones presents challenges.  One of the solutions for Velocity is taking advantage of cutting-edge technology.

“Technology like our Athlete Management System brings together data from multiple sources so we can use our Integrated Support Team to assist those professionals out in the field.  Those coaches and sports medicine professionals aren’t on their own.”

One of the tools that they have used for years is a device from Australia called Gymaware.  Its measures vary biomechanical properties of athletes when they are jumping or lifting weights.  This highly scientific data can be sued to make programming decisions or day-to-day adjustments. 

“The Gymaware tool is a scientifically proven device that’s completely portable.  While I love using force plates, they are big and bulky so not great for a  team going from country to country every weekend,” laughs Vick.  “We get to use the same device to both test and train the athlete and the data feeds right into our athlete management system automatically.”

Today this same technology that was refined and proven with the world’s most elite athletes, is being used in Velocity centers for athletes of all levels.  Its also be used remotely by some athletes who follow digital training programs on their own.  This lets coaches monitor their training and make precise adjustments to the plan.

Road to Tokyo

One of Velocity’s US locations is an 11,000 sq ft facility hidden away in El Segundo, CA.  Once a site that once housed engineers helping send the mercury and Apollo astronauts to space, the spirit of innovation continues as athletes prepare for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

The sprint events in track cycling aren’t well known in the US, but they are known at Velocity.  After hosting training camps for the US team before the 2008 Bejing Olympics, they’ve now helped cyclists from 4 different countries.  One thing remains consistent for these athletes, being strong & powerful.  Track sprinters need strength to get the fixed gear bikes up to speed and power to sustain the high speeds attained on the velodrome track.

In 2012 Velocity supported the US Sprint team as well as Trinidad & Tobago athlete Njisane Phillips. Then for the Rio Olympics, they supported the entire Chinese team including the eventual Gold medalists in the Women’s Team Sprint.  They also hosted the Australian team in their Redondo Beach for a 1-month holding camp right before the Games.

Athlete Maddie Godby is a Team USA Sprint Cyclist who will compete in Tokyo. She has been training at Velocity Sports Performance with Coach Ken Vick.

Team USA athlete Maddie Godby is the latest track sprinter training with Velocity.  The 28-year-old international competitor came to Coach Vick with the goal of getting stronger and more explosive.

Training 2-3 days a week in the gym, she’s used that same Gymaware technology to monitor and prescribe highly specific training that fits her unique needs as an individual and as a sprint cyclist. 

“We are fine-tuning at this stage so there are targets and we want to hit the right zones.  Just to have that feedback is really helpful.  Sometimes that means adding more weight and other times it means less.” comments Godby.

So far, it’s working.  She performed at a high level in May in Hong Kong at the only international event in over 14 months.  She spent most of that time off the velodrome track since they were closed in the pandemic.  However, putting in time, training in the gym, has made her much stronger and explosive.  Qualities she’ll put to use in Tokyo. 

But there is more than just training according to Godby. “I’m really good at pushing myself and training hard. So in order to do that I needed to find ways to recover better. So that’s a really big part of what I’ve been doing at Velocity.”

Other Athletes in Tokyo

Like many Americans, Velocity will also be excitedly watching the Men’s Basketball competition in Tokyo. This location and its Redondo Beach predecessor have also trained USA Basketball team members Kevin Durant and Draymond Green in past off-seasons.

Swimming will also be high on the list.  Velocity was also under contract to support the Chinese Swimming Association for 2 years up to the Olympics Games.  Unfortunately, with the pandemic, that plan got cut short in early 2020 after over a year of work put in.  Still, several former Velocity staff members including Coach Zach Murray stayed behind to continue working all the way up to the Games.

The Olympic Dream

In the USA many athletes in smaller sports struggle to survive as they pursue their dreams.  Velocity has made it part of its mission to support these incredible athletes who are willing to dream.  Every year they provide sponsorships for athletes in smaller sports to help them on their journey.

According to Vick, this is something he thinks is important as a coach and as the CEO.  “The Olympics, but more so the journey and pursuit of that goal, is inspiring.  Athletes like these give us insight into the human spirit and what’s possible.  That goes far beyond sport.  That’s why we love doing what we do and want to give back to those who inspire all of us.”