Daley Thompson goes for gold When you look at some people who are very successful, you can see how they came to achieve what they did. Most people who succeed have the same qualities of motivation, determination and perseverance. That means they want to succeed, and they’re prepared to stick at something until they do, but no one says it’s easy! Whether you can do it or not depends on how badly you want it! This story is about sporting achievement. Daley Thompson has gone down in history as the best decathlete in the world. But perhaps his primary school teachers didn’t think he would! Daley was always in trouble! He was never sitting in his place, never where he should be, always clowning around and showing off, usually looking for attention, and often in fights with other boys. His teachers despaired of him. “He’ll never make anything of himself,” they used to say. Daley wanted to be a footballer when he grew up, but, as anyone who plays football knows, you have to be a good team member to be a good footballer, and Daley was no good in a team. He used to get the ball to himself and refuse to pass it on to others. He wanted to score all the goals himself. In fact he wanted to be the only man on the team! Daley needed a sport he could do on his own, and he found one quite by chance one day, when his coach sent him to the local athletic club to get some running practice. Daley discovered he liked athletics. He could run fast. And it was a brilliant feeling when he came in first in a race. But when he was entered for his first competition, Daley came in fourth. “That’s it! I’m quitting!” he said. “I’m only going to do it if I’m good enough to win.” “Then you’d better work hard and make sure you are good enough to win,” said his coach. Daley tried many different athletics. He tried long jump and high jump. He had a go at throwing the discuss, the hammer and the javelin. He tried pole vaulting and hurdling. He was good at them all. “So which one are you going to choose?” asked his coach. “Which are you going to concentrate on?” “All of them,” said Daley. “I’m going to do them all. I’m going to be the best all round athlete in the whole world.” So he began training for the decathlon. Decathlon is a Greek word and it means ten struggles. In the Olympic Games, the decathlon is a gruelling competition in which athletes take part in ten different events, spread over two days. They have to be good at all ten events. They are awarded points for each event, and the winner is the decathlete with the most points all together. On the first day the athletes do a 100 metre sprint and a 400 metre run. They do the long jump, the high jump and a shot putt. On the second day they throw the
discuss and the javelin, they do the pole vault, run the high hurdles and a 1500 metre run. You can imagine how fit they have to be to do all that. Daley put his training before everything else in his life. He knew that serious training for any sport involved motivation and determination. But he had both. He wanted to be the best, and he knew he could only be the best with real hard work. There were times when he felt like giving up. Like when he went in for competitions and didn’t win. Like when he had a training session that went badly. Like when he just felt so tired he wanted to sleep and sleep for a week. But Daley didn’t give up. He didn’t quit. He kept on training, working, working, training, week in, week out, training, working. The single-minded, attention-seeking behaviour which had got him into so much trouble at school, now started to pay off. The crowds loved him. And he loved showing off to them. He’d wave and they’d cheer at the start and end of a race. The 1980 Moscow Olympic Games drew near. Daley trained harder than ever. He’d taken part in the 1976 Games but not with any thoughts of winning gold; just to learn what it was like to tale part in the Olympics. But this time it was for real. This time he was taking part to win. And being Daley, he wanted to win well. He wanted to win all ten events and come out as champion decathlete. The Games opened. The athletics began. Still Daley trained, never letting up. The day of the decathlon arrived. Daley did well in the sprint and the 400 metres. He scored high points in the long jump and high jump. His shot putt was terrific. The crowd roared and cheered. Day two started. Daley threw his best ever discus and javelin throw. He cleared the high hurdles in record time and cleared the pole vault. He ran through the finishing tape of the 1500 metres to huge applause from the crowd. Then there was the wait for the points to be announced. “Daley Thompson. 8495 points. Gold medal.” And the crowd went wild. He was the best decathlete in the world. He could have stopped then. He’d achieved his aim and won Olympic gold. But Daley Thompson had the 1984 Olympics in sight. He kept on training. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, he did it again. Another Gold for Britain. A double decathlon Olympic champion. What an achievement! Daley Thompson was double Olympic decathlon champion for only the second time in history and was an unbeaten world champion for nine years. A prayer Help us, Lord, to find out what we are good at, to use our talents well, and to have the motivation and determination to succeed at what we do. Help us to know that everyone is good at something. Amen
Draw a picture of yourself doing something you’re really good at
I am really good at ______________________ !
