Under a soft rain at the Paris Olympics, hardy rowers use the power of words
The name of a stranger from a foreign land is written on a sticker in Jacob Plihal’s boat. Kim, it says. She isn’t Philal’s friend, she isn’t family. This polite, 2.08m American hasn’t even ever met the Australian. But under a gently pecking rain at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in Paris, as we discuss motivation, this 28-year-old with an architectural degree mentions her name.
I’ll put little stickers in my boat sometimes, explains Plihal. Like a little mantra that’s been impactful lately. So one that comes to mind is just a name, Kim Brennan. She was an Australian rower, single sculler, very successful, won (gold at) the 2016 Olympics. And I think she’s a very good influence on technique. So just writing Kim in my boat, I see that and I visualise how she rows and that’s someone I try to model (myself on).
This Games is fiercer than we can imagine and races unfold like hasty, unforgiving interrogations. Just to make it clear, the Italian fencer Luigi Samele put it bluntly: The goal of the Olympics, of course, is not to have a nice walk around the Olympic Village, but to go home with medals.
But in this festival committed to the athletic deeds, don’t underestimate the power of words. Coaches in Paris shout them. Psychologists use them as balm. Athletes mutter them in call rooms. And sometimes, as with former medal-winning gymnast Louis Smith, they even tattoo reminders onto their arms: What I Deserve I Earn.
Singapore rower Saiyidah Aisyah scribbles words in her journal, a sort of raw accounting of her days. Words to rise to and go to sleep with. Words to wear like armour. Words that before Rio 2016 – the first Olympics she qualified for – she pasted to her wall almost in the thousands. Some were truths, some a plea, some an athletic prayer.
This year, making a comeback after stepping away from the sport, Aisyah turned to words again. Filled her journal with scribbles as if writing them down was reassurance. Just before the Games she shared two pages of them with The Straits Times. I am strong, lifting heavy at the gym, 11 on the chin ups. Powerful. I have done this before. Trust. Let go. I know what pain feels like. I feel it every day out there on water. This is nothing different.
