Born to Perform Read online

  Your twin brother,

  Wakiihuri

  On May 17, 2007, the day that Ronnie Delany officially opened my new clinic and launched the Hartmann Collection – a museum of international sporting memorabilia at the University Sports Arena at the University of Limerick – Douglas Wakiihuri requested that the following message be read out:

  Ladies and Gentlemen,

  I, Douglas Wakiihuri from Kenya, would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you all on this special occasion to this great nation of Ireland.

  This is my dream as it is yours, too, and for many more dreams to be fulfilled. Let the light shine on to the young and the great and to all who cheer us all the way. To those who pray for us and to our families who encourage and believe beyond no doubt that we are all together at the finish line.

  I would like to thank you Mr Gerard Hartmann and all who have made this place the Hartmann Clinic and Museum a special place, a golden dream come true. Mr Hartmann you are a miracle that has been part of my life to be remembered now and forever.

  Love to Mum. Thank you very much.

  Douglas Wakiihuri

  Joseph Ebuya was a young man with no future, nothing to dream of. He lived homeless on the streets in the rural poverty-stricken town of Nyahururu, Kenya. His daily existence consisted of searching through rubbish bins for food to stave off the hunger pangs and stay alive.

  Occasionally he watched a group of light-footed elite Kenyan runners pass by. One day he decided to run behind them. He was barefoot, but it felt good to be running after the well-clad runners. He joined in again and again, and one day one of the athletes gave him a pair of old used shoes.

  Each day he waited at the side of the road and when the group of athletes came by he joined in. He had no home; he’d never gone to school – but now he felt a sense of purpose joining a group of top athletes who, in their unspoken way, seemed to respect him. Joseph had never felt respect before. Within two years, Joseph was competing internationally and, in 2010, he won the world cross country title.

  The Kenyan runners often take their success in sport and use it towards a greater cause, beyond sport. Take another of my good friends, Lornah Kiplagat, who won the world cross country title and three world half marathon titles. It is at Lornah’s High Altitude Training Centre that my clinic in Iten, Kenya is based.

  Lornah Kiplagat also runs a foundation for poor girls to educate and prepare them to take the SAT exams in order to gain entry to US universities. She selects 30 girls every year, from the poorest backgrounds, who have done well in their schooling. Twelve professors visit her training centre for twelve weeks each summer to educate and prepare the girls to take the SAT test to go on scholarship to universities like Harvard, Stanford, MIT and other top-end universities. Lornah Kiplagat had recognised that boys get nearly all the opportunities in Kenya. She wanted to change that, to give women a chance, and she realised that education was the best place to start.

  Lornah Kiplagat thinks big. She believes that some day one of her students will become the first woman president of Kenya. She follows the motto: “If you shoot for the moon, at least if you don’t reach it you will fall among the stars.”

  What inspires and moves me most about the Kenyan athletes is their humanity, their Christianity and their genuine respect for self and humankind. The great Sally Barsosio, who at the age of 22 won the 10,000 metres at the World Championships in 1997, once wrote me this note:

  Daktari Gerard,

  Thanks a lot for treating me which led me to a gold medal in 1997. I am back again to you and I hope to go for gold after your help again.

  May God bless your efforts with the work of your hands.

  Thanks a lot and may He lead you to live 120 years, to lead his people including me to do wonderful things on earth.

  Daktari, you mean so much in the world of sports and everybody will live to know and remember you even unborn ones.

  Thanks for being loving and caring to every sportsperson. May God bless you and lead you throughout your life.

  Big love,

  Sally Barsosio

  Vivian Cheruiyot won the World Championship 5,000 metres in Berlin in 2009 with a brilliant performance. She then went on to show that she is the best female distance runner in the world by winning the world cross country title in 2011, and the world 5,000 and 10,000 metres in Daegu, South Korea, also in 2011. Yet Vivian is barely 5 feet tall and weighs only 89 pounds. In fact, she’s so light and small looking that one could assume that a puff of wind would blow her away.

  So where do these super-lightweight runners get their extraordinary strength from? It cannot be all physical. I strongly believe that it is willpower and Christian belief on top of drive and an enormous work ethic that gives them the competitive edge. Inner belief is so important. At times, I think it is the most important ingredient.

  When Vivian came to me for treatment in 2010 she shared her spirit and sporting fellowship with everyone she came in contact with in Ireland. Injured, but undeterred, she travelled down to Castleisland in Kerry with my colleague Ger Keane. While there, she quickly became the life and soul of the local athletics club. In fact, she was made life member of the Gneeveguilla Athletics Club; perhaps, if it were possible, we could extend Irish citizenship to her. It’s now 55 years since Ronnie Delany won Ireland’s last Olympic gold medal on the athletic track, and it could be that and more before Ireland wins another, unless some very unique talent emerges from our gene pool. Otherwise, perhaps we had better import.

  In my days as an athlete and triathlete, training and competing in triathlons around the world, I thought that my competitive sporting life was my only life. But I would have fallen off the bike if I had been told what the years after triathlon would hold for me. The career experiences I have enjoyed in the years since go way beyond anything I ever dreamed of or imagined. It is because of this that I am sure that what happens in our lives is all part of destiny, part of a greater plan that God has for us. When I meet people who are down and out, who are suffering because things have gone wrong, I tell them my story. I tell them how my accident and broken hip initially made me so low, and yet eventually it all came right. Sometimes we can never imagine the greater world waiting for us. Sometimes, like heaven, it has to be believed to be seen.

  21

  The Secrets of Success in Sport and in Life

  Talent almost certainly plays some role in the athlete making it to the top of their sport. But talent is essentially unquantifiable, which is why some people simply refer to it as the “x-factor”.

  What is certain is that talent comes in many shapes and forms, and I have worked with enough champions to know that talent alone does not ensure success. It’s just one of many ingredients necessary to create the sporting champion.

  When I first took up running and six years later found myself on an athletic scholarship in America, I was doing something that I was passionate about. I did not know at that stage that my dad was an accomplished sportsman in his day. He had captained the Limerick Rowing Club and once beat the actor Richard Harris to win a Munster Schools Sprint title. Indeed, on October 18, 2003, on the day I was participating in the 25th Anniversary Hawaii Ironman, my dad, Patrick Hartmann, at 73 years of age, participated in the Masters Rowing Regatta on the head of Charles River in Boston, US. The two Hartmann boys were competing in North America on the same day, knowing that we were both born to perform.

  I only later learnt that two of my uncles, my mother’s brothers, were also top sportsmen. Noel Deasy played intercounty hurling for Clare and was on the team that won the Oireachtas tournament in the 1950s. He once marked the legendary Christy Ring, reportedly keeping him scoreless from play in one great game. His younger brother Mickey Deasy also won two Dr Harty Cups, or Munster colleges hurling titles, and an All-Ireland colleges hurling title, playing for St Flannan’s of Ennis. He also won an All-Ireland Schools 200-metre title. So maybe genes do have a role to play.

  Some element of na
tural or God-given talent will help, and so, of course, will some luck. People might say they are lucky to be such a great athlete or sportsperson because they were simply born with the talent. Talent certainly offers a head start, but the qualities that make successful sportspeople are in fact many. Champions of sport have desire, passion and spirit – and also perseverance, focus and an enthusiasm for what they do. They must also set goals and have a plan, and, most important of all, have a positive approach and believe in themselves. If you investigate any successful sportsperson you will discover that hard work, preparation and dedication, along with commitment and a good support structure, are the key driving forces behind their sporting success. As the great golfer Gary Player famously said, “The harder you work, the luckier you get.” I believe luck is simply opportunity meeting preparation.

  Many athletes turn out to be “late bloomers”. In sports terms, they don’t appear to have any talent, at least not at first. When I was sixteen years old and winning races all around Munster, I remember there was a small lad from Cork. He showed up at some of the same races, but he was too small and had no apparent speed to make any impact. Those runners who always finished in the medals felt bad for him because we could see how hard he tried and how determined he was. But he was just developing at a slower rate. His name was Marcus O’Sullivan, and he would turn out to be a multiple world champion.

  In 1979, at the Munster Club Championships, a few weeks before heading off on scholarship to the US, I remember winning the 800 metres, the 1,500 metres, the 1,500 metres steeplechase and the 3,000 metres. Marcus O’Sullivan had one of his best runs that day, finishing second to me in the 3,000 metres. Afterwards, we chatted for a bit and he said he envied me getting an athletic scholarship, but because his times were way too slow he never saw himself getting the same chance. Marcus worked in a factory following secondary school, yet he continued to run. No one predicted that he would make it, but at age nineteen he finally made a big breakthrough and, with that, earned himself a scholarship to the famous Villanova University. There he would be coached by the legendary Jumbo Elliott, who was known as “Maker of Milers, Maker of Men”, and the man who guided many running greats, including Ireland’s Ronnie Delany, Noel Carroll and Eamonn Coghlan.

  Marcus O’Sullivan had little obvious athletic talent and, as a youngster, very little speed, yet he reached the top of his sport. His story is proof that one should never underestimate the young athlete who has passion, desire and the will to take something seriously. He persevered and, once his body matured and developed, his natural speed came with it. He went on to set a national record in the 800 metres and competed in four Olympic Games for Ireland in the 1,500 metres. But his greatest achievement was in winning three world indoor titles in the 1,500 metres, in 1987, 1989 and 1993. Marcus is also one of only three people ever to have run over 100 sub-four minute miles, which is an extraordinary feat by any sporting standards.

  He is also the first to admit that he was never academically inclined, but when he got to Villanova he applied himself to both his sport and to his studies. The memory of working long shifts on the factory floor in Cork was all the encouragement he needed.

  Not only did he go on to receive his Master’s in Business Administration from Villanova University, but he is presently the head track and field coach at Villanova, a position he has held for over thirteen years now. In a beautiful twist of fate, Marcus is now responsible himself for mastering young milers and helping athletes maximise their talents in athletics and in life – and I can’t imagine anyone better qualified.

  When Paula Radcliffe was eleven years old, her dad, Peter, took her down to the local athletic club, Bedford and County Athletics Club. There she met up with over 30 young girls of a similar age, some of whom would become lifelong friends. In her first race, Paula finished second last – not the most auspicious start to any sporting career. Three years later, the Bedford and County girls qualified to compete in the under-15s at the English National Cross Country. Paula made the team, but finished very far down the field in 299th place.

  At the club Paula was coached by Alex and Rosemary Staunton, whose own daughter also enjoyed running. By 1992, at age eighteen, Paula had made considerable progress under the Stauntons’ guidance and not only won the English junior cross county title, but also won the world junior cross country title, which was staged on a snowy course in Boston. Some athletic experts contended that Paula Radcliffe would not make it at senior level. Their view was that her running style was too ungainly, and that any athlete who nodded their head on each stride as she did was expending way too much energy. They also argued she had little chance of making it at senior level against the all-conquering Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes.

  Yet Paula applied herself to her sport with unyielding determination and self-belief. People worldwide would soon be cheering her on because they recognised in this gallant girl someone who was not the swiftest or the most graceful of runners, but who was a workhorse, someone who never gave up. It took Paula nine years to win a first senior world title, and when she won the world cross country title in Ostend, Belgium in 2001, she was one of the most popular winners of the event. Paula went on to run an amazing 2 hours, 15 minutes and 25 seconds for the marathon. She won the New York Marathon three times and also the London Marathon three times, along with the 2005 World Championship Marathon, in Helsinki.

  Neither Paula nor Marcus O’Sullivan had obvious athletic talent at the beginning; their talent lay in their ability to persevere, to train hard and to endure pain – and, above all, they shared the desire to succeed and the self-belief to achieve whatever it was they set out to do.

  I was both fortunate and privileged to work with Marcus O’Sullivan for the last six years of his running career, and to this day we remain best friends and regularly meet up to share our views and thoughts on human performance.

  Paula Radcliffe never gives up believing in herself. I have been working with her for 14 years now, and at 38 years of age she is preparing to toe the starting line in her fifth Olympic Games in London in 2012, once again in the marathon. One has to admire her perseverance as she chases the one championship medal that has eluded her prolific career. An Olympic medal is one that all great athletes strive to win. She will need belief beyond belief to succeed, and plenty of luck.

  The world can marvel at the great athletic talent that is visible and obvious: the likes of Carl Lewis, Usain Bolt, Tiger Woods, Earvin “Magic” Johnson and other almost supernatural athletes who will always reach the top in their sport. It is somewhat harder to understand how an athlete who has not got apparent talent or qualifications makes it – sometimes they can be the victim of a sceptic’s moan that they have probably cheated.

  Sometimes science or reasoning does not have the answer. I qualified in 1991 as a physical therapist, and within one year was working at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics with medal winners, without going through the standard apprenticeship of working my way up over a period of years. I just took it all in my stride.

  Looking back now, I can see how I succeeded so quickly: I was more driven, more enthusiastic, more passionate and more talented as a physical therapist than I ever was as an athlete. It became my all-or-nothing, but with a difference. My previous all-or-nothing life was in the triathlon, yet that ended in one split second. When I lost that and found a career that I could excel in, I grabbed it with all my might, and worked harder and madder at it than anyone I knew. I understand why some people are sceptical about my success. For some people, especially fellow professionals who have earned their university degrees, their master’s and PhD titles, and have theory-based education far more extensive than mine, it can be hard to fathom how an athlete can be one day competing on the international level and the next year be treating the best sporting flesh and bone in the world.

  Life is full of little mysteries and that is what is so special about it. Everyone has been given talents and abilities. But each person has to tap into their own poten
tial and exercise the choice to use them. As my good friend and esteemed Tyrone football manager Mickey Harte once stated: “The key to everything is to respect uniqueness. That is the thread that defines my teams, and maybe my entire outlook on life. To get the most from life and people, we must respect every individual for their talents and abilities. That is the baseline from which we can never go wrong.”

  When I was competing at international level in triathlon, people would often comment to me, “Ger, you’re some man for punishment. I could never do it. All that training sounds too much like hard work.” I would smile and reply, “I never see training as hard work. It’s something I love doing.” Every day I embraced the opportunity to push my body to new levels of performance.

  People make similar comments to me about my career as a physical therapist: “Do you ever get tired? How do your hands keep going? I could never do your job. It’s too much like hard work.” Again, I respond: “I love treating sportspeople and helping them to overcome their injuries and setbacks.”

  I prefer to see my role as a physical therapist as a calling, rather than work. My positive attitude towards what I do each day ensures I never get overtired or bored, or lose enthusiasm. I see many people who find their work tiring; they get burdened, bothered and physically and psychologically run down because their attitude towards what they do is that their job is “work”, sometimes “hard work”, and they find it stressful, instead of gaining some sense of fulfilment from it.

  There are numerous scientific studies that support the claim that one’s underlying attitude affects one’s satisfaction and sense of fulfilment at work. Arguably the best research on attitude and general orientation towards work was a study conducted in 1997 by Dr Amy Wrzesniewski, an organisational psychologist and professor of business at New York University. She and her colleagues showed that workers are generally divided into three distinct categories: