Go for gold

To run a gold medal-winning 100m sprint, almost everything has to go right: the start, the maximum acceleration, and the push to the finish.

When he executes properly, Usain Bolt, the fastest man alive, has one of the best starts in the sport. However, when his technique out of the blocks has been less than perfect, he recovers by pulling ahead in the final stages of the race where his long strides and tremendous power take him first across the line time and time again.

Throughout his career and in preparation for every single race, Usain has put in some serious work to develop strength, power transfer, flexibility, and has optimised his training to take full advantage of his physique in such a way that he can overcome slow and sluggish starts. If he didn’t, it’s highly unlikely that he could recover from starts where he missed a step, was a little stiff from the cold morning weather, or just slightly off his game.

As Usain took home three more gold medals at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and he nears the end of his career, his lightning-fast sprints have inspired generations and, by looking just a little bit closer, the first few moments out of the blocks can teach us a valuable lesson, too.

What, exactly?

Just because you have a weak start, doesn’t mean you can’t have a strong finish.

What is the work that you can do now to ensure that your next project/product/pitch/pepperoni pizza is gold medal-worthy?