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Former Olympian Connor Fields is aware of the highs and lows of chasing a dream: setting a aim, coming near attaining it and falling quick. Nonetheless, his journey is in contrast to some other.
Fields is the one athlete in Olympic historical past to win a gold medal and practically die whereas competing.
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On Thursday, Fields shared his exceptional story with the Inman Join New York viewers throughout his session “Unstoppable: Building Resilience in the Face of Adversity,” exploring the important query, “Now what?”
Connor Fields
“You’re going to hear the story that led to me having that unique claim to fame, the moments that left me with that question, and how I was able to answer it and move forward each time,” Fields stated. “You’ll leave with four answers and four strategies that you can put to use immediately to increase resilience, grit and, ultimately, help you achieve your goals.”
In 1999, at simply seven years outdated, Fields took up BMX racing to channel his extra vitality. From that second, he knew he wished to dedicate his life to the game. Watching BMX make its Olympic debut in 2008 additional fueled his ambition, particularly after the U.S. rivals didn’t deliver residence a gold medal.
Decided to achieve the Olympics, Fields remodeled his mother and father’ storage right into a health club, the place he seemed to posters of BMX execs for motivation. Most memorably, he wrote on the storage wall, “I will win World Champion and one day be Olympic champion.”
Setting a aim — whether or not it appears achievable or not — requires “surrounding yourself with people who support that goal. But the thing that goes hand in hand with that, [which] isn’t talked about nearly as often, is putting yourself in proper situations that will help you to achieve that goal,” Fields emphasised.
Attaining targets isn’t aided by indulgences comparable to consuming cheeseburgers or having drinks. Each choice impacts efficiency, and people indulgences influence vitality.
So again to the massive query, “Now what?” Fields requested the viewers.
Connor Fields (Photograph by AJ Canaria Artistic Providers)
For 4 years, Fields formed his life round qualifying for the London 2012 Olympic Video games. He entered the Olympic closing because the primary seed and the favourite to win.
Nonetheless, he faltered below the strain, putting seventh out of eight. “I completely blew it. I choked in front of millions of people,” Fields stated. Within the face of disappointment, he requested himself, “Now what?”
Self-reflection is essential, and standing earlier than a mirror and acknowledging private shortcomings could be difficult, nevertheless it’s important for development.
Fields employed a sports activities psychologist and spent the subsequent 4 years getting ready mentally for an additional shot at Olympic gold.
Quick ahead to Rio 2016, and Fields made it again to the Olympic closing. This time, he was prepared.
“I had the best start of my life, but I was beat to the first corner by one other rider,” he stated as he painted the image for his ICNY viewers. “I realized who it was — the other American. So I am now faced with the absolute hardest decision that you could be faced with in this moment; I’m sitting in silver medal position with my teammate, my friend, my roommate, in the gold medal position. What do you do?”
Fields selected to assault, “I didn’t make every decision in my life for the last eight years to make this decision to settle, even if settling meant an Olympic silver medal.” He handed his teammate, took the lead and crossed the end line as an Olympic champion.
Modern-day Olympic gold medals are over 90 % silver with a coating of simply six grams of gold, Fields stated. He believes this symbolizes the unseen struggles behind victory — dedication, sacrifices and perseverance.
After profitable the gold medal, the query as soon as once more grew to become “Now what?”
The following 5 years introduced new challenges, together with the pandemic, the primary Olympic postponement and uncertainty. Regardless of all of it, Fields made it to race day on the Tokyo Olympics as the favourite.
He received his quarter-final and semifinal. Then, tragedy struck. “I woke up alone in a hospital bed, scared, confused, with no idea what was going on,” Fields stated.
“I suffered one of the worst accidents in the history of the Olympic Games: broken ribs, collapsed lung, torn ligaments in my shoulder, worn bicep and the big one, a traumatic brain injury,” he stated.
Fields’ concern was whether or not he would survive. As soon as he stabilized, the subsequent concern was whether or not he would bear in mind who he was. Simply days earlier than, his largest worry had been ending fourth. Now, he confronted the battle of his life.
Now what?
The 18-month-long rehabilitation course of started throughout which Fields started relearning steadiness, speech and driving. With an unbelievable assist system, he made a miraculous restoration.
“It shouldn’t take a near-death experience to put that type of perspective back into your life,” he informed the viewers. It’s essential to set targets and to go after achievements … however once you do come up quick, end up wanting within the mirror, or, within the occasion that you simply catastrophically fail, don’t ever lose perspective.”
Fields left the ICNY viewers with 4 takeaways:
If you set your aim, write it down.
Power your self to take a tough look within the mirror, determine your weak spot and assault it.
Have fun success.
Keep in mind that prior success doesn’t assure future success, and, within the occasion that you simply catastrophically fail, maintain issues in perspective.
“Then, after you leave Inman, with all of these new skills and tools that you have learned and these new connections that you have made, there’s only one question left: Now what?” he concluded.
E-mail Richelle Hammiel
