Appreciating effort

“Focus on effort, not outcomes. It is insane to tie your wellbeing to things outside of your control. If you did your best, if you gave it your all, if you acted with your best judgment – that’s a win… regardless of whether it’s a good or bad outcome.” – Ryan Holiday

The Stoics got it right. Their belief is totally appropriate for what’s been going on with the Philippine campaign in the Paris Olympics. Public disappointment and frustration over boxers Nesthy Petecio, Aira Villegas and  pole vaulter EJ Obiena’s failure achieve the targeted results ranges from supportive consolation to outright meanness online.

At this level of competition, it can really be a roll of the dice. So many factors can impact the outcome: food conditions, the draw, judging and so on. Besides, you can’t anticipate what will happen in a vacuum. Opponents train just as hard, perhaps even harder. That is beyond your control. That’s why the only way to ensure victory us to knock out your opponent, which, again, is not totally within your control.

In Obiena’s case, there were signs that things were shaky. He publicly apologized for a scare in his performance in the preliminaries, admitting that he, too, was nervous. In the final, he was visibly frowning and shaking his head after clearing 5.75 meters, obviously unhappy with his vault. But there is one factor that most people missed: Mondo Duplantis’ masterful strategy.

A participant is allowed to attempt a greater height if he fails one or two attempts at the level everyone is jumping. Even though he had jumped each required height on his first attempt, Duplantis skipped 5.50, 5.80 and 5.90 meters in the final, throwing everyone off their rhythm. They all suddenly had to keep up with the world champion. And even after he had secured the gold, he kept raising the bar, literally, to send a message. He went on to leap the rarefied height of 6.10 meters, then raised stakes further to equal his Olympic record to his world record of 6.25 meters. This sends a message to the rest of the field on the biggest stage that he is just too far ahead. No one could have predicted that. All we can hope for is that such a dominant performance does not discourage Obiena, who is already planning to bring his rivals to the Philippines to compete on home soil.