How’s this for tenacity? John Dane is 58 years old and has been trying out for the Olympic sailing team for 40 years. He finally made it this year with his son-in-law, Austin Sperry.
Dane missed qualifying for the Olympics 4 separate times, each by a few minutes. He didn’t give up after each loss, he just improved his sailing skills. It would have been too easy to give up after losing one or two qualifying races. John Dane took the more difficult route and persevered.
You can watch him sail with his son-in-law to hopeful victory August 15-20.
(Here’s a fun video of their team practicing.)
Tim
on 11 Aug 08To quote Albert Einstein:
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Frank
on 11 Aug 08If all you could go be was NBC, this is a tape-delayed, 3 week, 5-sport event between the USA and maybe one other country … possibly China, but sometimes Italy.
Thanks for the post on one of the interesting sports American TV will never show you.
Bill
on 11 Aug 08Very well done to John Dane and best of luck to him – that’s determination! I’ll watch out for his crew on the TV.
Bill
on 11 Aug 08and talking of great examples from the Olympics for business or life in general, the US 4×100 freestyle team today were pretty impressive (and I’m a Brit, so no patriotic rose tinted glasses here). Looked like they had no chance with 25m to go, but their final swimmer didn’t give up, kept on doing what he had practised a zillion times – and well, it worked out pretty well in the end.
MIchael
on 11 Aug 08Perseverance furthers! I am impressed not just with his Olympic accomplishment, but also by his response to the lose of his business after Hurricane Katrina. John Dane-我為你加油！ Go get ‘em in Qingdao!!
Richard Wilson
on 11 Aug 08@Tim: I don’t think he would have done the same thing each time. He would have looked at what was working – and what wasn’t – and altered his technique.
Scott Semple
on 11 Aug 08@Tim: I suspect Richard is right. The Einstein quote is relevant if nothing changes, but I don’t think Einstein was advocating quitting.
Anyone who has accomplished anything knows that talent has little to do with achievement. Effort and determination will trump other advantages every time.
Kudos to John Dane. Both for making the team and, even more, sticking with it.
Jay
on 12 Aug 08USA USA USA USA
RF
on 12 Aug 08If Michael Phelps wins the eight gold medals he’s aiming for, nobody forget that Jason Lezak let him do it. Lezak, who’s 32 (old for a top Olympic swimmer), carried the 4×100 for his team with the fastest split time ever:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/sports/olympics/11swim.html
Gotta give the non-stars their props. :)
Andy
on 12 Aug 08@RF
Lezak definitely helped Phelps get closer to his goal, but don’t forget that his poor performance in the 2004 relay resulting in a Bronze for the team was the reason Phelps didn’t tie the gold medal record four years ago
:P
Joe
on 12 Aug 08@Tim – Not only did he expected different results, he achieved them.
To quote Abraham Lincoln:
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool then to speak out and remove all doubt.”
Tim Jahn
on 13 Aug 08That is downright awesome…congrats to him!
This discussion is closed.