Portrait Of An Athlete: Lindsey Vonn

Some of you may not believe me but I’m not always motivated. Sometimes I feel like going to happy hour instead of training. There are times when I question why I work so hard when there’s no health reason for keeping my body fat low or my anaerobic threshold peaking. The Psyche posts are for just these times, to help keep me from slacking.

Today’s Psyche is a teaser to the film In The Moment, a documentary about skier Lindsey Vonn. The entire show can be streamed on Netflix. The Vonn most of us see wins a lot of important races and socialized with celebrities at red carpet events. What we don’t see on Sports Center, E, or OMG! could not be more of a contrast.

This film may not interest a lot of people. It glamorizes nothing and, in fact, doesn’t make being a professional athlete (even one of the best that ever lived) look like a lot of fun. If you think that you work hard, sacrifice, and focus in life it will make you reassess that position.

It’s said that the best athletes are born and not made. And while it’s true that “you can’t put in what God’s left out” ask Sam Mussabini said young pupil Harold Abrams in Chariots of Fire (who would go on to win Olympic gold) no one is that unique. Sure, there are athletic measures you are born with but there are billions of people on earth. One born with unique gifts still has thousands of other similarly-talented individuals vying for one prize. The rest comes down to luck and how much you’re willing to sacrifice.

Vonn sacrifices. A lot. And while it's never going to be what trends on Twitter it is the reality of what it takes to be the best.