Sofia Goggia, who faces the downhill at the Beijing 2022 Olympics tomorrow morning, is not only tough but heroic. It’s likely that many world-class athletes interpret pain differently than a non-athlete would.
Kerry Strug won the Olympics in Atlanta in artistic gymnastics having a broken hip. In 2010 at the Vancouver Olympics Petra Majdic, cross country skier, fell during the warm-up breaking 5 ribs and won the bronze medal also having a punctured lung.
“Anyone who says being an elite athlete is good for you is nuts” says Susanna Kallur while talking about the things she has been through. As an athlete, you must put your body through things that „normal“ people would never do. In addition, you also push your mind through thoughts and situations that are uncomfortable to most of us. Depression, severe insecurity, anxiety – these are all conditions that can occur during your career. Elite sports is not for average people.
Watch this documentary about the golden generation of Swedish athletics.
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