What It Takes To Win: Perspectives from Vancouver 2010
Inspirational stories of women coaches and athletes from the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games

In the aftermath of every major sporting event, post-mortems inevitably focus on medals won. Of equal interest are the ones that got away. For Team Canada, the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games being staged at home meant enormous pressure to succeed. The nation rejoiced when our Olympic athletes broke the magic mark in winning 14 gold medals, the most ever by a host nation at a Winter Games, and took third spot overall behind the United States and Germany. The Paralympians, with 10 gold, 5 silver, and 4 bronze medals, captured third spot, with the Russian Federation and Germany in first and second respectively: outstanding results by any measure.

Understanding that achieving peak performances is a multi-faceted endeavour, the Canadian Journal for Women in Coaching commissioned an article to examine the factors that influenced the performances of several athletes and coaches who either met or exceeded expectations. We assigned the task to Dr. Penny Werthner, a consultant in sport psychology who worked with our women’s curling and freestyle ski teams during the Games, an author (with Debbie Muir) of the Own the Podium Beijing Report, and a founding member of the Journal’s editorial board.

The resulting article demonstrates an interesting symmetry in the factors that contributed to each medal performance. They may seem obvious, but, not so long ago, the approach to high performance was far less detailed. The Vancouver athletes were committed, talented, and very hard working. So, too, were their coaches. In today’s world, this is no longer enough. Today’s medallists need to be supported by well-developed, detailed, and well-executed plans that cover all facets of their athletic lives and include assessment, adjustment, and analysis. Interestingly, self-knowledge was revealed as a key ingredient of success and is, as Penny notes, “the first step to change.”

The Journal believes that this article contributes strongly to the important post-Games discussions. In sharing their stories with frankness and openness, the coaches and athletes you will read about are making an important contribution to the dialogue that can never stop if Canada is to continue to produce outstanding athletic performances. — Sheila Robertson

The views expressed in the articles of the Canadian Journal for Women in Coaching are those of the authors and do not reflect the policies of the Coaching Association of Canada.