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This quote is worth translating for the HN crowd. It's a typical Nils van der Poel answer, from an interview with Swedish Radio. When asked how he did it, how h

by jacobr 5y ago

This quote is worth translating for the HN crowd. It's a typical Nils van der Poel answer, from an interview with Swedish Radio. When asked how he did it, how he could sacrifice so much for a gold medal, his answer was "I think it's important to understand that you're not doing it for a gold medal. Regardless of which life you chose to live, you will sacrifice something, that's the way it is. As soon as you go in one direction, you also choose to not go in all other directions at the same time. It's the basic precondition for going anywhere at all. But on the path you take, you will experience fantastic things, even though it's uphill there will be a great view when you're at the top, and that's what makes it worth it, to be on this journey with people you love. It doesn't matter that much where the journey ends. A movie with a sad ending is also a good movie - and a movie with a nice ending makes you happy. I'm very happy for this medal around my neck, and for getting all the way here. But why do you do it? I don't think you get to pick your dreams, they pick us. It's up to us to realize them or not, and it seems like people who try to realize their dreams are happier." Source in Swedish https://twitter.com/Radiosporten/status/1491090244652969984 https://twitter.com/Radiosporten/status/1491090244652969984

ctchocula 5y ago
The last bit is very reminiscent of Schopenhauer: "Man can do what he wills, but he cannot will what he wills." Thank you for translating :)
thewizardofaus 5y ago
Truly amazing. Thankyou for translating Jacob. As an Elite Athlete myself; hoping to represent my country in the 2024 Summer Olympics it resonates with me greatly. I will be printing this off and putting it in a place I see often. Thankyou
- kayhi 5y ago
  What event?
- medo-bear 5y ago
  - ojame 5y ago
    I’m not OP so can’t answer your question literally. If you’re questioning why use the phrase “elite” and not professional or competitive: You can be a professional (by definition being paid) athlete and still never be in the top 10% of players (see decades of PGA [golf], ATP [tennis] results etc). I’m not sure on the definition, but there’s absolutely tiers of professional players. Take the NBA (basketball) - there’s over 500 players in the competition, they’re good by definition but there’s a subset that are elite. There’s further subsets, for example “generational” which are “once in a generation talent” etc. However, being an Olympian doesn’t make you elite by default (in fact there’s numerous “loop hole” athletes that prove this is the case, eg Elizabeth Swaney).
    - medo-bear 5y ago
      yes i was asking about the phrase. to me its just strange to refer to yourself as 'elite'. as far as i know the phrase is usually used in praise of someone else
      - rags2riches 5y ago
        I'm guessing it's a language issue. Might be a cognate word of elite with different connotations in OP's first language.
        matthewowen 5y ago
        No, in English this is a very common phrasing in some sports. For instance, major running events typically have an “elite” start vs the mass start for non-elites. And elite is the exact word used.
        medo-bear 5y ago
        it is common if you are describing someone else, yes. rarely it is used in english to describe yourself. the term besically means being superior. i think it is strange to refer to yourself as superior also
linspace 5y ago
You don't master anything because you enjoy being good at it, because everyone enjoys that. You must enjoy learning.
- d0mine 5y ago
  there is dopamine vs. endorphins distinction: motivation (next fix) vs. pleasure (pain relief)—anticipating reward vs. reward itself. A rat pressing a dopamine-stimulating lever is not happy it is just motivated to press it.
hn_throwaway_99 5y ago
Agreed, I think this is a great quote. It also makes me think, though, that certainly there are parameters of certain activities and sports that lend themselves more to this mindset vs. others. For example, I've said somewhat jokingly but also somewhat for real that "If I have kids, I'm going to get them into something like snowboarding or freestyle skiing." You look at those competitions and I nearly always feel such a "joie de vivre" from the competitors, even to the point that they practically always look genuinely excited when anyone does a difficult trick really well. Contrast that with, for example, figure skating (and I realize figure skating is easy pickings given the current drama in that sport). Half the time I feel like the competitors are relieved when they get off the ice. The current scandal notwithstanding, I just found it really disheartening that this beautiful, otherwordly 15 year old, who did multiple things that no other woman/girl had ever done before in Olympic competition, seemed sadder at the end of her performance that she fell (again, on a super hard quad jump) than that she completed 2 quad jumps, a triple axel, and otherwise skated beautifully. This is not an isolated incident. It is certainly pretty well known that there are just some sports (and other activities) that, in retrospect, many people feel like they "sacrificed" their childhood for, rather than served as this unique, incredible foundation for the rest of their lives.

by jacobr 5y ago

ctchocula 5y ago

The last bit is very reminiscent of Schopenhauer: "Man can do what he wills, but he cannot will what he wills." Thank you for translating :)

thewizardofaus 5y ago

Truly amazing. Thankyou for translating Jacob. As an Elite Athlete myself; hoping to represent my country in the 2024 Summer Olympics it resonates with me greatly. I will be printing this off and putting it in a place I see often. Thankyou

kayhi 5y ago
What event?
medo-bear 5y ago
- ojame 5y ago
  I’m not OP so can’t answer your question literally. If you’re questioning why use the phrase “elite” and not professional or competitive: You can be a professional (by definition being paid) athlete and still never be in the top 10% of players (see decades of PGA [golf], ATP [tennis] results etc). I’m not sure on the definition, but there’s absolutely tiers of professional players. Take the NBA (basketball) - there’s over 500 players in the competition, they’re good by definition but there’s a subset that are elite. There’s further subsets, for example “generational” which are “once in a generation talent” etc. However, being an Olympian doesn’t make you elite by default (in fact there’s numerous “loop hole” athletes that prove this is the case, eg Elizabeth Swaney).
  - medo-bear 5y ago
    yes i was asking about the phrase. to me its just strange to refer to yourself as 'elite'. as far as i know the phrase is usually used in praise of someone else
    - rags2riches 5y ago
      I'm guessing it's a language issue. Might be a cognate word of elite with different connotations in OP's first language.
      - matthewowen 5y ago
        No, in English this is a very common phrasing in some sports. For instance, major running events typically have an “elite” start vs the mass start for non-elites. And elite is the exact word used.
        medo-bear 5y ago
        it is common if you are describing someone else, yes. rarely it is used in english to describe yourself. the term besically means being superior. i think it is strange to refer to yourself as superior also

linspace 5y ago

You don't master anything because you enjoy being good at it, because everyone enjoys that. You must enjoy learning.

d0mine 5y ago
there is dopamine vs. endorphins distinction: motivation (next fix) vs. pleasure (pain relief)—anticipating reward vs. reward itself. A rat pressing a dopamine-stimulating lever is not happy it is just motivated to press it.

hn_throwaway_99 5y ago

Agreed, I think this is a great quote. It also makes me think, though, that certainly there are parameters of certain activities and sports that lend themselves more to this mindset vs. others. For example, I've said somewhat jokingly but also somewhat for real that "If I have kids, I'm going to get them into something like snowboarding or freestyle skiing." You look at those competitions and I nearly always feel such a "joie de vivre" from the competitors, even to the point that they practically always look genuinely excited when anyone does a difficult trick really well. Contrast that with, for example, figure skating (and I realize figure skating is easy pickings given the current drama in that sport). Half the time I feel like the competitors are relieved when they get off the ice. The current scandal notwithstanding, I just found it really disheartening that this beautiful, otherwordly 15 year old, who did multiple things that no other woman/girl had ever done before in Olympic competition, seemed sadder at the end of her performance that she fell (again, on a super hard quad jump) than that she completed 2 quad jumps, a triple axel, and otherwise skated beautifully. This is not an isolated incident. It is certainly pretty well known that there are just some sports (and other activities) that, in retrospect, many people feel like they "sacrificed" their childhood for, rather than served as this unique, incredible foundation for the rest of their lives.