sYou are a basketball player and grew up in the United States. Your dream, you tell anyone who will listen, is to make it to the NBA. Clear and simple.
It’s a shot in the dark. But every year, the NBA holds its draft – this year, it starts on June 26th. The league welcomes around 60 new players to its ranks. Of course, those called up still need to make their team’s roster and earn playing time to say they truly achieved their dream. And American players must compete with international talent for spots; these players seem to improve every year.
But even if you weren’t drafted, you can enter the league as a free agent, either immediately or after playing overseas or in a minor league. During the last NBA season, 572 people played at least one NBA game.
On the other hand, you are a 100m sprinter who grew up in the United States. Your dream, you tell anyone who will listen, is to make it to the Olympics. Flat and simple.
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The qualification process for the U.S. Olympic track and field team, however, couldn’t be more intense. Once every four years – worth repeating, Every four years-three 100m sprinters are on the United States Olympic team for the individual Olympic race. There is no 60-round draft for the Olympics.
What’s more, the United States conducts tryouts to build its Olympic roster; the track and field events begin on Friday in Eugene, Oregon, and run until June 30. It doesn’t matter if you are the current world champion or if you have been setting record times all season. Or if you’re feeling a little sick on race morning. Either you finish in the top three or your dreams will be postponed. If not completely destroyed.
“Dream math is so unfair,” says American runner Kristi Castlin, who won 100-meter bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics. “That’s why every day you’re there, you just need put your blood, sweat and tears at risk. Because when you get to the Olympic trials, it’s like the Hunger Games.”
Both this week and next, four of the most watched sports on the Olympic program – diving, swimming, gymnastics and athletics – are holding their quadrennial competitions. “I talked about it with friends in other sports and they said, ‘This is crazy,’” says U.S. heptathlete Anna Hall, current world silver medalist, referring to the testing system. In diving, athletes compete for position until June 23 in Knoxville, Tennessee; in the swimming events, which also run until June 23, at Lucas Oil Stadium, in Indianapolis, the math is even more cruel. In most races, the top two finishers, at most, make it to the Games.
The USA Gymnastics trials begin on June 27th in Minneapolis. Only five women and five men make it.
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Talk about pressure. “It’s a mental war,” says Castlin, who didn’t make the finals at the 2012 trials. “Physically, we’re all on the same level. It’s time to walk from the warm-up floor to where you are under the stadium until you get out and then the gun goes off. That’s where the race is won or lost.”
In 2016, between the semifinal and final races in Eugene, Castlin focused on fashion to put her in a positive frame of mind. “The first thing I did was change my clothes,” says Castlin, referring to her final outfit as her “Beyoncé” uniform. “These people will see you wearing this on Hollywood Boulevard.” Feeling confident in her appearance, Castlin began visualizing her final race. It helped that she won the first round and the semi-final. “I’m feeling good,” she says. “Negative thoughts couldn’t even enter my mind.” Castlin finished in second place, guaranteeing his ticket to Rio.
Athletics feeds on your tension. The runners line up on the blocks and the packed stadium falls silent seconds before the shot goes off. These moments create anticipation for fans – and leave athletes vulnerable to counterproductive thoughts. “We forget that in these types of sports our bodies are terribly tense,” says sports psychologist Shayne McGowan. “It just destroys us.” Athletes need to find their way to a state of calm, he says, when “you’re relaxed, you’re controlling your breathing, and as you’re standing on the starting block, you look down and say, ‘I’ve got this.'”
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American Justin Gatlin, Olympic gold medalist in the 100 m at the 2004 Athens Games, competed in four Olympic events. He made the team in 2004, 2012 and 2016, but was left out of Tokyo three years ago after aggravating an injury during the final of the 100m tests. (He was serving a doping suspension in 2008 and won bronze in London and silver in Rio behind Usain Bolt.) Gatlin, who currently hosts a track themed podcast, practiced competing at the Olympic Trials before actually competing at the Olympic Trials. “I would put myself in situations where I would grab some of my training partners and say, ‘Oh, in my head you’re Tyson Gay‘” says Gatlin. “In my opinion, you are anyone else who is running fast at that moment. And I would think about how I’m going to compete against them in the finals.”
In testing, he says, control the variables you can control. In the popular 2020 ESPN documentary The last dance, Michael Jordan’s team put forward the theory that Utah Jazz fans tampered with a pizza delivered to his Park City hotel room before Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals. “Flu game,” Jordan became ill but still scored 38 points, leading Chicago to victory. “It was food poisoning,” Jordan said.
Although a man from Utah, claiming that I made the pizza, came forward and denied having infected him – in fact, he said he was a Bulls fan – Gatlin says the issue still stands. Get your food from trusted places. Do your best to stay away from public places where you could catch a bug.
“You’re going to Oregon, there’s a lot of trees,” Gatlin says of track testing. “So there will probably be a lot of pollen. Make sure you take Claritin, Zyrtec or whatever you can.”
After all, every sniff can cost you a millisecond – and an Olympic bid.
Sometimes there is nothing you can do. Alysia Montaño entered the 2016 Olympic Trials as the favorite to make her second straight U.S. Olympic team. But as she prepared her final push in the 800m final with around 75 meters to go, accidental contact with another runner caused her to fall to the track, completely wiping out her chances.
She didn’t do anything to deserve to lose. But the trials offer no possibility of a fresh start.
“I think I still struggle with it from time to time,” says Montaño, who crossed the finish line fifth in London but was reallocated with bronze twelve years later after a second Russian athlete who finished ahead of her was destitute. a medal. Russia’s track and field athletes were excluded from the Rio Games; this was Montaño’s last best chance of reaching the podium.
She, however, found a way to deal with the situation. She published a book, Feel good in physical shape, in 2020. She dedicated herself to advocacy work for female athletes. Montaño, who competed in the U.S. championships while eight months pregnant in 2014, wrote a 2019 opinion piece in New York Times criticizing Nike’s sponsorship policies for pregnant athletes. After public outcry, Nike expanded its protections. “I put energy into the things I’m really good at, which go way beyond just running,” says Montaño.
And despite all the stress, most Olympic athletes will tell you the pursuit is worth it. “The Olympic Trials changed my life,” says Castlin. “It just allowed me to have the courage and motivation to keep moving forward and achieving history. It prepared me for life after sport.”
Athletes who fail tests – the overwhelming majority, in fact – should have no shame. “There will be a day when you can talk about this experience, sitting down with your colleagues or friends or family, and say, ‘Yes, I qualified for the Olympic Trials,’” says Castlin. . “And not many people can say that. Just getting there and competing is an achievement everyone should be proud of. Because the United States of America is the most difficult team to form.”
True words. But little consolation, in the coming days, for the rooms placed in Eugene.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
