“Gold medals aren’t really made of gold… They’re made of a hard-to-find alloy called guts.” – Dan Gable
Dan Gable is the greatest athlete you’ve never heard of.
In fact, he may be the greatest American athlete of all time.
And before you point to MJ or Ali, take a look at this resume:
* Undefeated in high school wrestling
* 117-1 record in college (a quote from Gable about his only loss: “after that I got good.”)
* Two consecutive NCAA championships
* Won Olympic gold medal in 1972 — without losing a single point to an opponent during the entire tournament
(read that last one twice — it might be the craziest accomplishment of any athlete, ever…)
* Coached Iowa to 15 NCAA titles in 20 years
* Three-time head coach of the US Olympic team
Being a “winner” is one thing, but dominating an entire sport so thoroughly is something else entirely.
I share all of that with you so that I can share this:
One of Dan’s trademarks was a self-proclaimed love of the feeling of pain and exhaustion during matches — a feeling most wrestlers avoid at all costs.
(“fatigue makes cowards of all men”)
Not, I don’t think, because Dan found the feeling pleasant (though he might have — dude was a Kobe-level sicko)…
…But because he knew that if he was exhausted, his opponent was also exhausted…
…And, in a battle of pain-tolerance, Dan would always win.
I said this a few months back, in our Gameness email…
Most of success comes down to:
1. Intelligence
2. Pain tolerance
And the amount of pain required for success isn’t “a lot”.
It’s as much as necessary.
Thanks to Dan Gable for the reminder, and the inspiration.
– T
