HOW TO RETURN STRONGER
While fans are content to be entertained and inspired by great comebacks, athletes want to emulate them, to borrow whatever special quality it is that enables a rare few to conquer when defeat seems certain. After all, a great comeback is nothing more than an extreme version of what we athletes try to do every day, which is to succeed where success doesn’t come easily.
That’s the thing about sports: they’re hard. The ancient Greek word for athletic competition is agon, which is the root of the English word agony. That’s no accident. Training for and completing a marathon, for example, is agonising, even if your goal isn’t to win an Olympic gold medal and even if you don’t injure your knee eight weeks before the big race. Because sports are hard, it takes more than physical ability to succeed in them. Mental fitness is also required.
While physical fitness enables an athlete to do hard things, mental fitness enables an athlete to
