Victory is fleeting. Losing is forever. Billie Jean King
There is a secret that only a true athlete, the one that has faced the pressure of competition, knows. When you win something (a single game or a big trophy), it gives you satisfaction, no doubt about that. But I firmly believe that a true champion mentality is made of a hatred of the defeat. Because losing an important event is heavy. It stays with you, for a long time. If you’re a true competitor, it leaves a strong mark, you feel awful. It’s not the usual job that allows you to clear your mind as soon as you are out of the office. It’s depressing and it’s with you 24 hours a day. You don’t escape from defeat easily. I read the biography of Andre Agassi, and he said something like that:
”I don’t feel that Wimbledon has changed me. I feel, in fact, as if I’ve been let in on a dirty little secret: winning changes nothing. Now that I’ve won a slam, I know something that very few people on earth are permitted to know. A win doesn’t feel as good as a loss feels bad, and the good feeling doesn’t last as long as the bad. Not even close.”
They all say the same thing at one point of their careers. The victory is weightless, it’s gone the next morning. I experienced it myself a few times. It’s about surviving the defeat and fighting against it the next time. Eric Cantona, the King of Manchester United, said: ”I don’t play against a particular team. I play against the idea of losing.”
The moments in the dressing room are depressing when you experience defeat at a higher level. But the pain is here to teach you something and to give you the desire to battle. This bad feeling gives you the motivation to train harder, to overcome your limits. Because you don’t want that burden ever again. Michael Jordan gives us an insight about this feeling. That’s how he remembers the fact that he didn’t make the sophomore team the first time: ”The disappointment was so deep, like a cut, it struck a fire in me to make sure that I never endure that type of pain again.” It struck a fire! If you remember one thing in this article, remember this…
I hate losing more than I love winning. Moneyball movie quote
